Shocker: Obama Is Featherbedding The Stimulus Jobs
The Washington Examiner points out that Obama may has well just given 640,000 unemployed people $260,000 each as that probably would have had about the same impact as all his “stimulus” spending.
Featherbedding occurs when paychecks are issued for nonexistent employees and the money goes directly into union coffers. Thousands of the jobs Obama officials say were saved or created by the stimulus program are no more real than those invisible positions invented by unions to bulk up their treasuries. We know this to be the case because as Obama’s chief economist, Christina Romer, admitted several weeks ago, “It’s very hard to say exactly because you don’t know what the baseline is, right, because you don’t know what the economy would have done without [the economic stimulus program].”
Even if we take at face value the White House claim that it created or saved all these jobs with approximately $150 billion of the economic stimulus money, a little simple math shows the taxpayers aren’t getting any bargains here: $150 billion divided by 650,000 jobs equals $230,000 per job saved or created. Instead of taking all that time required to write the 1,588-page stimulus bill, Congress could have passed a one-pager saying the first 650,000 jobless persons to report for work at the White House will receive a voucher worth $230,000 redeemable at the university, community college or trade school of their choice. That would have been enough for a degree plus a hefty down payment on a mortgage.
Truth be told, the best thing the Obama administration could do for the economy right now is to just stop doing things. Cancel the rest of the “stimulus” spending. Cut spending in general. Roll back government regulations. And announce that you won’t be imposing any new taxes or regulations for the next 4 years.
The economy would be on the path to a rebound within months.
