From Bloomberg News:

The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects because the $787 billion approved in February was “a bit too small,” said Laura Tyson, an outside adviser to President Barack Obama.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today “we need to be open to whether or not we need additional action” on an economic stimulus. Speaking in Washington, he cautioned, though, that it is “too early” to assess whether the current stimulus plan is succeeding.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki sought to dampen talk of a second stimulus plan.

“We remain focused on putting thousands of Americans back to work through the implementation of the recovery act and any discussion of a second stimulus is premature at this point,” Psaki said in an e-mailed statement.

Tyson, in a speech in Singapore today, said the current plan “will have a positive effect, but the real economy is a sicker patient.” The package will have a more pronounced impact in the third and fourth quarters, she added, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not the administration.

That’s bad enough but it’s not the worst part of her remarks… CNBC’s Andy Busch points out Tyson’s more worrisome comments (emphasis mine):

If that comment by Tyson wasn’t disturbing enough, she went on to say that the US dollar ought to decline in the longer-term on a trade weighted basis. Tyson believes the US should focus on generating exports and that a lower US dollar would aid in this venture. While the FX markets ignored her commentary, I would wager that China and Russia did not. Given that she was speaking in Singapore and in their backyard, I would say they must feel their worst fears are getting confirmed.

First, she’s advocating expanding the fiscal deficit beyond it’s current distended fiscal bloat. Second, she saying the US should devalue its currency and therefore the value of the government bonds as well. For a foreign holder of US dollars and US government securities, could you have possibly said anything worse? Maybe, she could have said that the health care bill will put a 4% surcharge tax on wage earners over $200k. Oops, that’s what’s being floated by Congressional Democrats now.

As the summer wears on and discontent grows, I expect calls will be louder and louder for additional stimulus from Congressional Democrats to put more Americans to work. I also expect the bond market to become more volatile as the Congressional Budget Office calculates the effects of health care, energy, and the current spending on the deficit. If more Obama officials talk down the US dollar, we’ll create the risk of a fall exit that will neither create jobs nor boost the economy.

That about covers it. I’m not sure the the Obama Administration or the majority of Congressional Democrats want to push for a second stimulus this year… As the Wall Street Journal notes, “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that only 11% of the $308 billion of stimulus spending on discretionary programs will be spent in the current fiscal year, and only about half by the end of fiscal 2010.” They’re caught between a rock and hard place at the moment, they can’t argue on the one that the first stimulus hasn’t had a chance to fully kick in yet while at same arguing that we need more stimulus spending… And as Rasmussen Reports notes a strong majority (60%) oppose a second stimulus this year.

Related

• Inflation Versus Hyperinflation – Real Clear Markets
• Six month economic policy status update – Keith Hennessey

Capturing the full effect of the stimulus at this early stage is difficult, but the administration has set high bars for success. In championing those successes, however, the White House plays a little loose with the facts.

—

BIDEN SAID: First-time home buyers are “driving increased activity in the home sales market,” while mortgage and title companies are hiring more workers because of the first-time home buyer tax credit included in the stimulus bill.

THE FACTS: The report cites anecdotes from a New Orleans business journal to back up the claim. It’s true, buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credits. The IRS said more than 567,000 tax returns claimed the credit in just the first weeks of the program. But that hasn’t provided an immediate turnaround in the market.

Since February, sales of existing homes have fallen 3 percent and new home sales are down .6 percent.

And the number of jobs in the real estate industry has declined by about 20,500, according to the Department of Labor.

There are signs that the housing market is improving. But the numbers suggest that if the market bottomed out, it did so in January, before the stimulus was passed.

—

BIDEN SAID: Employment agencies are placing more workers in jobs, and demand is up since February.

THE FACTS: The report cites an interview with an employment service manager quoted in the same New Orleans business article. The anecdote may be true, but it’s impossible to extrapolate that any further, even just to New Orleans. The city has lost more than 200 jobs since February. Overall, Louisiana lost 16,085 jobs over the same span, according to the Department of Labor.

Read the rest…

Alright first off the White House has to make optimistic statements on the economy for valid political reasons… Simply put if they strike to pessimistic a tone it could undermine public confidence and further weaken the economy.

Anyway with that in mind Biden’s report stikes me as being overly optimistic particarly in light of 637,000 new jobsless claims, a rise in wholesale prices and a drop in oil prices based in part on the increasing U.S. unemployment numbers.

In short, we have spent more bailouts than we did on World War 2!

To be honest I’m not at all surprised, there seems to be disconnect between those inside the beltway and those outside. I tend to think most Americans instinctively don’t like the idea of the government using their money to subsidize someone else’s bad behavior.

Michelle Malkin has details on the growing “Tea Party” movement, AJ Strata thinks “President Obama Is Economically Insane” and James Pethokoukis has more on “The Man Who Talked Back“.

Update (4:00 p.m.): Rick Santelli isn’t alone here’s a few key numbers from a new Rasmussen Poll:

… 55% of American adults say the federal government would be rewarding bad behavior by providing mortgage subsidies to financially troubled homeowners. Among investors, 65% hold that view. … 77% of Republicans and 60% of those not affiliated with either major political party believe the mortgage help subsidizes bad behavior. Most Democrats (51%) disagree.  … 76% of Americans are not willing to pay higher taxes to help people who cannot afford to make their mortgage payments. … 14% say higher taxes for this purpose are okay with them. … 10% are undecided.  … Most Americans–53%–also oppose a plan for the federal government to pay off a portion of the mortgages only for people who can’t afford their current payments. … 32% think it’s a good idea. Support for that plan is even lower among homeowners.  … Just 33% of all adults support having the federal government to pay up to $100,000 of the mortgage balance owned by every single homeowner in America.  … 51% reject such a plan. Even though they would directly benefit, a majority of homeowners (52%) don’t like that plan.

I wouldn’t call it overwhelming opposition but it would seem that American’s aren’t crazy about Pres. Obama’s plan.

Click image to watch.

]]> http://www.jasetaro.com/blog/2009/02/19/chicago-tea-party/feed/ 1 http://www.jasetaro.com/blog/2009/02/19/sniffing-out-a-rat/ http://www.jasetaro.com/blog/2009/02/19/sniffing-out-a-rat/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:36:52 +0000 Jeff http://www.jasetaro.com/blog/?p=1542 The more we learn about the provisions of the recently passed stimulus law the more their is to be concerned about. Byron York writing in today’s Washington Examiner sniffs out a RAT buried in the stimulus law:

You’ve heard a lot about the astonishing spending in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, signed into law this week by President Barack Obama. But you probably haven’t heard about a provision in the bill that threatens to politicize the way allegations of fraud and corruption are investigated — or not investigated — throughout the federal government.

The provision, which attracted virtually no attention in the debate over the 1,073-page stimulus bill, creates something called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it’s known by the few insiders who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs, known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of interference by political appointees or the White House.

In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given the RAT Board the authority to ask “that an inspector general conduct or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation.” If the inspector general doesn’t want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board, he’ll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go forward.

First off how on earth does this do anything to stimulate economy??? It doesn’t so why was it buried in a so called economic stimulus bill?

I don’t know but it stinks to high heaven… As York notes the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board can direct or block investigations by Inspectors General throughout the federal government.  Inspectors General have traditionally had the independence conduct investigations without interference from the White House, Congress or the Department of Justice…  Now, thanks to the RAT Board their investigations can be subjected to whims of partisan politics.

Michael Laprarie over at Wizbang asks “Anyone care to guess the first investigation — all in the name of “accountability and transparency” of course — that the appropriately-named RAT board will “refrain from conducting”? Roland Burris? The Murtha/PMA earmark scandal? Links between Democrats and Allen Stanford? Control of the Census by the White House? Chris Dodd’s sweetheart mortgage deal? Charlie Rangel’s tax problems? Links between lobbyists from the financial sector and prominent Democrats?”

H/T: Hot Air and Wizbang.

Stimulus Law Does Not Require All Americans to Enter Their Medical Records into National System, Dems Say

By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer, CNSNews.com, Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Two top House Democrats told CNSNews.com on Friday that a section in the $787-billion economic stimulus bill that requires the creation of “electronic health records for each person in the United States by 2014” does not mean that the medical records of every American must be included in the new national infrastructure.

In the bill, which passed both chambers of Congress on Friday and which President Obama is scheduled to sign Tuesday, $3 billion is allocated for a “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology” to create and meet the objectives of a strategic plan to build a national infrastructure of “electronic health records for each person in the United States by 2014.”

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and House Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) both told CNSNews.com on Friday that they do not think the law mandates that every American’s health care records must be entered into the national system.

The second deals with exceptions in the law that could make it easier to sell medical records:

‘Exceptions’ in Stimulus Bill Allow Sale of Health Records

By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer, CNSNews.com, Tuesday, February 17, 2009

(CNSNews.com) – It could become easier to sell and exchange the health information of Americans under the economic stimulus package that awaits President Barack Obama’s signature Tuesday.

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that passed Congress last week allocates $19 billion to establish centrally linked health data infrastructure to contain the health information of “each American” by 2014 and to set up the new office of the “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.”

Though the legislation says there is a “prohibition on sale of electronic health records or protected health information,” there are five pages of exceptions to the prohibition that include research, treatment of an individual, or a decision by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive the prohibition.

While the stimulus law’s healthcare provisions are worrying in and of themselves, the bigger concern is that this law was  rushed through congress without any of the normal committee markups and debate. No one seems to know what’s in it. That is in my opinion the height of irresponsibility our elected leaders have a moral and ethical obligation to know what it is they are voting on before they vote to spend billions of dollars of our money.

No surprise really we all knew Specter, Collins and Snowe would vote with the Democrats… While I’m not happy about it I’m not going to jump on the throw them out of the caucus bandwagon. There are other critical votes coming up and I’d rather have their votes, shaky though they may be, in our pocket.

Right now it looks like the bill is going to pass there are 57 yes votes with three Democrats (including Brown) left to vote.)

Erstwhile Republicans Arlen Specter, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe have all voted yes.

More to come…

Update (6:52 p.m.): Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) – Aye… They need 2 more reach the 60 votes needed for passage.

Update (8:05 p.m.): It’s all but done… 59 yeas, just waiting on Brown to make it official. I can’t help but think the framers are turning over in their graves.

I like it, suspending payroll taxes for a year would have a far more immediate effect than anything in the plan being rushed through congress.

Personally, my idea of a stimulus plan would be:

1. Make the Bush Tax cuts permanent.
2. Cut the corporate tax rate from the current 35% rate to 20%.
3. Suspend payroll and capital gains taxes for one year.

What say you?