Is Stimulus Making Nations Economy Healthy ... or Sick?

Hardly a recipe for financial health. By George Scaggs Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas  The economy will be fine so were told.  But if were in a recovery why does recent polling say were not feeling any better about it?  The attempts by liberal politicians federal agencies & their lackeys in the main-stream press to simply spin our economy into good health never seems to end.   They try oh they try. For anyone who routinely reports that the economy will be fine we are in a recovery etc. it might be time to recalibrate. Were not feeling the recovery out here in America. Do yourself a favor throw-out those old yardsticks and find yourself some new indicators. Obama and the Democrats can insist that more government spending is stimulus" and necessary to nurse an ailing economy back to health all they want. It doesnt change the cruel reality that it is in fact more debt ... and additional debt only further contributes to the looming fiscal disaster headed our way. Just last week at the G-20 Summit Obama & Co. effectively continued to sell the virtues of amassing unsustainable levels of debt. After the economic meltdown in Greece even the socialist safety-netters of Europe are waking up to the need for serious fiscal austerity but not our leaders … oh no no no. While the government necessarily" spends away the nations economy is anything but healthy. The feds are like a drunk who just keeps drinking to avoid dealing with the full effects of the impending hangover. Add a jolt of Red Bull and momentarily the ride is that much more thrilling. But that day of reckoning still awaits you and its getting uglier with each passing day. Our national debt clock is ticking away ever faster now adding $6 billion to the tally daily. With a Democrat in the White House when confronted with the fallout of failed government policy the press either yawns or merely plays footsie. We are spoon-fed economic data highlighting any glimmer of positive economic news while the indicators which point us in uncomfortable directions are downplayed if not ignored. What has happened responsible professional journalism? Yesterdays AP story Economic stress is easing more slowly" provides a prime example of the exercise. Immediately below the headline we are informed that two-thirds of U.S. counties became economically healthier in May."  The wording in APs headline is easily misunderstood. Along with the tone of the opening sentence we see a positive light being cast. In the second paragraph however the headline is clarified. It turns out that the rate of improvement" in May slowed from April and concerns are arising that the nations recovery is losing momentum."  Here AP gives us the obligatory pinch of truth yet the underlying theme of the article remains economic stress is easing" things are getting better. The story ultimately treats us to a string of mind-numbing statistics based on formulas the AP developed themselves in May 2009. As it turns out the AP was good enough to invent an Economic Stress Index" that allows them to tell us how well we are doing.  At the risk of sounding like the voice of doom lets lay it out a bit more clearly than AP manages to do - our economy has a vast slate of troubling hurdles to overcome. The dizzying national debt is only one of numerous troublesome signs on the horizon. The federal workforce and its total compensation has grown almost exponentially in the last few years propelling us ever faster to a place that we do not want to be as does the growth and negative equity position of massive entitlement programs such as Social Security & Medicare. Social Security is currently paying out more than it is taking in while Medicare will be completely bankrupt in seven short years. Yet not only did we pile on to the problem with Obamas new health care program we continued to ignore the fact that there is no money. Any new program every dime of new spending can only amass more debt resulting in a growing amount of interest paid on the growing amount of debt. In turn resulting in less services per tax-dollar collected and/or more debt. Call me crazy but this hardly sounds like a recipe for financial health. Sure weve seen:

1. A slight pick-up in productivity & manufacturing.
2. Retail sales have also shown some growth.
3. But the economy is not adding private sector jobs.

Job growth is not an arbitrary thing. There are solid common sense factors that drive job growth and this government does not abide them. In fact they do the opposite. This government constantly threatens the private sector with schemes like health care and the EPA regulating cap-and-trade. Theyve left our porous southern border wide open choked off water to the farmers in central California and are now attempting to shut down the offshore oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico. All of these factors kill jobs further reducing government revenue and negatively impacting any recovery". A thriving private market demands stability and certainty. The U. S housing market is in tatters with housing starts reduced by over 300 since their high in 2005. The federal stimulus attempts to help families struggling with mortgages and offering massive tax credits for home buyers only served to further artificially prop up a market that must find the bottom before it can get healthy again. Since the tax credit ended April 30 the number of new permits has plunged further. Deepening the markets woes in the next six months a massive wave of adjustable-rate mortgages will re-set at higher rates. Many economists predict another 10 loss in home values before we hit bottom. The feds are not alone when it comes to bloated government. Powerful public employee unions and  fiscal foolishness have left many state county and municipal governments broke unable to meet their financial obligations. Again much of the federal stimulus" has served to temporarily prop-up this system. In short we cannot pay for all the government we have. Somehow I keep missing the press reports that connect the basic dots illustrating for Americans how this mountain of debt and ever intrusive federal government policy affects each and every one of us in real terms. George Scaggs is a sales professional voice actor writer commentator musician & liberty-loving patriot from a suburb of Austin Texas.