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".

Our Ass Kickin President

Our President recently stated that he really needed to listen to people to find out "whose ass to kick". In the same interview with Matt Lauer, he said that if BP CEO Tony Hayward worked for him, he would have fired him. Two quotes that reveal a real lack of leadership. Maybe Obama was trying to prove how tough he was. In my opinion it did not come across well. "Kickin ass" does not show leadership - it show complete ineffectiveness. The firing comment is even worse especially considering he had up till that time not even talked to Tony Hayward. Our President has no corporate experience and quite frankly little or no experience actually managing people. I would think he would have tried to collaborate before throwing out all the rhetoric. I am in no way defending BP, but I get a little concerned when our President constantly wants to deflect blame and does very little to actually solve the problem. Maybe James Cameron can help shoot a new movie!