Obama's Speech in Pittsburgh Yesterday
By: Veronique de Rugy
The Corner
The president was in Pittsburgh, NBC Nightly News reports, to talk about how "his economic policies helped to stave off disaster." However, added NBC, "The job picture is expected to be bleak for years." Obama was shown saying, "I will not rest until anybody who's looking for a job can find one. And I'm not talking about just any job, but good jobs that give every American decent wages and decent benefits and a fair shot at the American dream."
I am confused. Is the president saying that he has evidence that his massive spending programs have helped create jobs? That would be weird, considering that unemployment is still growing. In fact, for several months it's been higher than the level the administration said it would reach without the passage of a stimulus bill.
That's not a surprise, of course, since historically stimulus spending has never lifted anyone out of a depression. Even David M. Kennedy, Stanford University's Roosevelt scholar and worshiper, wrote in Time recently, "It's old news that F.D.R.'s New Deal did not end the Depression." While I think it's not old news at all, I am glad he is admitting it.
What's more, even if we take the Keynesians and the administration at their own words, they don't make any sense. In this Mercatus on Policy paper, George Mason University economist Garett Jones and I look at whether or not the administration's argument that stimulus spending can create jobs holds water. We conclude that:
<<< In the best-case scenario, the stimulus will mostly shift jobs from privately funded to publicly funded ones. In the worst- case scenario, the ARRA will destroy jobs and halt economic growth. >>>
The whole thing is here.
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