An Undo List for Democrats

If Democrats Want to Help the Economy, They Can Start By Undoing Their Failed Agenda That Has Made a Bad Economy Worse 

• President Obama will speak Tuesday afternoon to again try to defend his failed economic record, no doubt with calls for more of the same failed stimulus spending.
• Instead of recycling failed policies, Democrats should undo the economic harm caused by three years of their failed policies. Here’s a to-do list that actually would create jobs: reducing the national debt ballooned by their $800 billion stimulus, repealing the government takeover of healthcare, revoking the job-destroying new regulations from Obama’s EPA and undoing the presidential veto of the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline.
• While Democrats double down on failure, American families are paying the price in the form of an economy that remains weak with high unemployment expected to last for years.

President Obama will speak Tuesday afternoon to again try to defend his failed economic record, no doubt with calls for more of the same failed stimulus spending:

OBAMA TO GIVE CONGRESS “‘TO DO’ LIST” (READ: CALLS FOR MORE FAILED STIMULUS): (Jackie Calmes, “Obama Hands Congress Economic ‘To Do’ List,”The New York Times, 5/7/2012) 

PROPOSALS SIMPLY “PACKAGE” MORE “IDEAS HE HAS PROPOSED BEFORE”: (Jackie Calmes, “Obama Hands Congress Economic ‘To Do’ List,” The New York Times, 5/7/2012)

RANKING DEMOCRAT ON HOUSE BUDGET CHRIS VAN HOLLEN STILL CALLING FOR MORE FAILED STIMULUS: “First the most important thing we can do to begin to reduce the deficit is get the economy moving again and the president has proposed a jobs plan including a major infrastructure investment plan, which Republicans continue to sit on.” (Remarks from Rep. Chris Van Hollen, MSNBC’s Jansing & Co., 5/7/2012)

OBAMA’S BUDGET PROPOSAL WAS “LADEN WITH STIMULUS-STYLE INITIATIVES”: “The president’s plan is laden with stimulus-style initiatives: sharp increases for highway construction and school modernization, and a new tax credit for businesses that add jobs.” (Andrew Taylor, “Obama Budget: New Spending with Recycled Tax Ideas,” Associated Press, 2/11/2012)

Instead of recycling failed policies, Democrats should undo the economic harm caused by three years of their failed policies. Here’s a to-do list that actually would create jobs: reducing the national debt ballooned by their $800 billion stimulus, repealing the government takeover of healthcare, revoking the job-destroying new regulations from Obama’s EPA and undoing the presidential veto of the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline:

AN UNDO LIST FOR DEMOCRATS:

1. REDUCE THE NATIONAL DEBT BALLOONED BY THE $830 BILLION FAILED STIMULUS

AP: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 8.1% AS “EMPLOYERS PULLED BACK ON HIRING,” “A SOBERING REMINDER THAT THE ECONOMY REMAINS WEAK”:(Christopher Rugaber, “Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.1 Percent as U.S. Adds 115,000 Jobs in April,” Associated Press, 5/4/2012)

DEMS PROMISED THEIR FAILED STIMULUS WOULD BRING UNEMPLOYMENT BELOW 6% BY NOW: (Jim Pethokoukis, “The Awful April Jobs Report: Is the ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate 11.1%?”, The American, 5/4/2012)

PRICE TAG FOR FAILED STIMULUS: $831 BILLION: (“CBO’s Estimates of ARRA’s Economic Impact,” Congressional Budget Office, 2/22/2012)

TOTAL DEBT INCREASE UNDER OBAMA NOW AT $5.04 TRILLION: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Treasury Direct, Accessed 5/7/2012) 

STUDY: ECONOMIC GROWTH TAKES 25% HIT FROM DEBT LEVELS MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF ECONOMY: “In a paper published today on the National Bureau of Economic Research’s website, they found that countries with debts exceeding 90 percent of the economy historically have experienced subpar economic growth for more than 20 years. That has left output at the end of the period a quarter below where it would have been otherwise.” (Rich Miller, “Reinharts, Rogoff See Huge Output Losses From High Debt,”Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/30/2012)

CURRENT U.S. DEBT LEVEL AT 101% OF THE SIZE OF THE ECONOMY: NATIONAL DEBT STANDS AT $15.67 TRILLION, LARGER THAN THE NATION’S $15.46 TRILLION ECONOMY: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,”TreasuryDirect.Gov, Accessed 5/7/2012; “National Economic Accounts,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, Accessed 5/7/2012)

OMB: UNDER DEMOCRATS’ FAILED POLICIES, DEBT HAS EXCEEDED 90% OF GDP FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS AND WILL CONTINUE TO FOR YEARS: (Rich Miller, “Reinharts, Rogoff See Huge Output Losses From High Debt,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/30/2012)

2. REPEAL DEMOCRATS’ GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTHCARE

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SURVEY: 73% OF JOB CREATORS CITED OBAMACARE AS AN “OBSTACLE TO HIRING NEW WORKERS”: (Peter Schroeder, “Survey: Uncertainty, Gas Prices Slowing Hiring by Small Business,” The Hill, 4/16/2012)

OBAMA’S OWN JOBS COUNCIL SAYS OBAMACARE’S SHEER SIZE IS CAUSING CRIPPLING UNCERTAINTY FOR EMPLOYERS: “PPACA’s size alone makes understanding the law and applying it difficult for even the largest companies.  As one Council member observed, the law is nearly twice as long as Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Adding to the uncertainty, many of the most significant (and potentially costly) aspects of the law are not yet known – they must be developed and established through regulations.  These regulations must be proposed, debated, finalized, and finally implemented. The complete process will take several years.  The documents provided by members of the Council clearly show that this lengthy process creates uncertainty.” (“Higher Costs, More Confusion, Less Coverage: How the Health Care Law Affects Employer-Provided Health Care Coverage,” House Energy and Commerce Committee, April 2012)

OBAMACARE TO COST $1.76 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS: (Phillip Klein, “CBO: ObamaCare to Cost $1.76 Trillion Over 10 Years,” The Washington Examiner, 3/13/2012)

TOTAL COSTS FOR OBAMACARE: $2.6 TRILLION: (“ObamaCare: A Budget-Busting, Job-Killing Healthcare Law,” Speaker of the House John Boehner, 1/6/2011)

3. REVOKE THE JOB-DESTROYING NEW REGULATIONS FROM OBAMA’S EPA

SURVEY: UNCERTAINTY FROM REGULATORY ONSLAUGHT  HURTING JOB CREATION: “Growing confidence in the economy is not leading to an influx of new hiring, as businesses fret about uncertainty driven in large part by Washington and growing fuel costs, according to a new survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“ ‘This survey confirms that slow gains in economic growth are being undermined by uncertainty over rising gas prices, an onslaught of pending regulations, and stalled pro-growth bills in Congress,’ said Dr. Martin Regalia, the business lobby’s chief economist.” (Peter Schroeder, “Survey: Uncertainty, Gas Prices Slowing Hiring by Small Business,” The Hill, 4/16/2012)

OBAMA’S EPA RAMMING TRYING TO RAM THROUGH REGULATIONS THAT “EVEN A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS REJECTED”: “The EPA is seeking to impose, by fiat, greenhouse gas reductions that even a Democratic Congress rejected with the Waxman-Markey bill in 2009, and that would drive policy at least 13 years past this Administration. It’s all more than a tad authoritarian. Welcome to the Obama-Jackson Presidency.” (Editorial, “The United States of EPA,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/28/2011) 

13% OF COAL POWERED ENERGY BEING SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF NEW EPA RULES: (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012) 

UNITED MINE WORKERS CHIEF: “LISA JACKSON SHOT US IN WASHINGTON”: “‘The Navy SEALs shot Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Lisa Jackson shot us in Washington,’ Cecil Roberts, president of the powerful union, said during an interview Tuesday on the West Virginia radio show MetroNews Talkline.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Mine Union Boss: Coal Industry Could Suffer Same Fate as Bin Laden,” The Hill, 4/4/2012)

REPORT: “EPA REGS COULD HAMPER OIL, NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION, REPORT SAYS”: (Ben Wolfgang, “EPA Regs Could Hamper Oil, Natural Gas Production, Report Says,” The Washington Times, 3/15/2012) 

OIL PRODUCTION COULD DROP 37%, NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION COULD DROP 11% DUE TO EPA RULES:  (Ben Wolfgang, “EPA Regs Could Hamper Oil, Natural Gas Production, Report Says,” The Washington Times, 3/15/2012)

“UNTOLD STORY” BEHIND RISING GAS PRICES IS REFINERIES BEING DRIVEN OUT OF BUSINESS “IN NO SMALL PART BY COSTLY EPA RULES”: (Editorial, “EPA’s Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis,” Investor’s Business Daily, 3/22/2012)

IN RECENT MONTHS, THREE REFINERIES SUPPLYING HALF EAST COAST GASOLINE HAVE CLOSED:  (Editorial, “EPA’s Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis,” Investor’s Business Daily, 3/22/2012)

4. UNDO OBAMA’S VETO OF THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE’S SHOVEL-READY JOBS

PRESIDENT OBAMA REJECTED THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE: (Aamer Madhani and Susan Davis, “Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline from Canada to Texas,” USA Today, 1/18/2012)

20,000: THE NUMBER OF SHOVEL-READY JOBS FROM KEYSTONE PIPELINE BLOCKED BY OBAMA: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)

130,000 JOBS: THE LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE, ALSO BLOCKED BY OBAMA: (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011) 

KEYSTONE DEVELOPER SPENT 3.5 YEARS AND AT LEAST $1.9 BILLION WAITING FOR THE DEMOCRATS’ KEYSTONE APPROVAL: “The administration seems to think that it can use environmental claptrap to convince the American public that it is behaving ethically and legally in denying the TransCanada permit, even after the company has spent $1.9 billion over 40 months carefully adhering to the federal regulatory process. And a lot of Americans will not have the time or inclination to get into the weeds on this issue.” (Mary Anastasia O’Grady, “Obama’s Keystone Delay Flouts the Law,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/6/2012)

INSTEAD, OBAMA REJECTED KEYSTONE AND FLOATED A RECONSIDERATION AFTER THE 2012 ELECTIONS, MAKING TOTAL KEYSTONE DELAY MORE THAN FOUR YEARS: (Aamer Madhani and Susan Davis, “Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline from Canada to Texas,” USA Today, 1/18/2012)

NATIONAL JOURNAL ANALYSIS: “U.S. ECONOMY MISSED OUT ON CREATING UP TO A QUARTER-MILLION JOBS” IN 2011 BECAUSE IT “LACKED [ENERGY] INFRASTRUCTURE”: “The U.S. economy missed out on creating up to a quarter-million jobs this year because it lacked the infrastructure to capitalize on a rare divergence in global oil prices, a National Journal analysis shows.” (Jim Tankersley, “A Crude Hit to the Recovery,”National Journal, 11/29/2011)

While Democrats double down on failure, American families are paying the price in the form of an economy that remains weak with high unemployment expected to last for years:

“U.S. ECONOMY GROWS AT TEPID 2.2% PACE, MISSES ESTIMATES”: (“U.S. Economy Grows at Tepid 2.2% Rate, Misses Estimates,” Reuters, 4/27/2012) 

NEW YORK TIMES: “AMERICA’S 13.7 MILLION JOBLESS WORKERS STILL LOOK PRETTY DISCOURAGED”: “But no matter which hopeful explanation you choose, America’s 13.7 million jobless workers still look pretty discouraged. … An estimated 342,000 Americans dropped out of the job market altogether in April. That is why the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent — not because more workers found jobs, but because so many people left the work force.” (Catherine Rampell, “Reasons Abound for Ebb in Job Growth,” The New York Times, 5/4/2012)

“UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS DROPPING FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS”—AMERICANS QUIT THE LABOR FORCE IN DESPERATION: (Laurent Belsie, “Unemployment Rate Hits Three-Year Low. Hooray? No, Boo!,” The Christian Science Monitor, 5/4/2012)

350,000 AMERICANS GAVE UP LOOKING FOR WORK IN APRIL: (Laurent Belsie, “Unemployment Rate Hits Three-Year Low. Hooray? No, Boo!,” The Christian Science Monitor, 5/4/2012)

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION “HAS REACHED A 30-YEAR LOW”: “While the economy added 115,000 net jobs in April, some 350,000 Americans gave up looking for work. That has the effect of reducing the unemployment rate because, by the federal government’s calculation, those people no longer count as part of the labor force.  As a result, the share of Americans who are part of the labor force – either working or actively looking for work – has reached a 30-year low.” (Laurent Belsie, “Unemployment Rate Hits Three-Year Low. Hooray? No, Boo!,” The Christian Science Monitor, 5/4/2012)

LOWEST LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION SINCE 1981: (Tweet from Jim Pethokoukis, The American, 5/4/2012)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WOULD BE 11.1% IF LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION SAME AS AT THE BEGINNING OF OBAMA’S TERM: (Jim Pethokoukis, “The Awful April Jobs Report: Is the ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate 11.1%?”, The American, 5/4/2012)

UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE AT 14.5%: (Jim Pethokoukis, “The Awful April Jobs Report: Is the ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate 11.1%?”, The American, 5/4/2012)

SAN FRANCISCO FED’S WILLLIAMS: “RESTORING FULL EMPLOYMENT WILL TAKE YEARS”: (Aki Ito, “Fed’s Williams Says Restoring Full Employment Will Take Years,” Bloomberg, 5/3/2012)

UNEMPLOYMENT MORE THAN 7 PERCENT THROUGH 2014: “Economic growth, though, will likely stay ‘moderate’ for the next few years, Williams said, and the unemployment rate will fall to about 7 percent by the end of 2014.” (“Fed’s Williams-Need ‘Strong’ Stimulus for ‘Quite Some Time,’” Reuters, 5/3/2012)

NEW “NATURAL RATE” OF UNEMPLOYMENT COULD BE AS HIGH AS 6.5%:“Empirical studies, Williams said, show that’s not the case, with structural factors contributing only ‘a bit’ to the current jobless rate. The natural rate of unemployment — the point at which undesirable inflation pressures start to build — has likely risen to about 6 percent to 6.5 percent in the recent recession, he said.” (“Fed’s Williams-Need ‘Strong’ Stimulus for ‘Quite Some Time,’”Reuters, 5/3/2012)