'Hard choices'? Nope

Are America's leaders incapable of learning from their mistakes? Evidently.

In February 2008, with the economy sputtering and warning signs on the horizon, President George W. Bush and Democrats in Congress negotiated a stimulus bill rebating $168 billion to taxpayers. Despite optimistic projections, it did nothing to slow the economic free fall.

In February 2009, with the economy faltering and jobs hemorrhaging, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress negotiated a second stimulus bill — a massive $787 billion smorgasbord of aid to states, tax cuts, job training programs, transportation and environmental projects, extended unemployment benefits and more. Despite optimistic, oddly specific projections — the White House said it would save or create 3.5 million jobs and prevent unemployment from going above 8.5 percent — it has not revived our crippled economy. The national unemployment rate is now 10 percent and even the Obama administration's error-riddled claims of jobs "saved or created" only add up to 640,000.

The president and Democratic lawmakers argue that Stimulus II prevented the jobless rate from being much higher. They note that the economy actually grew in the third quarter.

But despite Obama's promise that the measure's central focus would be fostering private-sector job growth, the great majority of jobs "saved or created" are in local and state governments. This was done by adding massive debt that has put this nation on course to spend as much as a quarter of all revenue solely to repay interest on the debt by 2030.

Plainly, there has to be a better way to jump-start economic recovery — one that emphasizes the wealth-creating entrepreneurial spirit that has made the U.S.

economy the world's largest.

The president, alas, disagrees. Yesterday, he proposed Stimulus III, a mix of new government spending and tax cuts that The Associated Press noted would in many cases "extend or expand programs" from Stimulus II. Democrats talked of a $170 billion price tag.

The sole good news is Obama's call for a tax cut for small businesses that add workers in 2010 and a one-year hiatus for capital gains taxes on profits from small-business investments. GOP proposals for even more dynamic tax changes — in particular, a one-year suspension of the payroll tax — were ignored.

Nevertheless, the president patted himself on the back, saying his stimulus measures reflected "hard choices."

Spending nearly $1 trillion we don't have and leaving the tab for our children is not a "hard choice." It is creating a burden for our schoolchildren and their children so outrageous it amounts to intergenerational child abuse.

And the White House and Congress are just getting started. The pending overhaul of the U.S. health care system and the imposition of a "cap-and-trade" system to reduce the emissions believed to contribute to global warming figure to put hundreds of billions of dollars more on the national credit card.

This is far more likely to produce ruin than recovery. Let's pray Washington figures this out before it's too late.

REPRINTED FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM