They Just Don't Get It

---

Right now, conservative U.S. senators—both Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats—are thrashing around trying to cut pieces out of President Obama’s economic recovery plan. They say it costs too much. Ironically, these are the same senators who increased the legislation by more than $100 billion just a couple of days ago.

They just don’t get it.

We’re in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans are losing their jobs—almost 600,000 in the month of January alone, 3.6 million since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. If we act quickly and boldly, we can prevent the return of soup kitchens and shantytowns. But the longer Congress delays, the worse our economy will be.

They just don’t get it.

Our gross domestic product (GDP) is dropping like an anvil in a Roadrunner cartoon, and if we don’t do something now, millions of Americans will be flattened. The banks don’t have money to lend, so the economy can’t be invigorated by the private sector. The Federal Reserve has already lowered interest rates to near zero, so the economy can’t be invigorated by monetary policy. Tax cuts? Been there, done that. They failed to bring broad prosperity during the Bush years, and they would spectacularly fail to address the underlying problems in the economy now. There is only one solution—deficit spending by the federal government.

They just don’t get it.

The economic recovery legislation, whether the $819 billion version that passed the House or the $900-plus billion version considered by the Senate, is not too big. If anything, economists assure us that it is too small. The GDP is likely to drop by about $1.5 trillion this year and the legislation would restore only about one-third of that shortfall.

They just don’t get it.

Some senators complain that the Obama plan won’t pump money into the economy fast enough. But the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 94 percent of the spending in the Senate version of the economic recovery legislation would be spent over the next two years. Under the House version, 85 percent would be spent in two years. That’s hugely efficient—more stimulating to the economy, in fact, than any of the substitutes proposed.

They just don’t get it.

Right-wing senators, like a herd of sheep, are bleating the Rush Limbaugh talking point that "this is not a stimulus plan, it's a spending plan." It makes you wonder—are they that intellectually dishonest, or just plain stupid? A stimulus bill spends money. The spending prevents millions of Americans from losing their jobs and helps millions more gain new jobs. A stimulus pumps money into the economy in the short term so the private sector can, in time, get back on its feet and drive the creation of new jobs.

They just don’t get it.

Americans trust President Obama—they don’t trust Congress. The latest polls find that more than 75 percent hold a favorable opinion of Obama and only around 20 percent hold an unfavorable opinion. At the same time only 25 percent of Americans approve of what Republicans are doing in Congress while about 65 percent disapprove. Congressional Democrats are substantially more popular than Republicans, but they’re not in Obama’s league. In short, Americans want Barack Obama to lead and they want Congress to follow, without delay.

They just don’t get it.

In the last election, Americans were given a clear choice between the old conservative and the new progressive economic philosophies. Voters spoke clearly, demanding change. It’s not just that Obama defeated McCain in a landslide. Democrats swamped Republicans in both House and Senate races. Even at the state level, voters decisively chose progressives over conservatives. It’s time to laugh off their absurd ideological arguments. If George Bush proved anything, it’s that when right wing domestic or foreign policy is implemented, catastrophe follows.

As usual, President Barack Obama put it best. Talking about the conservative ideology that has been deployed as a weapon against his economic recovery package, Obama said yesterday:

Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They’ve taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over a trillion dollars, and they’ve brought our economy to a halt. And that’s precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment. And now is the time to move forward, not back. Now is the time for action.

Speaking of action, if you haven’t already called your U.S. senators and urged them to support President Obama’s economic recovery program and oppose all conservative amendments, here’s all the information you need.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future