Lickety-Split Links (092209, Morning)
IBDeditorials.com (”Radicals Wrote Failed Stimulus”):
If the stimulus isn’t working, perhaps it’s because it was largely written by a collection of leftist interest groups called the Apollo Alliance that counts among its directors a co-founder of the Weather Underground.
I guess it all depends on your definition of “working.”
In his vids, James O’Keefe frequently reminded us that:
Efforts to prevent this are far from over, and the ultimate success of those prevention efforts is far from certain.
If ACORN and/or other radicals get their hands on billions of taxpayer money, they won’t be calling it a failure, no matter how awful the economy remains.
__________________________________________
From Arthur Laffer at the Wall Street Journal, your Obamanomics Picker-Upper of the Day — “Taxes, Depression, and Our Current Troubles; Tariffs, rising state and federal taxes, and currency devaluation ruined the 1930s, and they could do the same today.”
_________________________________________
From Jake Tapper at ABC’s Political Punch, via Hot Air:
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden acts as if that would be a bad thing. Hardly.
But buck up, Joe. The GOP, by running candidates like Mark Kirk for US Senate in Illinois and Jon Husted for Secretary of State in Ohio (to name only a couple), continues to demonstrate that it is perfectly capable of selling out sensible conservatism for the illusory and passing feel-good moment.
_________________________________________
From Erick at RedState — “A Review of ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis’s Rolodex Suggests Strong White House Ties”:
RedState has seen a list of Bertha Lewis’s contacts. We did not seek it out. It just showed up one day unsolicited. We did not ask for it. We did not expect to get it. But now that we have it, we should see who is in there.
The President can say “I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money,” but a review of Ms. Lewis’s contacts list suggests that is not the case.
What a non-surprise. But having the goods is quite helpful.
_________________________________________
BigGovernment.com is all over the Obama administration’s co-opting of the arts community through the National Endowment for the Arts to promote its own agenda, with likely quid pro quos to boot. Just keep scrolling.
This is at best unethical, and at worst (and likely) illegal. Readers can finish the “if Bush had tried this” sentence themselves.
August Cash for Clunkers causes September auto sales clunker.
http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDYwYjIwMDMwMjFmY2YzMWVjOTdlYTI4OGI0YjhiNjA=
In other words Tom, Cash for Clunkers was only used by those who were going to buy a car in any event due to their particular circumstances. Cash for Clunkers DID NOT BRING NEW BUYERS TO THE AUTO MARKET, IT JUST BROUGHT THEM EARLIER. The Dems just brought them in sooner not more of them so now the following months will be lighter to make up the difference in a ZERO SUM balance at a cost of $3 billion. Liberal economics at it’s very best, isn’t that pathetic?
Comment by dscott — September 22, 2009 @ 10:17 am
While we are ripping the liberals for wasting money under the guise of stimulus let’s bring up the $8,000 house tax credit. Another $15 billion we had to borrow down the crapper.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/sep/22/some-sour-tax-sweetner/
But economists attribute most of the rising sales to the plunge in prices, not the tax credit. The median sale price of single-family homes was off more than 35 percent from a year earlier.
“A heck of a lot of people would have bought the house anyway,” says Ted Gayer, an economist at the Brookings Institution.
According to an estimate by the National Association of Realtors, of the 2 million new homebuyers since the credit was instituted, 350,000 say they would not have bought a house without the tax break.
“We paid $8,000 to at least 1.5 million people to do something they were going to do anyway,” Jakabovics says.
Comment by dscott — September 22, 2009 @ 3:46 pm
#2, that’s “only” $13.2 bil (8000 x 1.65 million). What are you so upset about? (/sarc)
Pure vote-buying.
Comment by TBlumer — September 22, 2009 @ 3:58 pm
#1, it will be interesting to see who is more disproportionately hurt. All will suffer, but I would think that GM and Chrysler will suffer more.
Comment by TBlumer — September 22, 2009 @ 3:59 pm