Stimulus Isn’t Working: Obama Decides to Dig Deeper Hole

It seems President Obama isn’t willing to accept that his fiscal stimulus is a colossal failure, in fact, it’s full steam ahead for the rookie president’s Keynesian policies:

The White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus, but that total has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.

“Now we’re in a position to really accelerate,” Obama said.

[...]

The economy has shed 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus measure was signed in February, far overshadowing White House announcements estimating the effort has saved 150,000 jobs. Public opinion of Obama’s handling of the economy has declined along with the jobs data.

For the first time, the administration admitted the economic forecasts it used to sell the stimulus were overly optimistic.

$45,000,000,000.00 / 150,000 jobs “saved” = $300,000.00 spent per job, hardly what I would call sound fiscal policy. Not to mention the stimulus contained a number of “buy American” provisions which will undoubtedly deepen the job losses:

At first glance, “Buy America” floated courtesy of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars ostensibly to revive an economy that would create American jobs, looked like a political winner. Indeed, it may have initially looked like a godsend in what was to be a coming U.S. unemployment rate that would skyrocket to its highest level in a quarter of a century.

[..]

Now many U.S. exporters fear the provisions will backfire, costing American jobs as other countries retaliate. Some municipalities in Canada have already begun organizing boycotts of U.S. products, and EU and Canadian officials say they are reviewing their options.