The shorthand definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting to get different results. Based on what we’re learning about Obama’s jobs speech, he is doing just that.
President Barack Obama, facing waning confidence among Americans in his economic stewardship, plans some $300 billion in tax cuts and government spending as part of a job-creating package, U.S. media reported on Tuesday.
The price tag of the proposed package, to be announced by Obama in a nationally televised speech to Congress on Thursday, would be offset by other cuts that the president would outline, CNN reported, citing Democratic sources.
Bloomberg News said the plan would inject more than $300 billion into the economy next year through tax cuts, spending on infrastructure, and aid to state and local governments.
Obama would offset those short-term costs by calling on Congress to raise tax revenues in a deficit-cutting proposal he will lay out next week, the news agency reported, without citing sources.
All of this is just more of the same. The best thing the government can do is stop piling up debt, lift its regulatory boot off of the economy’s throat, and get itself out of the way of the private sector. Whether Obama has the will to roll back the 4,256 regulations set to impact the economy this year or not — and he probably doesn’t, given that one of them is ObamaCare — his own party’s left flank stands ready to stop him.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer said she hopes green groups sue President Barack Obama over his decision to punt a regulation curbing smog-creating emissions until at least 2013.
Boxer — whose relatively mild reaction to Obama’s surprise announcement Friday was in contrast to heated rebukes by environmental groups — said she will stand by those groups in any litigation to force the administration to issue a final ozone rule that goes beyond what was enacted by President George W. Bush.
When these groups sue the federal government, they tend to get their legal fees paid for by…the federal government. It’s a great scam that has made many Big Green movers and shakers very rich while keeping the green movement very well funded with taxpayer dollars. But getting back to Obama’s insanity, his speech is now set up to fail. It won’t be as interesting as the GOP debate, his plan won’t be as serious as Romney’s or Huntsman’s jobs plans, and it will be overshadowed by the NFL kickoff that follows. The Won has painted himself into a fine corner, fit for padded walls and a funny little jacket with arms that tie in the back.
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