This article from the Herald Dispatch in Huntington describes a federal claim that stimulus spending created or saved over 2500 jobs. It admits, however, that most of those jobs lay in education.
So all those millions spent and almost zero private sector growth. That is not stimulus. Private sector growth comes from activity along the lines of, say, coal mining. Obama's EPA has all but outlawed new mining operations and has started shutting down existing operations. They claim to have created 2,500 jobs, but what about the thousands lost through the de facto mining ban? What about the stimulus that could have created in countless businesses in small West Virginia communitites that Obama's army of elitists will never see. What about all the house payments not made, all the electric bills not paid, and all the families that will see less on their tables because of Obama?
No wonder West Virginia miners have started changing their registration. The Democratic president has zero feeling for them and their families.
Real stimulus comes when the private sector wakes up and produces on its own. Growth in government jobs stimulates nothing except more taxes.
WASHINGTON – As the Administration pats itself on the back for supposedly “creating or saving” 2,400 jobs in West Virginia at the hand of economic stimulus legislation, count Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., among those who are a bit more skeptical.
“For the 35,000 West Virginians who’ve lost their job since the beginning of the year, I’m not sure claims of 2,400 ‘created or saved’ amounts to anything worthy of applause,” said Capito. “Particularly when even the 2,400 is widely viewed by experts as likely inflated.”
Last week the Associated Press reported that stimulus jobs were likely over-stated by thousands, while commentary in outlets like the Wall Street Journal noted that even if taken at face value, the “created or saved” jobs miss the real issue: net jobs and the unemployment rate which have continued to rise in recent months.
“The stimulus plan was billed as a jobs bill, a private sector jobs bill,” Capito added. “Yet what we’ve seen is a $787 billion spending bill that’s falling well short of expectations. Now we’re stuck with paying for something that we didn’t order in the first place. We ordered a jobs bill, but got more unemployment and a mountain of debt instead.”
In another report penned earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that a vast majority of West Virginia’s “created or saved” jobs were centered in the government sector – contradicting the President’s previous claim that 90 percent of the stimulus jobs would be in the private sector.
In a state already feeling the heat from potential cap-and-trade legislation and continued economic uncertainty in the coal industry due to delays from Environmental Protection Agency regulators, Capito says West Virginians are anxious and concerned that they’re not getting their money’s worth when it comes to Congress’s big ticket items.
“The constituents I’m hearing from have one primary question,” she says. “Where are the jobs?”
The Stimulus Act has been called the Porkulus Act by many that oppose it saying it is nothing more than Pork Barrel spending and will lead to massive government waste. This where rhetoric meets reality.
The Federal Government purchased $1,191,200 of real Pork with your tax dollars as reported by Recovery.org. It appears from the wording of the report this was for only 2lbs of Ham, but the USDA released a statement today clarifying, "Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy "2 pounds of ham" are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191m, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound."
Had the government simply shopped around they could have saved the taxpayers money. The Romney, WV Food Lion is selling Smithfield ham for $1.09 a pound, $0.41 cheaper per pound than the deal they got. By shopping at the Romney Food Lion the government could have saved the taxpayer over $300,000 on this one purchase alone.
When you buying in bulk you usually will get an even better deal, plus think of the Bonus Buy points you would get buying 760,000 lbs of ham!
On June 9th, 2009 Senator Jay Rockefeller sent out an e@mail to many of his constituents. In the e@mail he explains why he voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the “Stimulus Act.” So far the Stimulus Act has done little to help the economy and has mostly been filled with waste, like “$18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site” as reported by Jeff Klein of ABC News on June 8th. Peter Nichols of the LA Times reported that over 8,000 stimulus checks were mailed to dead people.
These are just a few of the things happen when our elected officials fail to read what they are voting on.You think they would be able to take the time to do their job right and actually read the bill. One of West Virginia’s representatives, Congresswoman Capito, actually did the right thing and voted “no” because enough time to go over the bill was not given.As the Stimulus Bill continues to fail the American people, those that voted for it are trying to cover their backside with the voters.Senator Rockefeller is no exception, but his numbers do not quite jive.
In the e@mail sent out the Senator states, “700,000 West Virginia families are receiving $300 million in tax cuts through the Making Work Pay Tax Credit.”There is a problem with that number.According to the US Census Bureau’s latest numbers, there are only 502,381 families in West Virginia.
Senator Rockefeller goes on to state in his e@mail, “88,000 West Virginians are benefitting from an additional $25 per week in unemployment compensation, the extension of the emergency unemployment compensation program, and the tax break on the first $2,400 in unemployment compensation benefits received in 2009.” According to the US Department of Labor’s, Bureau of Labor Statistics latest numbers there are only 68,543 unemployed in West Virginia.
This begs the question how can Rockefeller effectively represent the people of West Virginia if he can’t take the time to read the bills that affect us?Rockefeller voted for a bad bill without having the time to read it.He sends an e@mail trying to justify his voting for the bad bill, but portions of the information are just flat wrong.It took less than 5 minutes on the internet for one person to get the correct data, while the Senator with a full staff couldn’t get it right. Rockefeller’s e@mail states, “West Virginiansdeserve economic policies that will support them through these tough times.” I agree, but I also believe West Virginia deserves a representative takes the time to read bills before he votes on them and takes time to look up the correct information before making a decision for the people of West Virginia. You can’t make good decisions with bad information.
Keyser past came back to light for about a day this week. While grinding Armstrong Street for paving, the work crews exposed the original brick street that lies beneath.
Everyone from engineers to sports coaches says it. Keep it Simple, Stupid.
The huge spending plans proposed by Obama and the Worst Congress in History do anything but. They have money for STD prevention and abortions across the world, yet Keyser is still waiting on its dangerously decayed water treatment plant and dilapidated US 220 bridge to get replaced. Hampshire, Mineral, and Grant County drivers must contend with the dangerous and unimproved sections of US 50.
The spending plan should have been for simple, basic American needs. Small towns and big cities everywhere have the same issues with infrastructure. Roads need attention. In some areas, the sewer system has lasted a hundred years without a major overhaul. Bridges need replaced. Schools are crumbling. West Preston Middle School not too far from here is an extreme example. Repairing basic needs projects in every state puts people to work and generates revenue in the all important construction industry. It's hard to argue against basic infrastructure repairs because they benefit everyone.
When Obama first pitched the stimulus bill, he emphasized shovel ready projects. Less than 5% of the money is headed for such improvements. The entire bill should have gone towards the repair or replacement of roads, bridges, sewers, and schools. No new projects, just the maintenance on structures already in place or replacement of structures too badly decayed to be repaired. This would have prevented the problem that GOP governors and Manchin cited, the creation of programs with no permanent funding.
Had Obama and Congress addressed those needs rather than tossed money at abortion doctors in places where family planning means eliminate all female babies, they might have restored economic growth and invested funds into items the country needs for decades in the future instead of wasting it on foolishness.
Should have kept it simple. Now we all pay the price far into the future.
In the movie Operation Petticoat there is a great line that holds true in today’s troubled economy.When Lt. Com. Sherman (played by Cary Grant) asks where his supply officer, Lt. JG Holden (played by Tony Curtis), is during an air raid the commander is told, “When the air raid started they took off. All he said was, ‘in confusion there is profit.’”It is play on Rudyard Kipling who once reasoned that it was a good thing to keep one's head while all around were losing theirs.Right now across the country the Federal Government and State Governments are loosing their heads over the economy but if West Virginia’s government keeps its head, then we as a state can profit from it.
The way for West Virginia to take initiative is simple.The same bad economic policies out of Charleston that hurt us in good times hurt us in bad times as well and we must change those.
Two periods of strong economic growth stand out in recent American history the one started by John F. Kennedy in the 1960’s and the one started by Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s.Both have a common thread, both Presidents cut the tax rates which put more money in the hands of the people and businesses.This allowed people to spend more money on good and services spurring economic growth and the businesses used the additional money to expand operations providing those goods and services.In other words growth breeds additional growth.
The additional growth comes because people naturally want to be rewarded for their work and when they work harder they receive additional reward.It is the American Way, it is Capitalism.The problem in West Virginia is when compared to other states our businesses and people receive less of a reward for their hard work because of our tax rates and structure.When the state takes a bigger chunk than other states it simply reduces the incentive to work hard in West Virginia or encourages people to move to another state.The state has created a ‘tax wedge’ against prosperity.The removal of this wedge will lead to people willing to take the risk of starting a business and creating new jobs in the state and in bad economy that is more important than in times of prosperity.
Besides the high income tax rates there are two other primary ‘tax wedges’ hurting West Virginia businesses, the Business Franchise tax and the Inventory tax.The Business Franchise tax is based on companies net worth, it’s not a tax on Franchises as many believe and is paid by all businesses in the state. The tax remains whether or not the company is making a profit.This is a tax that companies in most other states do not have to deal with.So in bad economic times this tax has a greater impact on with West Virginia companies that are struggling to make a profit. If a corporation is looking at closing one of two plants, then it will make more economic sense for them to close the West Virginia plant because of the Business Franchise tax.
The same holds true for the inventory tax.Sales drop as the economy slides downward, inventories of unsold goods naturally raise.In West Virginia our inventory tax punishes companies more and more as their sales slide downward.In many cases, especially with small businesses, this can be the straw the breaks the camels back. In order to pay the additional taxes imposed by the state with falling revenues these companies must find the funding.For most this will result in employee layoffs and some bankruptcy.
West Virginia must now make the hard choices to profit in this confused economy.The worse the economy gets the more our business are punished by the state tax structure.The opposite of the way it should be.Consider that eliminating the Business Franchise and Inventory taxes will reduce revenue to the states tax coffers in the short term, but if we don’t eliminate them and those businesses leave or declare bankruptcy they will pay no taxes at all in West Virginia.The cutting of the tax rates will put more money in the pockets of West Virginians and West Virginia businesses rewarding them for their hard work by making it easier for them to weather the economic storm. Making these changes will allow more West Virginia companies to survive and attract those that want to expand with an atmosphere that rewards hard work.
Removing the tax wedges put in place by bad Charleston policies will allow West Virginia to keep its head while other states loose theirs.
The explosion Barack Obama may have just heard was the broadside opened up in one statement by West Virginia's governor, Joe Manchin.
“This country wasn’t built on handouts. We didn’t become leader of the free world by waiting on someone to give us a handout.”
That is a powerful statement by the Democratic governor of West Virginia about the bailout package that, as of this writing, Obama has continually tried to ram through the Senate using threats and nightmare scenarios. It ballooned to almost one trillion dollars, helping the Republican Party in their efforts to educate the public on what that will do to our economic future. Either Governor Manchin put his finger to the wind or he is giving vent to his free market beliefs, but this looks like an extremely critical statement.
How much will this register? Probably not much. If during the Bush years, a Republican governor from a small state criticized a key part of presidential policy, we would have heard about it for days. I doubt the media will give this a peep of coverage. However, it gives us some indication of Manchin's core beliefs. He did not have to criticize the president and it probably gained him very little to do so.
Good gosh, if you removed the name, I'd swear that the guy who said that was named "Ronald Reagan!"
This shows how deeply troubling this bailout package has become even to thoughtful Democrats.
West Virginia YR Chair says “Stimulus Bill Bad for Nation”
Kenova, WV - Wednesday evening, the US House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill termed as a Stimulus Package to the tune of $819 Billion dollars.
"The Democrats on Capitol Hill who voted for this bill should explain to the American people how spending money on things like STD prevention, computers, upgrades to offices, etc will help the American people get jobs,” said Ashley Stinnett, Chairman of the West Virginia Young Republicans. “The overwhelming majority of Americans do not realize what all was in this bill that will be so bad for this nation.”
Even if the debt created will be paid on time, the additional interest alone will surpass $300 billion dollars - twice the amount spent on the war on Iraq .
“This is not a stimulus package, it’s a pork laden bill that amounts to nothing but a huge government expansion at the cost of taxpayers across America ,” said Gary Abernathy, Executive Director of the West Virginia Republican Party.
“It should be noted that not one Republican in the US House voted for this bill, and its negative effects on the US economy are placed squarely on the Democrats’ shoulders,” said Stinnett. “How can future generations be expected to succeed if they are being burdened by irresponsible government spending today?”
Republicans have been calling for tax cuts for employers and citizens in order to help businesses keep jobs and individuals return money back into the economy to turn our economy around rather than more government spending, which is being advocated by the Democrats in Congress. “All this bill does is create an even bigger government bureaucracy,” added Stinnett.
The Young Republicans is the oldest youth political organization in the nation. Members include volunteers and political activists under the age of 40.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x165320108/W-Va-stimulus-spending-credited-for-2-400-jobs
