Cutting the "Pork" out of the US Stimulus Package

It is amazing. The Republicans -- those masters of spin -- have done it again. They have convinced people that Obama's stimulus package is a "spending" package with too much fat & "pork" in it. They want to cut it out. And they did. Here is Brad DeLong's summary of what was cut:

Cutbanks in the Fiscal Boost Program

The stimulus package is too small--and it looks like almost all of the cuts are from reasonable uses of government funds that are substantially labor intensive and thus are the right kind of thing to be in the stimulus package. It looks like the cuts are:
$40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)
$16 billion for school construction
$5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity
$4.5 billion for GSA
$3.5 billion for higher education construction
$3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)
$2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization
$2 billion for HIT Grants
$2 billion for broadband
$1.25 billion for project based rental
$1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing
$1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees
$1 billion for Head Start/Early Start
$600 million for Title I (NCLB)
$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)
$300 million for federal prisons
$300 million for BYRNE Formula
$200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)
$200 million for National Science Foundation
$200 million TSA
$165 million for Forest Service capital improvement
$140 million for BYRNE Competitive
$122 million for new Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
$100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization
$100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)
$100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)
$100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)
$100 million for distance learning
$100 million for NIST
$100 million for science
$98 million for school nutrition
$90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management
$89 million GSA operations
$75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)
$65 million for watershed rehabilitation
$55 million for historic preservation
$55 million for historic preservation
$50 million for aquaculture
$50 million for CSERES research
$50 million for detention trustee
$50 million for NASA
$50 million for aeronautics
$50 million for exploration
$50 million for Cross Agency Support
$50 million from DHS
$30 million for SD salaries
$25 million for Marshalls Construction
$25 million for Fish and Wildlife
$20 million for working capital fund
$10 million state and local law enforcement

The above a "spending" programs. They will put money into people's hands quickly. But the Republicans hate "spending" programs. But the only way you avert a depression is by getting the government to act as the "spender of last resort". A depression occurs because things are spiraling down, people stop spending because they are scared, and this creates a negative feedback loop. You can't stop this loop by exorting people to "spend". So the government has to step in and spend until confidence is rebuilt, i.e. people decide that the world is no longer going to hell in a handbasket. But the idiot Republicans don't understand economics. They denounce the "spending" in the stimulus budget. They argue that "tax cuts" will grow the economy.

The sad joke is that the Republicans offer "tax cuts" as the cure for everything, even the current recession/depression. But the following graph (from Paul Krugman) shows just how "effective" tax cuts have been in stimulating the economy. Notice how "anemic" job growth was under Clinton and how those 2001 and 2002 Bush tax cuts sent job growth soaring through the roof?


Gee... I don't see it either!!! Looks to me that the tax cuts had no effect. But this is the same "strong medicine" that those snake oil salesmen, the Republicans, are touting to "save" the economy. Why, why would people be duped by these ideologues who sell "tax cut" as the cure for everything when it is clear that it doesn't stimulate job growth or the economy. Bush 43s term was a disaster for the average working person. But these same Republicans are offering the same snake oil prescription.

For those who don't like to "read" graphics... here is what the above graph shows:

We now have job numbers for the entire 8 years of the Bush Administration. In the last 8 years, payroll jobs are up only 1.6% (0.2% annual rate). That's far and away the slowest 8 year gain on record. In the 8 years of Clinton, jobs grew by 20.7% (2.38% annual rate). In the 70 years of available data, jobs have grown at an annual rate of 2.2%. For the 62 years before Bush the average was 2.4%.