Eight months after President Obama signed a stimulus package worth $787 billion, less than half the funds have been spent and nearly half of Americans want the remainder to be repealed.
Of course, that hasn't stopped the mainstream media from pushing for more.
Recall that before the first bill was even signed, Reuters hailed a statement from billionaire George Soros warning that it wouldn't be enough. In July, NewYork Times columnist Paul Krugman called the bill "inadequate" and bemoaned fiscal conservatives for their "bittter and unrelenting" skepticism.
Now, despite unemployment approaching double digits, the federal deficit exploding, and rumors flying that the world is dumping its dollars, liberal newpapers have unabashasedly increased their call for more "stimulus."
An October 6 article from the NY Times first provided some revisionist history to advance the fiscally-challenged cause:
The stimulus was never intended to be a put-shovels-in-the-hands-of-people-on-relief type of New Deal public works program: it was, rather, a combination of tax cuts, aid to states and money for infrastructure projects that would be put out for bid to private contractors and take time to get going.
Those of us with functioning memories know that President Obama did sell the stimulus as a "shovel ready" program. But no matter to the Times.
Aside from that detail, what came next in the article was the real jaw dropper:
They also knew that the size of the final package - which was whittled down in part to ensure its passage in Congress - was not big enough to completely offset the projected drop in the nation's economic output, which administration officials believed at the time would perform at $2 trillion below its capacity over the next two years.
Yes, according to the Times, an effective stimulus package would have pumped $2 trillion into the economy. Considering that the entire national debt currently stands around $12 trillion, that much spending would increase it tremendously.
Regardless, the Washington Post continued the drumbeat the very next day:
But this has been such a profound, job-destroying recession that even $787 billion wasn't sufficient. And changes made to secure some bipartisan support in the Senate last February rendered the stimulus less effective than it might have been...The White House is in the position of defending the stimulus and urging that we do more.
And don't look now, but Congress appears to be working on doing more. The AP noted on October 8 that politicians are trying to craft a new stimulus without actually calling it a stimulus.
Not to worry, for with media that are clearly enthusiastic about more spending, President Obama should have no problem finding support for the new measure irrespective of the name it's given.
After all, to today's so-called journalists, a stimulus by any other name would smell as sweet.
