It wasn't a stimulus.....that's why it's not working!

The front pages are full of stories about the stimulus, the "failed stimulus" that is:

CNN Poll: Blame for recession shifting from GOP to Democrats

Stimulus Isn't Creating Jobs - Detroit News

No Recovery for Main Street

Unemployment rates rise in 29 states

Obama takes friendly fire on economy

And, last but not least: OBAMA DROPS BELOW 50% IN GALLUP

What's going on? What happened to the stimulus passed early this year?

Let's check with Jon Hensarling and Paul Ryan, Republican representatives from Texas and Wisconsin, respectively.

They are both part of the GOP's youth movement!

Today, they wrote this: Why No One Expects a Strong Recovery--
When you repeal sound economic policies you repeal their results

"Virtually none of the stimulus spending was directed towards encouraging broad-based private investment, and thus failed to encourage true economic growth.

An analysis by economists John F. Cogan, John B. Taylor and Volker Wieland, published on this page on Sept. 17, suggests that while the stimulus succeeded in temporarily and marginally increasing disposable personal income, it left personal consumption spending virtually unchanged.

Meanwhile, $112 billion of its $300 billion tax relief was in the form of payments to people who paid no income taxes.

These payments, akin to a one-time welfare check, do not change the incentives to save and invest, and do not effectively promote broad-based economic growth."

Translation: The stimulus was cash handouts rather than policies that create jobs or encourage the kind of entrepreneurship that we saw when Pres Reagan cut taxes across the board.

Translation # 2: The stimulus was sending cash to the Dem warlords who got millions to vote in 2008!

Therefore, unemployment has gone up to 10.2% despite assurances that the stimulus was necessary to keep unemployment below 8%!

What do we need?

We need "incentive oriented" tax cuts that boosted the US economy in 1982-83 and later under Pres Bush in 2003!

Cancel the stimulus and return the money to the federal government!

And let US entrepreneurs pull us out of this recession, as they have every time before!

The good news is that the public gets it: To Create Jobs, Voters Say Cut Taxes and Stop Spending

P.S. In the meantime, we will keep looking for those jobs:

Guess why Pres BO can't close GITMO?

Ed Morrissey alerted us to a very interesting article from The AP: Behind missed Gitmo deadline: No one wants jailees

"President Barack Obama is now confirming what many have long suspected:

He will miss his January deadline to close the Guantanamo prison — partly because he cannot persuade other nations to take the detainees."

So we are in the same boat as we were under Pres Bush!

Everybody wants GITMO closed but no one wants to take any of the detainees!

Welcome to the real world!

Of course, closing GITMO was a convenient talking point when the Dems were out of power.

Like Afghanistan, GITMO is turning out to be more complicated!

Again, welcome to the real world!

BO's trip was not a profile in courage or much of a success!

Pres BO's trip to China was a disappointment, specially if you believe that the US should say something about human rights.

Also, didn't candidate BO say this in 2008:

"Way back in March 2008, widespread protests erupted across the Tibetan plateau and were brutally crushed by a massive Chinese security response.

On March 28, then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, who had previously shown little interest in Tibet, sent a letter to President Bush chiding him for not doing enough about the situation there and helpfully suggesting some specific steps he should be taking."

It was also a disappointment if you think that presidential trips should have objectives and consequences.

Frankly, what did Pres BO get from this trip?

The answer is nothing!

Fred Barnes posted this:

"Has a president ever been less successful on a trip overseas than President Obama has on his eight-day excursion to Asia?

I've been covering presidents since Gerald Ford and I can't think of one.

Obama struck out on his entire agenda in China and he acquiesced as the Chinese subjected him to the humiliation of a choreographed town hall meeting with student members of the Young Communist League.

And he suffered through a 30-minute news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao in which no questions from the media were allowed.

Presidents normally come away on visits to foreign countries with "deliverables"--that is, tangible signs of progress like a treaty signing.

All Obama got was a list of things the United States and China would do in the future.

There's a name for this: diplomatic boilerplate."

Could it be that the world just does not respect Pres BO?

Could it be that apologizing is coming across as weakness rather than some kind of enlightened leadership?

Yes, he is weak and the world is starting to get it!

Again, he is very popular.....but does anybody fear him? China doesn't as Rich Lowry wrote in Chump Diplomacy!

P.S. This is from The USA Today:

"Creating a climate of collaboration is a worthy goal, but Obama was deferential to the point of looking weak.

He acceded to a joint news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao in which no questions were allowed.

Obama's "town hall" meeting with Chinese students in Shanghai was partially censored within China.

In October, Obama sought to placate his Chinese hosts by refusing to meet with the Dalai Lama until after his China trip, the first time a president had snubbed Tibet's spiritual leader since 1991."