Obama’s Top Economists Reveal Hefty Price Tag For Failed Stimulus Debacle
Since liberal U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) helped President Barack Obama ram his $787 billion stimulus into law, America has lost nearly 1.9 million jobs and our national debt has skyrocketed to a record-high $14.3 trillion. But despite these facts, McCaskill still insists that the stimulus has been “wildly successful.”
Now, President Obama’s own top economists estimate that the Obama-McCaskill stimulus debacle cost taxpayers an average $278,000 per job.
As the Weekly Standard notes:
The report was written by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged success of the “stimulus” in adding or saving jobs. The council reports that, using “mainstream estimates of economic multipliers for the effects of fiscal stimulus” (which it describes as a “natural way to estimate the effects of” the legislation), the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job. In other words, the government could simply have cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the “stimulus,” and taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead.
Notably, McCaskill’s wasteful deficit spending in Washington stands in stark contrast to her campaign rhetoric as she ran for the Senate in 2006, when she routinely presented herself as a fiscal hawk.
“Senator McCaskill will have a tough time finding many Missourians who agree that it was ‘wildly successful’ for her and President Obama to spend $787 billion to lose 1.9 million jobs, or that it was reasonable for her to spend $278,000 in taxpayer money for each temporary stimulus job she now touts,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Bond. “McCaskill came to the Senate on a promise to bring fiscal responsibility to Washington, but she’s done the exact opposite with her rubberstamp support of President Obama’s wasteful deficit spending.”
Background Information:
CLAIRE McCASKILL: “I’m For Getting Rid Of Any Excuse The Republicans Have To Keep Them From Balancing The Budget,’ McCaskill Said In A Written Statement.” (“Veto Power Faces Hurdle Talent And McCaskill Favor Line-Item,” Columbia [MO] Daily Tribune, 6/30/06)
- “McCaskill, beaming as she introduced her children, mother, sister and husband, said she could ‘smell change’ in her travels around Missouri, which she believes wants to return to a time of balanced budgets…” (“Former President Clinton Stumps In For McCaskill In St. Louis,” The Associated Press, 9/9/06)
