Stimulus Was a Grand Waste

The Obama administration claims that the stimulus and bailout efforts have "saved or created" 2.5 million to 3.6 million jobs.  The truth is that U.S. businesses have shed 3.1 million jobs since Obama became president.  Only 13% of Americans believe Obama's plans have helped the economy.  Remember the stimulus was supposed to somehow drive unemployment below 8% and not the 9.5% it is at now.  Consider the "shovel ready", bailouts, and Fed money-creation now total close to $3 trillion.  Public sector spending has been shown by two Harvard economists to actually have a negative effect, not a positive effect on GDP due to waste, inefficiency, and dead-weight loss of removing money from productive uses in the private sector.  The "medicine" of the stimulus has turned out to be poison.  Now factor in excess regulation and government involvement in the economy is overwhelming.  U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue states it well when he says we have moved from a "government of the people to a government of the regulators".