Clyburn Insulting Our Intelligence
Earlier tonight, I read a post on the Hill Magazine’s blog quoting Majority Whip James Clyburn as saying something that stunned me. Here’s what Rep. Clyburn said that I found stunningly stupid:
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the House majority whip, said that trying to find greater savings in the budget, which was released by President Barack Obama this morning, wouldn’t help alleviate the recession.
“We’ve got to make some decisions here as to what’s in the best interests of our country going forward,” Clyburn said during an appearance on Fox News. “And I think the best interest is to invest in education, control these deficits, while at the same time trying to get people back to work.”
“We’re not going to save our way out of this recession,” the majority whip added. “We’ve got to spend our way out of this recession, and I think most economists know that.”
It’s obvious that Rep. Clyburn either thinks that we’re stupid enough to believe that another Porkulus bill will accomplish what the first Porkulus bill didn’t or he actually thinks that that’s the solution to the economy. I don’t know which answer scares me more.
There’s little proof that raising taxes on small businesses, America’s job creation engine, during a recession will get the economy running again. There’s even less proof that pursuing a radical agenda will improve the economy. In fact, there’s abundant proof that pursuing a radical agenda is hurting the U.S. economy.
Rep. Thad McCotter said something important when I interviewed him that made so much sense that it hit me right between the eyes. Here’s what Rep. McCotter said:
I then asked whether signing a health care bill into law might start the next round of layoffs. I said that I was basing that on businessmen and women talking about not hiring because of uncertain labor costs. Chairman McCotter said that he’s warned Republicans that just knowing what the labor costs are isn’t enough. He said that knowing that you’re being taxed too much won’t help job creation.
Chairman McCotter said that it’s important that we bring certainty to the labor costs but that we also make labor costs affordable enough so that businesses have an incentive to start hiring and growing their companies again. According to Chairman McCotter, that isn’t possible without controlling spending and reducing government’s intrusion into our lives.
In other words, the key to reviving the economy is in not pursuing a radical agenda that, if passed, would impose greater burdens on small businesses. Put differently, we’re better off if government just got out of the way so entrepreneurs would have an incentive to invest in their businesses, whether that means buying new equipment or hiring more people.
The economy will pick up when small businesses know that they won’t be subjected to this administration’s and the Democrats’ majority anti-business agenda. All of Mr. Clyburn’s pork won’t get the economy growing again if businesses think that they’ll continue to have a bullseye painted on their backs.
Adding more pork to future generations’ tabs won’t cut it anymore. That might work to get a few Democrats elected in relatively safe districts but it won’t help those Democrats representing swing districts, especially in this TEA Party election environment.
Clyburn suggested that talk of reducing the deficit was moot as long as the economy remained sluggish in the foreseeable future.
“You’re not going to bring down the deficits, you’re not going to eliminate these problems without growing this economy,” he said. “And you’re not going to grow the economy by wishing it; you’ve got to invest in it. And that’s what we’re doing with this budget.”
With all due respect to Mr. Clyburn, this administration and this Democratic congress hasn’t ‘invested’ in anything other than their political allies. That’s why the term crony capitalism is increasingly used. This isn’t about investing in all the different types of infrastructure. It’s about paying off the Democratic Party’s political allies in time for this year’s midterm elections.
There’s one thing that the Democrats’ spend their way out of: majority status in the House. That’s something I wouldn’t oppose.
Technorati Tags: Spending, Pork, Porkulus, Deficits, James Clyburn, House Majority Whip, Inflation, Tax Increases, Unemployment, Cap And Tax, Democrats, Thad McCotter, Small Businesses, Job Creation, Economy, Fiscal Restraint, Republicans, Election 2010
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:35 am
A significant point related to your next-to-last paragraph, Gary, is that investment in the unions (especially the likes of SEIU, but all unions, including teachers’ and government workers’) is as likely to spur economic growth as investment in government jobs: not at all.
Every penny invested in government growth is at least a penny not capable of aiding the country’s economic recovery, and the same goes for any monies “invested” in union growth. The unions will simply invest that in buying more candidates, and removes the incentive to produce more (hence, economic growth).
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I swear to God, if I hear that misuse of the word “investing”, as if pissing away taxpayers money on more dumbass governemnt welfare programs is somehow the same thing as purchasing real capital and expansion of industry, im gong to rip out whosever liberal throat it comes from!
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Not to change the subject, but I noticed tonight that our economy must be doing a little better - I’m getting about 5x the scam emails for taking advantage of “Obama’s tax incentives” for going “green” in and on my house, just in the last month.
“Course, if I know the type of people they are (most of them dishonest up front, but on the off-chance one is legit I’d bet my neighbor’s farm he’s either on unemployment or guv assistance of one sort or another) they’re crying all the way to the bank for hitting up suckers dumb enough to fall for a scam.