A ‘stimulus’ that’s not a stimulus

by Armstrong Williams - 09/07/10 2:38 PM ET

There he goes again. President Obama has taken to Middle America to
peddle yet another stimulus package that will cost taxpayers billions.
The price tag on the administration’s latest flailing at recovery is a
modest $50 billion, but to hear this president talk, it’s the salve
that will soothe all that ails us economically.

What an election-year farce. We’re well into September, and the
administration is still humming incantations hoping its “Summer of
Recovery” is just over the next hill. And yet this man just doesn’t get
it. The answer to the economic doldrums we’re facing is not more
government infusions of cash. If Friday’s unemployment numbers told us
anything, it’s that the private sector is not hiring. Period.

Businesses are reluctant to get back into the market. What’s the administration doing to address those concerns? An extension of the R&D tax credit? Give me a break. That’s like bringing a squirt gun to a five-alarm block fire. What’s really causing angst among America’s job creators is this massive tax hike that’s set to go into effect at the end of this year. Major economists agree. Now is not the time to raise taxes on any sector of our economy. It’s simply too fragile. Why take a chance and get it wrong, Mr. President?

And now this new stimulus-that’s-not-a-stimulus plan would get us what — more government? According to news accounts, Obama’s plan would establish a national bank on infrastructure to determine how federal funds would be used toward construction projects. Another “national” bank? What year is it — 1827? We need another federal institution to not only help Mr. and Mrs. America find their wallets, but they’re now going to tell other bureaucracies how to spend that money? Holy mackerel. Where’s Andrew Jackson when you need him?

I realize Republicans may not be ready to lead in the Congress due to their failure to learn from their own spending sins of the past, but at this point, anyone but Obama seems better equipped to man the ship of state before we run aground yet again.

Williams can be heard Monday through Friday on Sirius/XM Power 169 from 7 to 8 p.m. and 4 to 5 a.m.