TEN FACTS EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS’ TRILLION-DOLLAR "STIMULUS" ON ITS SIX-MONTH ANNIVERSARY

August 17, 2009 | House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) | Permalink

On the six-month anniversary of the bloated, ineffective trillion-dollar "stimulus"becoming law, the American people are increasingly skeptical about thelaw that is – by any objective standard – not working.  The latestevidence: a new USA Today/Galluppoll, which found that 57 percent of adults say the “stimulus” ishaving no impact on the economy or making it worse.  The poll alsofound that 60 percent of Americans do not believe the “stimulus” willhelp the economy in the years ahead.  With these latest numbers inmind, here are 10 critical facts that every American should know as theWashington Democrats continue to peddle their misguided, ineffectiveeconomic policies:

1. Despite the Administration’s promisethat the “stimulus” would provide an immediate “jolt” to the economyand create jobs “immediately,” more than 2.8 million jobs have been lost since it was enacted on February 17, 2009.
2. On the day the “stimulus” was enacted, the national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent.  Today it is 9.4 percent.
3. On May 13, Vice President Biden issued a reporton the stimulus’ first 100 days asserting that it had “saved orcreated” 150,000 jobs, and that “an additional 600,000 jobs areexpected to be created or saved under the Recovery Act in the next 100days” for a total of 750,000 jobs.  But the Bureau of Labor StatisticsCommissioner told Congress earlier this year that it’s “very difficultfor anyone to substantiate” the Administration’s claims – especiallysince Secretary Geithner recently said that unemployment won’t come down until late in 2010 and that the economy has shed 2.8 million jobs since February. 
4. A total of 15 states now have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent,including Alabama (10.1 percent), California (11.6 percent), Georgia(10.1 percent), Illinois (10.3 percent), Florida (10.6 percent),Indiana (10.7 percent), Kentucky (10.9 percent), Michigan (15.2percent), Nevada (12 percent), North Carolina (11 percent), Ohio (11.1percent), Oregon (12.2 percent), Rhode Island (12.4 percent), SouthCarolina (12.1 percent), and Tennessee (10.8 percent).
5. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) is now five million, up from 2.6 million when the “stimulus” was signed into law.
6. Sincethe “stimulus” was enacted, Democrats have added $869 billion in newdebt that will be paid for by our children and grandchildren.
7. A$255 million program using stimulus funds designed to help strugglingsmall business by providing them with 10,000 loans of up to $35,000each, has only given out 1,127 loans, totaling $36.8 million, accordingto the New York Times.
8. An analysis last week by the Washington Timesfound that stimulus money “spending has slowed to a trickle, despitePresident Obama’s June order to his Cabinet to speed it up.  Theaverage stimulus spending per week has dropped severely, to just $4.2billion over the past month from $9.7 billion during the prior fourmonths.”
9. According to the Associated Press,“Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 milliondrivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spendingstimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easierprojects like repaving roads.”
10. Stimulus funds are not getting to those areas that need it most, according to a detailed analysis by ProPublica that foundthat there’s “no relationship between where the money is going andunemployment and poverty” and that, “…spending is uneven and sometimesruns contrary to measures of need.”

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