What do you call a promise that is broken? A lie?
In an interview with CNBC in January, the president promised the stimulus bill would keep unemployment at 8 percent and new jobs would be created. Yet since the passage of the $787 billion stimulus in February, America hasn’t reduced unemployment. In fact, we have lost 3.2 million jobs.
President Obama argues that although jobs have been lost, the stimulus has “saved or created” one million jobs. But what is going to happen when the stimulus money dries up? Those jobs will be lost. In effect, the stimulus bill will have lost over four million jobs. This is inexcusable.
Instead of allowing more jobs to be lost, the president should take the remaining $500 billion that has not been spent from the stimulus funds, and redirect that towards cutting the payroll tax in half for two years. This cut would give every American more in take-home pay, and help businesses find room to add more employees to their payroll.
The last nine months have proven President Obama’s stimulus plan has failed. If the administration thinks that three more months of the same approach will work, they are not only gambling their party’s future, they are gambling the fate of millions of unemployed or soon-to-be unemployed Americans. Read more in my column in today’s Washington Examiner.