Ohh the Humanity,, or Stimulis x2

Taxpayers have barely had a chance to put their now-empty wallets away after the last “stimulus” bill forced through by the Obama Administration, yet already plans are in the works to potentially send a second round of billions of dollars out the window. A nearly $800 billion package, fraught with pet projects of nominal relevance to boosting our economy, was pushed through with the hopes of stemming unemployment and restoring economic viability in our country.

As expected, the stimulus bill had the opposite effect. In June, unemployment numbers were reported at nine-and-a-half percent, with many conceding that a double-digit unemployment rate is now likely. In addition, only approximately ten percent of the massive amount of stimulus money has been committed. This money was supposed to get critical infrastructure projects underway more quickly throughout all 50 states, and in doing so create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Now, top-level officials in the Obama administration are already discussing the possibility of a second stimulus package. The problem is that calling the first $800 billion a stimulus of any sorts is inaccurate and misleading since it hasn’t accomplished any of its goals in stimulating the economy. A second stimulus isn’t really a second stimulus if there wasn’t a first one to begin with.

Since the administration isn’t going to use the stimulus money to help the economy as originally planned, there are at least a few areas where these billions upon billions of dollars could be put to good use. To start, these hundreds of billions of dollars could go toward the annual appropriations process, something the House and Senate are both currently working on. Much of the spending in these bills is duplicative of what the stimulus is supposed to target, and both of these send our national debt moving even higher. Another simpler alternative is to simply rescind the unspent stimulus money since we have seen no indication of its contribution to our economy.

Viable alternatives have been put forth, yet the administration and the Democratic majority in Congress has ignored them. One particular bill, the Economic Recovery and Middle-Class Tax Relief Act, contains targeted economic relief that will actually help a majority of Americans. Through across-the-board tax relief and providing incentives for small businesses to grow and prosper, the Economic Recovery and Middle-Class Tax Relief Act recognizes that families are the backbone of our society and that small businesses comprise a majority of our workforce.

Americans across the nation from all walks of life and all political leanings have increasingly showed their frustration with the path that reckless government spending has taken. There have been zero displays of fiscal restraint from the current administration, and no indications of that changing. Moreover, the promises of real results through spending hundreds of billions of your tax dollars have proven empty, and instead of holding onto hard-earned money for ourselves and our posterity we are going to be left holding nothing for generations to come. To consider making this problem even worse through a second “stimulus” package is unconscionable and a disservice to taxpayers who are already working hard to make ends meet.