Monday, August 09, 2010

Tangible Success from the Stimulus Bill: It is Forcing Out Obama's Economic Team

Well it seems to be rats off a sinking ship at the Obama Economic Team.

It's no coincidence that Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, announced her retirement the day before Friday's brutal unemployment report. With 131,000 more jobs lost in July, and downward revisions of 97,000 for the previous two months, it's easy to see why she would start looking for the exits.

She was always so cheerful about economic growth. I think she is now the exclamation point on the end of the failure of the stimulus. I borrowed a trillion dollars from the Red Chinese and all I got was this lousy 9.5% unemployment.

Predictably, the stimulus bill has proven to be an extraordinary waste of borrowed money that has failed to create jobs, generate economic growth or do much of anything other than line the pockets of White House political allies. That and give $308 million in subsidies to BP before the Gulf oil spill disaster, and subsidize a study on what happens when monkeys snort coke.

The one I'm the most disappointed in is Tim Geithner he seemed like the economic whiz kid that could get us growing again. Instead he is just carrying Obama's water on killing off tax cuts and doesn't seem to be listened to at all. It is still telling that the White House doesn't have a single person that has even run a lemonade stand let alone any sort of business. All they know how to do is create uncertainty and provide reasons why businesses should horde their money rather then hiring people.

As Romer fades back to her teaching post at Berkeley, Obama is adding to the economic misery by creating an environment of regulatory uncertainty. The Wall Street reform law Obama recently signed potentially requires 533 new regulations, 60 studies and 93 reports, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency has 29 active rulemakings, and there are 100 new rules on the Labor Department's agenda and 26 at the Transportation Department.

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