We can't afford Democrat's cure

By Tom Quiner

Here’s the premise: “give Obama a Democratic Congress and the jobs will come roaring back.”
This is the mantra of liberals, as discussed in my earlier post today.
Is it logical?
I don’t know, because Obama had a liberal, Democratic Congress (forgive the redundancy) his first two years in office. They pursued very specific legislative initiatives in their hope to revive the waning economy and create jobs:
√ The $1.2 Trillion Stimulus (not billion, that’s Trillion with a capital “T”)
√ Cash for clunkers
√ Obamacare
√ Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
It didn’t work. Just look at the chart above. The employment rate kept dropping and dropping and dropping despite Democrat’s attempt to stimulate the economy. Their approach is pretty simple: take money from taxpayers and give it to someone else. The hope:  recipients of taxpayer’s money will take the money and spend it on a new car or something and jobs will begin to sprout up.
Did it work? Not really. Take Cash-for-Clunkers. Forty-five percent of the folks who took taxpayer money were going to buy a new car anyway. You and I simply subsidized them.
Cash for Clunkers boosted auto sales by 360,000 vehicles in July and August in 2009, and none thereafter. Many road-worthy vehicles were destroyed as a result of the program. The nation’s overall fuel economy was boosted by only .65 miles per gallon.
In the meantime, the employment rate continued its slide.
Democrats had their shot. They increased the deficit by 5 TRILLION dollars in one term without reversing our jobless decline. Now, they suggest that the problem is that they didn’t SPEND MORE.
I’m dubious.
I’m not sure we can afford more of their cure.