How’s that stimulus working out for you Barry?

Apparently not too well it seems.

The Washington Post (!) Reports:

Five months after Congress approved a massive package of spending and tax cuts aimed at reviving an ailing economy, the jobless rate is still climbing and the White House is scrambling to reassure an anxious public that President Obama’s prescription for economic recovery is on the right track.

Yesterday, Obama took time out of his first presidential trip to Moscow to defend the $787 billion stimulus package, arguing that the measure was the right medicine at the right time. “There’s nothing that we would have done differently,” he told ABC News

So, beings the Democratic Party’s proverbial teeth chattering session, where they realize, “Uh-Oh, we messed up! Now how do we fix it?”

Back in Washington, senior Democrats on Capitol Hill were nervously contemplating whether additional government stimulus spending may be needed to pull the nation out of the worst recession since the 1930s. Senior administration officials acknowledged that the effects of the stimulus package have been overshadowed by an unexpectedly sharp drop-off in employment since the measure passed in February. But they reported that only about $100 billion has so far been spent and that as increasingly large sums flow out of Washington, the program is on pace to save or create 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days.

“It is clear from the data that there needs to be more fiscal stimulus in the second half of the year than there was in the first half of the year,” White House economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers said. “Fortunately, the stimulus program designed by the president and passed by Congress provides exactly that.”

Leading economists agree that the most powerful effects of the stimulus package have yet to be felt. But even if the measure lives up to Obama’s expectations, it would barely offset the 433,000 jobs the nation lost last month alone, and the resulting employment would represent a drop in the bucket compared with the 6.5 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007.

“Just 130 days out on the adoption of a very, very major effort to get the economy moving, certainly I don’t think we can make a determination as to whether or not that’s been successful,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said yesterday. But, he said, “I think we need to be open to whether or not we need additional action.”

Oh Yes! We just poured a couple generation’s worth of money into a Economic system that is basically; on it’s face, is broken and does not work. This did not work, so, we’re going to basically pour money into that same broken system and see if we can make the economy recover. Rolling Eyes

If anything this ought be a lesson for the Democratic Party that Keynesian Pump Priming, just does not work. But you think that the Democrats would learn that lesson? No. Because they’re dumb! Silly

Of course, the Republicans are a bit more smarter about this:

Republicans, meanwhile, pounced on news that the unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent in June and accused the Democrats of sinking the nation deeper into debt to finance an economic recovery package that has failed to save American jobs. Noting that the Obama administration predicted earlier this year that stimulus spending would keep the unemployment rate under 8 percent, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the No. 2 Republican in the House, said, “I think any objective measure would indicate there’s a failure when you have a commitment of nearly $800 billion in taxpayer funds and you have the type of job loss we’re experiencing.”

With many economists forecasting that the jobless rate will continue to climb — and is likely to stay above 10 percent through much of next year — Republicans vowed to make the 2010 midterm election a referendum on Obama’s stewardship of the economy. “I think they’re going to have some significant problems,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who leads the GOP campaign operation in the Senate, “and I view those as opportunities for us.”

Hopefully, the Republicans will frame these opportunities properly. Of course, their track record here as of late, has not been too good.

Meanwhile, in the reality sector:

Despite the deepening pain of the recession, many Democrats in the White House and on Capitol Hill yesterday counseled patience. They said it would be extraordinarily difficult to win approval for more spending on the economy when Obama is pursuing a host of other expensive initiatives, including a $1 trillion expansion of the nation’s health-care system. And they argued that the current stimulus package should be given a chance to work.

The stimulus was designed to deliver a gradually stronger push to the economy through the end of next year. It contains about $499 billion in new spending and about $288 billion in tax cuts for working families, businesses, college students and first-time home buyers.

When the measure passed, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that about a quarter of the money would be spent by year’s end, and that about 75 percent would flow by the end of 2010. So far, economists said, spending appears to be on track.

According to administration estimates, about $158 billion in new spending had been committed to specific projects by the end of June, but just a fraction of that money — about $56 billion — had been delivered to struggling state governments, unemployed workers and other recipients. An additional $43 billion had been left in the pockets of individuals and businesses through uncollected taxes, much of it the result of Obama’s signature Making Work Pay tax credit for working families.

Those figures track closely with estimates by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, who calculates that the government made $242 billion in stimulus funds available for various purposes through the end of June and paid out about $110 billion. In a recent analysis, Zandi predicted that “the maximum contribution from the stimulus should occur in the second and third quarters of this year,” when it will add more than three percentage points to overall economic growth.

“It’s pretty much according to plan in terms of the payout and in terms of its economic impact. This is in the script,” Zandi said. The problem, he said, is that “the economy has been measurably worse than anyone expected,” with a surprisingly sharp “collapse in employment and surge in unemployment” that caught most economists off guard.

“That’s why the administration’s forecasts have been so wrong,” he said.

None of this surprises me in the least. I warned on this blog long ago that this would happen. But, of course, you have the Democrats spinning this, and very hard too:

The White House continues to predict that the stimulus package will save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year. Zandi predicts it will fall short of that, producing about 2.5 million jobs — still a significant impact.

Whatever the number, Democrats are hoping it will be enough to convince voters that Obama is leading them out of the economic wilderness.

“I think the president was very clear that things were going to take a long time to turn around,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in charge of electing Democrats to the House. Republicans “are making the argument to the American people that doing nothing would have been the best policy. And I don’t think people will buy that. . . .

“The measures we have taken have certainly prevented things from getting much worse.”

According to what figures? Because the charts I have seen, say otherwise:

stimulus-vs-unemployment-june-proj-dots

What this chart shows is that unemployment was far higher with the stimulus plan, than it would have been, if Team Teleprompter would have just left well enough alone.

What this means to me personally is this; I will most likely be unemployed until like 2010 or longer. Thereby making myself impossible to he hired anywhere, because I haven’t worked in so long. Which is just wonderful. Rolling Eyes

Thank you President Bambi Teleprompter for ruining America, you feckless idiot! Angry

Others:  Hot Air,  

The Reading Room: Liberalism or Christianity?

(Source)

Liberalism or Christianity?

by J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)

Originally published in THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. 20, 1922, Page 112

An address delivered, in substance, in the Wayne Presbyterian Church, Wayne, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1921, before the Twenty- Eighth Annual Convention of the Ruling Elders’ Association of Chester Presbytery, on the subject, “The Present Attack against the Fundamentals of our Christian Faith, from the Point of View of Colleges and Seminaries.” Originally published in The Princeton Theological Review, Vol. 20, 1922, Machen later turned this short essay into a manuscript which was published in 1923 under the title: Christianity & Liberalism (Macmillan, 1923). This article, however, is now in the public domain (original pagination has been kept intact for purposes of reference). This electronic edition was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink.

The attack upon the fundamentals of the Christian faith is not a matter merely of theological seminaries and universities. It is being carried on vigorously by Sunday School “lesson-helps,” by the pulpit, and by the religious press. The remedy, therefore, is not to be found in the abolition of theological seminaries, or the abandonment of scientific theology, but rather in a more earnest search after truth and a more loyal devotion to it when once it is found.

At the seminaries and universities, the roots of the great issue are more clearly seen than in the world at large; among students the reassuring employment of traditional phrases is often abandoned, and the advocates of a new religion are not at pains, as they are in the Church at large, to maintain a pretence of conformity with the past. In discussing the attack against the fundamentals of Christianity “from the point of view of colleges and seminaries,” therefore, we are simply discussing the root of the matter instead of its mere superficial manifestations. What, at bottom, when the traditional phrases have all been stripped away, is the real meaning of the present revolt against historic Christianity?

Continue reading “The Reading Room: Liberalism or Christianity?”

Around the ‘Sphere….

That’s it till next time!

A Libertarian Lefty Attacks me….

Some libertarian leftist slams me on a blog, that brought 40 whole readers over here… 🙄

Anyhow… here’s what the Anarchist wrote:

looks like Lew Rockwell’s strategy of printing non-anarchist essays snagged a state-lover. When Lew showed his true nature, anti-state, this person thought he was being anti-American. Hey, Pat. I love my country, but I hate your government. And so does Lew. When you’re ready to stop pointing guns at people over every little thing, we can talk. But I’m not going to close comments on my blog, like you did on yours. Afraid of a little debate, eh?

via WTF?: Starting to really wonder about Lew Rockwell’s Blog | End the War on Freedom.

3 years ago, when I first started blogging; I would have ripped this person a new one. But seeing that I am a bit more refined than this guy. I will simple answer the questions.

  1. No, I am not a Statist.
  2. If you so hate this Government; which is an extension of this country; so much, why don’t you leave? Nothing is keeping you here.
  3. I will stop pointing Guns at people, when people like the Islamic Terrorists, (I know, Islamic, Terrorist = Redundancy)   that you lefties just love to death, stop trying to kill people.

The whole problem with you lefty anarchists is this, you love chaos, and that chaos is used to forum a vacuum; which is quickly filled by big Government. Which I totally despise. Kinda like I despise the Socialism of your Democratic Cousins. (Again, Democrats, Socialism = Redundancy)

The problem with the puritan stance on the Libertarian foreign policy is that it is rooted in flawed thinking and conspiracy theory. Hence the reason that Ron Paul looked like a damn buffoon. He is absolutely right on Iran and So are you. I give you that; but Afghanistan is another story. Those bastards that flew those planes into the trade centers were not Jews, Not Christians, not anything, but Muslims, Islamic men. Terrorists? The whole damn religion is a religion of war.

The whole idea, that according to the Libertarian idea of foreign policy is that if we are attacked, we should just sit and take it and not do nothing; is idiotic at best. Hence the reason I am not involved in that party, in a formal manner.  I agree with the principles of free enterprise and capitalism. But that party loses me, when they beginning to speak of the federal Government in conspiratorial terms. I just do not believe that the Government is smart enough to do anything, like they believe that it does; much less keep it a secret.

Also, let me say another thing. Libertarians; especially those of the Libertarian left or anarchists is this. They hate our Country and it’s form of lawful Government. In the name of so-called freedom, they commit acts of, yes, terrorism. To further their political agenda. Kind of like Bill Ayers. Yes, that is correct, I said it. Al-Aqaeda and the Libertarian left have much in common. They both hate our Country and our values system, our freedom and our Capitalist system.  It was this same attitude that was on the mind of those who flew those planes into the trade centers. It is a sad thing to say, but it is the truth.

Admittedly, there have been times, when the Federal Government has overstepped it’s bounds. I have blogged about many instances where this has happened. That is why you have Conservatives and Right-libertarians, like myself, who have blogs, like me, that throw up the red flag and bring this sort of nonsense to the attention of the American people. This causes the Government, like in recent times to go, “Ooops! Our Bad!” and make changes to correct those mistakes. This is why people like me believe that big Government is BAD GOVERNMENT! Because of it’s tendency to make very stupid and sometimes horrific mistakes. Case in point; Waco, Ruby Ridge, and so on….

In fact, anyone that has read this blog, more than just coming and read one entry knows; that I am totally anti-centralized Government.  In fact, I, like many of my Southern Paleo-Conservatives believe that Abraham Lincoln was a traitor. Not because he freed the slaves; but because he introduced a centralized form of Government. Not to mention the form of barbarism or as it called today; Terrorism that he inflicted on the south, in a war; that was not even fought remotely fair.

Having said all that……. I did answer his accusations of me not wanting a debate. I do close comments here after 10 days. Because I hate getting comments about something that I wrote like, a year ago and have go back and see what they heck they are talking about. Running a blog is all about being current and fresh. Not about harping on the past. Hence the reason they automatically close. I think he wants a blog fight or a argument. I just don’t desire to debate people that I disagree with; it doesn’t change a damn thing. All it does is cause problems, and I just do not need it, nor want it.

A Word on the passing of Michael Jackson

This is one of these kind of postings; that I absolutely HATE having to make.  Because, frankly; I am quite emotional and slightly annoyed. 😡

I, like many who grew up in the 1980’s; have been following the Michael Jackson death story. I’ve intentionally been detached from it, because I felt much of it was morbidly sick. However, it is worth noting that the man was an icon, in his day.

Yes, I know all about the accusations of child molestation; I also know that there is two sides to every album, so to speak.

As much as I have a deep hatred of the Identity Politics, that a quite predominate in the African-American community; as much as I know that Michael Jackson’s music conveyed a message of Liberalism. As Much as I know that the man was not of the “normal” status. I also know, that Michael Jackson was a human being, and he was not treated like one, not by the media, not by the American populous, not by any damn one, at all.

I did not watch the entire Jackson Memorial, as, again, I was quite detached from it all. But I happened to catch the end of it; When Paris, Micheal’s only daughter tried, ever so bravely, to speak to the crowd at the memorial, only to collapse into tears and into the arms of her uncle.  When I saw that, I gasped aloud and said, “My God in Heaven…..”

Anyone; irregardless of your political persuasion, that would look at a video like this and make a snide comment, as far as I am concerned; does not deserve the air that exists in their lungs. Michael Jackson was a human being, he was a father to this young lady and now, he is gone and she will have to carry that around with her for the rest of her life. The one’s who make the comments, in their little perfect worlds will be never, ever have to live the living hell; that this little lady will have to endure for the rest of her life.  The reason I bring this up, is because when I go to places, like this place here and I see awful snide comments being made, I honestly have to ask myself; “How do these people sleep at night?”

You can watch that video, by clicking here.

God Bless You, Paris. May you find the Lord’s comfort in your time of despair.

Ooopsie!: In a slip of the tongue, Obama Demotes Russia's Current President

This is kinda of funny….:

In a slip of the tongue, U.S. President Barack Obama described Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday as president, echoing the widely held view that he remains Russia’s most powerful man.

Putin surrendered the presidency to protege Dmitry Medvedev last May to take the lesser post of prime minister, but most political analysts say Putin remains Russia’s ultimate decision maker.

The dual leadership has left foreign leaders to walk a difficult diplomatic tightrope. In line with protocol Obama met Medvedev ahead of talks with the lower ranking Putin.

At a news conference Obama gave a carefully worded reply about the effectiveness of the leadership tandem when a U.S. journalist bluntly asked “who is really in charge here in Russia?”

But minutes later, speaking about Medvedev’s objections to a controversial missile defense system planned for central Europe, Obama slipped:

“I suspect when I speak to President..eh.. Prime Minister Putin tomorrow, he will say the same thing.

via Obama trips up over Russian leadership tandem | Politics | Reuters.

The teleprompter must have been taking a nap. 😀

….and yes, I know all about the Bush screw ups. So, no need to remind me. 😛

Andrew Sullivan calls names

Here’s one of the many reasons why I dislike Andrew Sullivan:

welcome2insanity(2)
Some of you may have come across a neo-fascist blogger, Ace of Spades, who makes Glenn Beck seem like Jim Lehrer. All of this is to say: even he can’t quite put up with the degenerate dorks who now constitute much of the Republican base. Here he is inveighing against the commenters he has spent the last few years whipping into an anti-elitist frenzy.

The Post he is referring to, is the one I pointed to earlier.

Let me get this straight; If I happen to disagree with Sullivan, I am a neo-fascist?  Nice.

Sullivan, you are a damned idiot.

This is from the same idiot who posted stuff like this; on the internet, and thought he could get away with it: (WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO! NOT SAFE FOR WORK!)

Continue reading “Andrew Sullivan calls names”