Pat Meehan: Are You Better Off Today?

Pat Meehan, a Republican seeking Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District seat, posted this commentary at his blog on the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama signing the so-called "stimulus" bill into law:

Today marks the one year anniversary of enactment of the federal stimulus bill, which Democrats promised would help reverse rising unemployment rates. Are you and your family better off today than you were a year ago?

According to the latest information from the Department of Labor, unemployment has only increased locally. As of December 2009, in Delaware County, unemployment has risen to 7.9 percent – a 39 percent increase in 12 months. Chester County has seen unemployment rise 32 percent over levels from a year ago while Montgomery County has seen unemployment rolls grow by 31 percent.

Where are the jobs we were promised as a result of the $1 trillion stimulus bill? With 30 to 40 percent more people unemployed this year compared to last, it is clear that the stimulus bill is not having the desired impact.

Instead we have witnessed what I call crony capitalism. Favored pet industries of legislators, questionable government programs, and numerous wasteful projects have been the beneficiary of the stimulus funding.

In December CBS News reported on various examples of some $7 billion in wasteful stimulus projects. Included in the report was stimulus money to fund a new martini bar, stimulus dollars to study rat sex on hard drugs, and taxpayer dollars funding a $9 million footbridge in Massachusetts that benefits a private developer, among many other projects. Is this realty the best use of taxpayer dollars? And how is this helping local small businesses that are struggling to make payroll or workers locally looking for jobs?

This type of waste and abuse is clearly not the best use of taxpayer dollars. We need to do more to stimulate consumer spending and encourage new business creation.

You can read more about my specific job creation ideas here.