Economy Isn’t Any Better Off After Years of Democrat Spending Sprees

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is a political committee devoted to maintaining and increasing the 239-member Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Democrats these days are avoiding talking about their failed $833 billion stimulus, and it’s not hard to understand why--the newest CBO stimulus cost estimate shows that each stimulus job cost taxpayers between $333k and $2 million apiece to create. NY TIMES ANALYSIS: NO MENTIONS OF STIMULUS IN DNC SPEECHES: (“At The Democratic Convention, the Words Being Used,” New York Times, 9/8/2012)

ZERO MENTIONS OF “STIMULUS” OR “RECOVERY ACT” IN OBAMA’S SPEECH :(“Remarks by the President at the Democratic National Convention,” The White House, 9/7/2012)

“OBAMA’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH DIDN’T MENTION UNEMPLOYED”: (Zeke Miller, “Obama’s Acceptance Speech Didn’t Mention Unemployed,” BuzzFeed, 9/7/2012)

BASED ON NEWEST CBO ESTIMATE, COST PER STIMULUS JOB WAS BETWEEN $333,200 AND $2,082,500 MILLION: (“Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from April 2012 Through June 2012,”Congressional Budget Office, 8/23/2012)

CBO: STIMULUS COST BILLIONS MORE THAN EXPECTED, UP TO $833 BILLION FROM INITIAL ESTIMATE OF $787 BILLION: “When ARRA was being considered, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that it would increase budget deficits by $787 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2019. CBO now estimates that the total impact over the 2009–2019 period will amount to about $833 billion.” (“Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from April 2012 Through June 2012,” Congressional Budget Office, 8/23/2012)

EVEN THOUGH THEY COST BILLIONS TO CREATE, “LOW WAGE JOBS ARE DOMINATING THE RECOVERY:” “A new report from the National Employment Law Project finds that low-wage jobs, paying $13.83 per hour or less, have dominated the recovery to date. In many cases, they appear to be replacing higher-paying jobs that were lost in the first place.” (Brad Plumer, “Low Wage Jobs Are Dominating The US Recovery,” Washington Post, 8/3/2012)

Despite the extreme cost, the Democrats’ stimulus has failed to revive our struggling economy, leaving 23 million Americans out of work and piling-on to America’s $16 trillion debt.

FLASHBACK: OBAMA JOKES “SHOVEL READY WASN’T AS SHOVEL READY AS WE EXPECTED:” “’I'm sure that when you implemented the Recovery Act your staff briefed you on many of these challenges.’ At this point, Obama smiled and interjected, ‘Shovel-ready was not as ... uh .. shovel-ready as we expected.’ The Council, led by GE's Jeffrey Immelt, erupted in laughter.” (“Obama Jokes at Jobs Council: 'Shovel-Ready Was Not as Shovel-Ready as We Expected,’” Fox News, 6/13/2011)

AP: “BLEAK REPORT” SHOWS ONLY 96,000 JOBS CREATED IN AUGUST: (Julie Pace and Donna Cassata, “Convention Over, Obama Hit With Weak Job Report,” Associated Press, 9/7/2012)

368,000 AMERICANS GAVE UP LOOKING FOR WORK IN THE OBAMA ECONOMY: (Jeff Cox, “New Jobs at 96,000, Missing Expectations; Rate Hits 8.1%,” CNBC, 9/7/2012)

23 MILLION UNEMPLOYED, UNDEREMPLOYED AND DISCOURAGED WORKERS:(“The Employment Situation—August 2012,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9/7/2012)

UNEMPLOYMENT HAS BEEN ABOVE 8% FOR 43 STRAIGHT MONTHS UNDER OBAMA, MORE THAN 11 PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9/7/2012)

BROKEN PROMISE: WHITE HOUSE PREDICTED UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD BE 5.6% NOW IF WE PASSED THEIR STIMULUS: (James Pethokoukis, “The Awful, Awful August Jobs Report,” The American Enterprise Institute, 9/7/2012)

$5.36 TRILLION INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE:(“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 9/4/2012)

DEBT LARGER THAN SIZE OF US ECONOMY, US ECONOMY PRODUCES $15.6 TRILLION ANNUALY, BUT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OWES MORE THAN $16 TRILLION: (Bureau of Economic Analysis, Accessed 8/30/2012)

OBAMA RECORD “THE MOST RAPID INCREASE IN THE DEBT UNDER ANY U.S. PRESIDENT”: (Mark Knoller, “National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama,” CBS News’ Political Hotsheet Blog, 8/22/2011)

THREE YEARS AND TWO MONTHS OF OBAMA IS MORE DEBT THAN EIGHT YEARS OF PREDECESSOR: “The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency. The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office.” (Mark Knoller, “National Debt Has Increased More Under Obama than Under Bush,” CBS News, 3/19/2012)

This is hardly new for Democrats and serves as just another example of the Democrats’ relentless addiction to wasteful spending that hurts our economy.

GROSS COST OF OBAMACARE: $1.68 TRILLION: (Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,” Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012)

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: OBAMACARE TO DESTROY 800,000 JOBS:(Remarks from Douglas Elmendorf, House Budget Committee Hearing, 2/10/2011)

UBS RESEARCH: OBAMACARE IS “ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT TO HIRING”: (“Great Suppression II,” UBS Research, Pgs.1, 5, 9/19/2011)

$535 MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS LOST ON NOW-BANKRUPT SOLYNDRA:(Jim Snyder and Brian Wingfield, “Solyndra $535 Million Loan Guarantee Mostly Lost to Taxpayers, Chu Tells Lawmakers,” Bloomberg, 11/17/2011)

1,100 EMPLOYEES WERE LAID OFF WHEN SOLYNDRA WENT BANKRUPT:(“Fremont-Based Solyndra Goes Bankrupt: 1,100 Workers Laid Off,” CBS San Francisco, 8/31/2011)

FACTCHECK.ORG: STIMULUS DOLLARS “DEFINITELY” WENT TOWARDS CREATING JOBS IN CHINA, CHINESE COMPANIES GOT $2.6 MILLION: “As we know from Choma’s exhaustive research, it is true that foreign-owned companies have received $2.4 billion in grants to build wind farms in the U.S. Choma gives this breakdown: Spain, $1.1 billion; Germany, $474.4 million; Portugal, $333 million; Australia, $178 million; Japan, $130.5 million; Italy, $84.2 million; France, $69.5 million; United Kingdom, $42.2 million; China, $2.6 million. Choma said wind turbines have 8,000 components and he found proof that some of them were manufactured in China and other countries. … In a blog post on Sept. 27, Choma wrote: ‘…we can’t say for sure how much of this stimulus money went to create jobs in China. Some money definitely did, but it is safe to say more money went to creating jobs in the U.S. and Europe.’” (Eugene Kiely, Lara Seligman, Lauren Hitt and Melissa Siegel, “Stimulus Jobs in China?,” FactCheck.org, 10/29/2010)

GSA WASTED $823K ON VEGAS CONFERENCE, VIOLATING SCORES OF RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING SPENDING” TAX DOLLARS: ”GSA is under fire because the inspector general revealed in an April 2 report that the agency spent almost $823,000 on an October 2010 Las Vegas conference for about 300 people. The inspector general also said officials violated scores of rules and regulations governing spending of taxpayer dollars.” (Jonathan Strong, “GSA Made Up ‘Jackass Award’ to Justify Dinners,” Roll Call, 4/12/2012)

UNDER OBAMA, “GSA SPENT MORE THAN $270,000 TO ENTERTAIN EMPLOYEES”: “Four weeks after an $823,000 spending spree at a Las Vegas hotel, the General Services Administration spent more than $270,000 on a one-day, taxpayer-funded ceremony to reward good performers that featured a drum-band exercise and more than $50,000 in gifts and awards. The Federal Acquisition Service entertained about 1,000 employees at two Arlington County hotels, with an additional 2,600 participating by webcast, officials said. Forty-nine attendees were flown in from offices around the country. The revelations Thursday from GSA Inspector General Brian Miller come three months after his scathing report on a lavish, four-day training conference in 2010 for employees in the agency’s western regions.” (Lisa Rein, “GSA Spent More than $270,000 to Entertain Employees Who Got Performance Awards,” The Washington Post, 7/19/2012)

“REPORT: ENERGY LOANS COULD COST $3B” FROM “HIGH-RISK” GREEN PROGRAMS: (“Report: Energy Loans Could Cost $3B,” Associated Press, 2/10/2012)

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS PAID OUT TO “RUN MORE THAN 100 ADS TOUTING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S ‘GREEN TRAINING’ JOB EFFORTS”: (Jim McElhatton, “Labor Department Spent Stimulus Funds for Ads During Olbermann, Maddow Shows,” The Washington Times, 8/21/2012)