Obama's Economic Stimulus Package vs. GOP Obstructionism---oh, sorry: "Skepticism"

by Damozel | It's the end of the world as we know it---thanks mainly to Bush and his pals in Congress, including Mitch McConnell---and McConnell is worried now about "unprecedented government spending"?   Late is not always better than never.  But  now...now McConnell is "voicing skepticism."

"As of right now, Americans are left with more questions than answers about this unprecedented government spending, and I believe the taxpayers deserve to know a lot more about where it will be spent before we consider passing it," McConnell said in a statement, which will be publicly issued later today.  (WaPo)

At My DD, Charles Lemos nails the real motivation here.  "Let's call it what it is. It's not skepticism, this is obstructionism."  John Aravosis calls it "Mitch McConnell's hurricane Katrina moment" and it's pretty much a perfect analogy:

The economic disaster has already been forecast, the storm has begun, and McConnell, like his mentor George Bush, is out to lunch, acting like it's just another day. We're going to name this next Depression after the Republicans who dawdled while our economy fell off the cliff. Politics is more important to the Republicans than our very survival.  (AMERICAblog, emphasis added)

Further to this point, Joe Sudbay remarks:

The Senate Republicans have been the most destructive political force in the country. They're not changing the way they do business. And, for some reason, despite the loss of 25% of the GOP Senate caucus over the past two years, McConnell thinks the same strategy will work now.

What is the name of the disorder that makes someone keep blindly following the same program over and over and over, even after all the evidence is in that not only did it not work, but it never could have worked, and the words EPIC FAIL have been stamped on it in letters a thousand feet high?

Democrats are, quite literally, agog.  But we shouldn't be.  The Republican 'base" being what it is, this sort of reflexive posturing is simply a product of the all-too-well-founded conviction that you CAN fool some of the people all of the time.   It's really not necessary to fool them all.

Hale "Bonddad" Stewart speaks specifically to McConnell's role in all this.

Let me get this straight. A Senator who oversaw one of the largest expansions in government spending in history is now concerned about spending? According to the CBO, total government outlays under Bush and the Republican controlled Congress from 2001 -2006 increased from $1.8 trillion to $2.4 trillion -- that's an increase of 33%.

At the same time -- again under Republican rule from 2001 to 2006 -- the total debt outstanding increased from $5,807,463,412,200.06 at the end of fiscal 2001 to $8,506,973,899,215.23. And now a man who helped to oversee this is complaining about spending? Excuse me?

Stewart explains for the benefit of McConnell and other "skeptics" who wish to obstruct the plan that if C+I+E+G = GDP---where C = consumer spending, I-investment, E=net exports in a country running that mammoth trade deficit---ONLY G (as in "government spending") can save us now.  "You dolt," he adds for good measure.  

Nate Silver examines in some depth the reasoning that ought to be at work here for any sane GOPper still in Congress and that will be at work for the half dozen or so who are.  He comes close---so close---to paraphrasing Mark Twain, which would have been awesome.

"Imagine for a moment that you are a Republican Congressman," Silver begins.  The next lines should have been, "Then imagine for a moment you are an idiot.  But I repeat myself."

Memeorandum....for more.

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Comments

[Flowerplough]

RE: Obama's Stimulus

"Everyone knows Americans consume too much. What was it that then Sen. Obama said on the subject? "We can't just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert and keep consuming 25 percent of the world's resources with just 4 percent of the world's population, and expect the rest of the world to say, 'You just go ahead, we'll be fine.'"

And boy, we took the great man's words to heart. SUV sales have nose-dived, and 72 is no longer your home's thermostat setting but its current value expressed as a percentage of what you paid for it.

If I understand then Sen. Obama's logic, in a just world Americans would be 4 percent of the population and consume 4 percent of the world's resources. And in these past few months we've made an excellent start toward that blessed utopia: Americans are driving smaller cars, buying smaller homes, giving smaller Christmas presents. And yet, strangely, President-elect Barack Obama doesn't seem terribly happy about the Obamafication of the U.S. economy. He's proposing some 5.7 bazillion dollar "stimulus" package or whatever it is now to "stimulate" it back into its bad old ways."

-Mark Steyn

[Flowerplough]

"Everyone knows Americans consume too much. What was it that then Sen. Obama said on the subject? "We can't just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert and keep consuming 25 percent of the world's resources with just 4 percent of the world's population, and expect the rest of the world to say, 'You just go ahead, we'll be fine.'"

And boy, we took the great man's words to heart. SUV sales have nose-dived, and 72 is no longer your home's thermostat setting but its current value expressed as a percentage of what you paid for it.

If I understand then Sen. Obama's logic, in a just world Americans would be 4 percent of the population and consume 4 percent of the world's resources. And in these past few months we've made an excellent start toward that blessed utopia: Americans are driving smaller cars, buying smaller homes, giving smaller Christmas presents. And yet, strangely, President-elect Barack Obama doesn't seem terribly happy about the Obamafication of the U.S. economy. He's proposing some 5.7 bazillion dollar "stimulus" package or whatever it is now to "stimulate" it back into its bad old ways."

-Mark Steyn