With the president adopting his predecessor’s strategy of attempting to scare Congress into approving a bad bill by warning of financial doom, it’s worth remembering that the proposed “stimulus” package is about politics, not economics. If the proposed spending was worthwhile, it would be silly to fuss about whether the total comes to $800 billion, $900 billion, or $1 trillion. If we really can’t afford $1 trillion, then how can we afford $900 billion or $800 billion? In fact, the basic goal for most legislators is just to spend as much money as feasible as quickly as possible.
Thus, in Washington today the most important issues are: who gets all of the wealth extracted from the American people and who gets political credit for giving everyone else’s money away. Just consider the local boondoggles being advanced for federal funding by cities around the country–dog parks, tennis courts, neon signs, Harley motorcycles, golf courses, “eco parks,” frisbee golf courses, skateboard ramps, and much, much more not considered worth constructing with funds from local taxpayers.
Eugene Robinson admitted as much in today’s Washington Post. In urging the president to “roll over the Republicans,” he observed:
The House of Representatives loaded up the bill like a Christmas tree as powerful Democrats found room for their pet projects. This was a good thing, not an outrage. Hundreds of millions of dollars for contraceptives? To the extent that those condoms or birth‐control pills are made in the United States and sold in U.S. drugstores, that spending would be stimulative in more ways than one.
Also indicative of how the proposed spending is foremost a matter of politics is the role of lobbyists in divvying up the proceeds. The role of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank already has been exposed. But he is not alone. Reports the Washington Post:
“Earlier today, Sen. Bingaman met with Treasury Secretary nominee, Timothy Geithner,” the staffer wrote. “The Senator raised concerns regarding New Mexico based Thornburgh Mortgage and their efforts to access TARP funding and convert to a savings and loan holding company.”
Thornburg had been fighting off bankruptcy, and its best chance at a piece of the $700 billion federal bailout known by its initials as TARP could hinge on transforming itself into a regulated thrift and persuading the OTS to recommend it as a candidate for rescue. Bingaman’s aide wanted to schedule a call between her boss and OTS Director John M. Reich.
That short Dec. 9 e‐mail offers a glimpse of the flurry of activity involving lawmakers and federal regulators as firms have pursued hundreds of billions of dollars from the Troubled Assets Relief Program and waited for details of how the Obama administration will disperse even more. With so much money at stake and so much uncertainty about who will get it, beleaguered companies fearful of being left behind are scurrying from Capitol Hill to K Street, trying to find a way to the front of the line.
None of this is surprising, of course. But it does demonstrate that the president’s rhetoric bears no relationship with reality. Unfortunately, his proposed “stimulus” bill will stimulate big government, debt, and inflation, not economic growth, jobs, and prosperity.