“Stimulus Price Tag Soars as Jobless Rate Rises” reports:
“The economic stimulus bill’s price tag has risen to $862 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday — a $75 billion jump that’s a result in part to the fact that, despite the spending, joblessness has risen and the government is paying out more than expected on unemployment benefits.
“The CBO, in a new report, also said spending in fiscal 2010 will push the deficit to more than $1.3 trillion, or nearly the record $1.4 trillion deficit recorded in 2009.
“‘It’s hard to applaud a $1.3 trillion deficit,’ said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, adding Democrats have spent with abandon. ‘This is completely and totally unacceptable. We’re going to have to do something a lot more serious than this rather modest freeze suggestion that we’re going to hear [Wednesday] night.’”
WATCHDOG: That “…the government is paying out more than expected on unemployment benefits” is evidence that, during times of huge unemployment (at least 15%, all things considered) you can either stimulate the economy through spending that generates jobs, or you can spend nearly the same money paying people to sit idly at home.
As for McConnell, it is hard to determine whether his is simply blind ignorance or craven opportunism, but what he is proposing will likely lead to the first real depression of the 21st century. It was tried in 1936 and brought on the second depression of the 20th century in 1937. Growl!
