IS THERE such a thing as an addiction to government spending? Maybe--some in Washington seem to be tipsy with it. With the federal deficit for last year alone topping a record $1.42 trillion, Democrats in Congress are steamrolling ahead with a health care reform package that they're trying to bring in under $1 trillion. President Obama is saying that a "consensus is building" is favor of climate-change legislation, which The Heritage Foundation says will cost America $400 billion per year. And now The New York Times is arguing that another stimulus is in order.
Meanwhile, the old stimulus hasn't created quite the number of jobs the government has claimed. The Obama administration says the $787 billion injection has created 30,000 jobs, but a review of the first progress report reveals that number has been overstated by several thousands. One contractor, for example, reported that stimulus funds allowed him to create 4,231 jobs--but most of them lasted five weeks or less.
Somebody needs to start a Government Anonymous program for Washingtonians heady on spending your tax dollars.