Friday
Jun182010
Stimulus Has Been A Bust, Says Ohio Republican
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 12:52PM
By Miles Wolf Tamboli
Talk Radio News Service
Hours before President Barack Obama spoke in Columbus, Ohio about the benefits his stimulus bill has provided to the job-crippled state, Ohio State Auditor and candidate for Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor (R) told reporters that the bill has "failed."
The controversial American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly referred to as the stimulus bill, aimed to enhance job creation and spur spending through an investment of $862 billion dollars into the U.S. economy.
While a growing number of economists are coming out in support of the stimulus and its effects, a large amount of funding went into sources which can't be easily quantified - a point Taylor was quick to address on Friday.
"The only jobs created by the stimulus package and government spending are government jobs."
Taylor clarified her statement, explaining that, "half of the $3.3 billion dollars Ohio has received so far has gone to run Medicaid, not invest in job creation."
At 10.7%, Taylor's state has the tenth highest unemployment rate in the nation, a figure that can be partially attributed to the struggling auto market, as well as the relocating of a number of local steel jobs to countries oversees.
Overall, the gubernatorial candidate was critical, yet constructive in her judgment of the stimulus bill.
"When the federal stimulus bill was enacted in February 2009, our unemployment rate was 9.4%; today it's 10.7%. I would guess that if you asked the 641,000 Ohioans who are out of work, 'has the stimulus worked?' I think they would agree that it has not."
"What we really need to do is allow our small businesses to invest here in Ohio and create jobs and create an economic environment where they can do that," Taylor added. "The only long term solution is creating a pro-growth business climate by reducing government spending."
Talk Radio News Service
Hours before President Barack Obama spoke in Columbus, Ohio about the benefits his stimulus bill has provided to the job-crippled state, Ohio State Auditor and candidate for Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor (R) told reporters that the bill has "failed."
The controversial American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly referred to as the stimulus bill, aimed to enhance job creation and spur spending through an investment of $862 billion dollars into the U.S. economy.
While a growing number of economists are coming out in support of the stimulus and its effects, a large amount of funding went into sources which can't be easily quantified - a point Taylor was quick to address on Friday.
"The only jobs created by the stimulus package and government spending are government jobs."
Taylor clarified her statement, explaining that, "half of the $3.3 billion dollars Ohio has received so far has gone to run Medicaid, not invest in job creation."
At 10.7%, Taylor's state has the tenth highest unemployment rate in the nation, a figure that can be partially attributed to the struggling auto market, as well as the relocating of a number of local steel jobs to countries oversees.
Overall, the gubernatorial candidate was critical, yet constructive in her judgment of the stimulus bill.
"When the federal stimulus bill was enacted in February 2009, our unemployment rate was 9.4%; today it's 10.7%. I would guess that if you asked the 641,000 Ohioans who are out of work, 'has the stimulus worked?' I think they would agree that it has not."
"What we really need to do is allow our small businesses to invest here in Ohio and create jobs and create an economic environment where they can do that," Taylor added. "The only long term solution is creating a pro-growth business climate by reducing government spending."
Geithner Thanks TARP For Record-Low Interest Rates
Talk Radio News Service
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Tuesday that due, in part, to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), credit costs have plummeted, creating new opportunities for homeowners and small businesses.
"The financial system is in a much stronger position, and because of that, the cost of credit for homeowners, for consumers, for businesses has fallen significantly," Geithner said. "Rates for mortgages and auto loans, for example, are at historic lows."
Congressional Oversight Committee Chair Elizabeth Warren pressured Geithner to provide a "metric" for TARP's success in protecting American citizens from the mortgage crisis.
"You set aside $50 billion, and what do you have to show for it? What is the metric for success here," she questioned. "Is it 120,000 families saved over fifteen months, at a time when 186,000 are posted for new defaults and foreclosures every month? Is that a successful program? How do we decide when the program is working?"
Despite reassurances from the Treasury Secretary, lawmakers were left wondering in what ways to measure the success of Tarp before the program's expected termination in October.
"This hearing should be a eulogy for TARP. We are working very hard to put this program to rest," Geithner said. "It's not going to solve all the problems facing the country, it wasn't designed to, but it's done the essential thing it was designed to do and, therefore, our expectation is that it will be allowed to expire."
The Treasury Secretary also used the hearing as an opportunity to show his support for financial reform, which he sees as a chance to shift focus from crisis response to crisis prevention.
"The House and the Senate are now very close to enacting the strongest set of reforms we've considered as a country since the Great Depression," said Geithner. "The reforms will end 'Too Big To Fail' [and] non-bank financial firms, such as AIG, will no longer be allowed to exploit regulatory cracks."
Geithner said that the best thing Congress can do to tackle the remaining credit problems facing America is to pass the set of credit programs that benefit small businesses.