Democrats’ “Very Specific” Plan to “Outline” More Stimulus

Facing Dismal Economic Reality, Democrats Would Make it Worse With More Failed Stimulus and Job-Destroying Policies

• After President Obama unveiled his latest plan to release a plan for creating jobs, his advisors immediately rushed to dial down expectations. Far from the “very specific” plan the president promised, White House advisors suggested instead that the president would just “outline some ideas.”
• While Obama and Democrats make up their minds about whether their latest plan to create jobs will be a plan or just an outline, a growing number of economists fear that recent economic turmoil may reflect a new normal, with “years” remaining before the U.S. pulls itself out of its current economic struggles.  
• Even as Obama waits for days before releasing his latest jobs plan, or outline, he is continuing to push forward with new job-destroying policies that stifle new investment and economic growth. This job-destroying strategy is leading even fellow Democrats to cry foul.

BACKGROUND 

After President Obama unveiled his latest plan to release a plan for creating jobs, his advisors immediately rushed to dial down expectations. Far from the “very specific” plan the president promised, White House advisors suggested instead that the president would just “outline some ideas.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA, LAST WEEK: “I’LL BE PUTTING FORWARD… A VERY SPECIFIC PLAN TO BOOST THE ECONOMY, TO CREATE JOBS AND TO CONTROL OUR DEFICIT.” (Jake Tapper, “President Announces ‘Very Specific’ Jobs Plan to Come,” ABC News, 8/15/2011) 

WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR DAVID AXELROD: NOT SO FAST, IT’S JUST AN OUTLINE:“ ‘The president is going to outline a short-term plan to accelerate the economy,’ Axelrod said on ABC’s ‘This Week’…” (Phillip A. Klein, “Is Obama’s ‘Specific’ Plan Now Just an Outline?,” The Washington Examiner, 8/22/2011) 

WH ADVISOR ROBERT GIBBS: OBAMA TO “OUTLINE SOME IDEAS,” JUST LIKE HE HAS “OUTLINED IDEAS EVERY DAY HE’S BEEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE”:  “On Meet the Press, Gibbs used similar language, ‘The president is going to outline some ideas, the president has outlined ideas every day he’s been in the White House.’” (Phillip A. Klein, “Is Obama’s ‘Specific’ Plan Now Just an Outline?,” The Washington Examiner, 8/22/2011) 

FORMER PA GOV. ED RENDELL: LAY OUT THE PLAN NOW. “ ‘It’s time for the president to say, ‘Here it is.’ ’ said Rendell on CNBC’s Squawk Box.” (“Rendell to Obama: Put Out that Jobs Plan Now,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/22/2011) 

BUT MAYBE THE “NEW PLAN” IS THE SAME AS THE OLD PLAN: MORE FAILED STIMULUS: “President Obama has decided to press Congress for a new round of stimulus spending…” (Zachary A. Goldfarb and Peter Wallsten, “Obama to Issue New Proposals on Job Creation, Deficit Reduction,” The Washington Post, 8/17/2011) 

While Obama and Democrats make up their minds about whether their latest plan to create jobs will be a plan or just an outline, a growing number of economists fear that recent economic turmoil may reflect a new normal, with “years” remaining before the U.S. pulls itself out of its current economic struggles:  

ECONOMISTS: “RECOVERY COULD BE ONE OF THE LONGEST, MOST DIFFICULT IN U.S. HISTORY”: “But for a coterie of economists who have studied decades of downturns, the recovery from the most recent recession is likely to be one of the most difficult and protracted in U.S. history, simply because of the recession’s unusual nature. If it follows the patterns of other similar crises, the recovery of the U.S. economy could take years, according to influential studies by economists Ken Rogoff and Carmen and Vincent Reinhart.” (Peter Whoriskey, “Recovery Could Be One of the Longest, Most Difficult in U.S. History, Economists Say,” The Washington Post, 8/19/2011)

“FED ECONOMISTS PREDICT A 15 YEAR BEAR MARKET FOR STOCKS.” (Bruce Krasting, “Fed Economists Predict A 15 Year Bear Market for Stocks,” Business Insider, 8/23/2011)

AP SURVEY: ECONOMISTS FORECAST “NO REAL RECOVERY” IN SIGHT. “Another recession isn’t likely over the next 12 months. Neither is any meaningful improvement in the economy. That’s the picture that emerges from an Associated Press survey of leading economists who have grown more pessimistic in recent weeks. They say high unemployment and weak consumer spending will hold back the U.S. economy into 2012. … The likelihood of a recession within the next 12 months is 26 percent.” (“No Recession Ahead, but No Real Recovery Either,” Associated Press, 8/23/2011)

LIBERAL ECONOMIST JEFFREY SACHS: “THERE’S NEVER BEEN A PLAN,” STIMULUS FAILED AND “PRETTY ODD” THAT OBAMA’S “ON VACATION RIGHT NOW”: “We’re almost three years into this administration, and there’s never been a plan. And that’s what everybody feels. And the president didn’t lead. He waited. The quintessential image, sadly, of an administration that I supported and hoped for much better, is the president waiting by the phone to hear what Congress calls to tell him. It doesn’t work in this country that way. It’s not a matter that it’s August. It’s a matter that it’s August 2011. So we’ve been drifting for a very long time. And we’ve been drifting down. And we had a short-term plan that failed. A short-term stimulus that was supposed to get the economy back on track, but it failed. And now we have nothing behind it. And we have no agreements, and we have no leadership. And, frankly, I do think it’s pretty odd the president’s on vacation right now. Normally I wouldn’t care about such things, but the world markets are in deep crisis. It’s no joke. This isn’t just an up-and-down little blip. This is a very serious situation.” (“Economist Jeffrey Sachs Hits Obama: ‘There’s Never Been A Plan,’” Real Clear Politics, 8/19/2011) 

Even as Obama waits for days before releasing his latest jobs plan, or outline, he is continuing to push forward with new job-destroying policies that stifle new investment and economic growth. This job-destroying strategy is leading even fellow Democrats to cry foul:

WSJ: OBAMA POLICIES A LESSON IN “HOW NOT TO GROW AN ECONOMY”:“Financial markets are in turmoil, investors are fleeing to safe havens, and the chances of another recession are rising. This would seem to be a moment when government should be especially careful to do no harm, to talk and walk softly, and to reassure business that Washington wants more private investment and hiring.

“But this is not how our current government behaves. Day after day brings headlines of another legislative, regulatory or enforcement action that gives CEOs and investors reason to hunker down, retain as much cash as possible and ride out whatever storms are ahead. This is not the way to nurture an already fragile recovery, much less help the economy to endure shocks from Europe, natural disasters or a big bank failure. …

“But the cascade of such stories day after day—about new regulations, new prosecutions or fines against business, new obstacles to investment, more spending and higher taxes—contributes to the larger lack of business and consumer confidence.

“It’s impossible to quantify the impact of such policies on lost GDP or lost job creation, but everyone in the real economy understands how such signals work. The great tragedy of the Obama nonrecovery is that this Administration still doesn’t realize the damage it is doing.” (Editorial, “How Not to Grow an Economy,” The Wall Street Journal, 8/22/2011)

HOUSE DEMOCRAT REFUSES TO ENDORSE OBAMA RE-ELECT, SAYS HE’LL “WAIT AND SEE”: “Rep. Bill Owens, a Plattsburgh Democrat, declined to immediately endorse President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012, saying he’ll have to ‘wait and see.’

“ ‘My view of this is that the election is going to come down to the economy and who has the better jobs plan,’ Mr. Owens said. ‘That’s ultimately what people are concerned about. I’m going to wait and see what everybody comes forward with.’”(“Rep. Owens Declines to Endorse Obama in 2012,” Watertown Daily Times, 8/22/2011)

TOP DEMOCRAT DONORS THINK OBAMA “SCREWED UP THE ECONOMY OR [TOOK] BUSH’S BAD ECONOMY AND MADE IT WORSE.” “John Coale, a former trial lawyer who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats over the years, agreed that Texas had once been the “golden goose” for plaintiffs’ attorneys. …  “Most of the guys I know don’t like [Obama], think he’s screwed up the economy or taken Bush’s bad economy and made it worse.” (Alexander Burns, “Trial Lawyers Prep for War on Perry,” Politico, 8/22/2011)