First, there’s this headline from the Washington Examiner:
“Little-known fact: Obama’s failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war“
The article features highlights from the American Thinker article “Iraq: The War That Broke Us – Not” by Randall Hoven.
A lot of us have heard lines like this:
“The economy is in a shambles because of Bush’s economic policies and his war in Iraq.”
I even heard it from a doctor friend of mine who should have known better. A few of the facts from the Examiner article:
- Obama’s stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War — more than $100 billion (15%) more.
- Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.
- Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.
And my personal favorite:
- During Bush’s Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education than it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)
And then there is this excerpt from a Joe Walsh for Congress campaign press release (with emphasis added):
(Grayslake, IL) – Critics of President Obama’s nearly $1 trillion stimulus program have pointed out that the stimulus has failed to create jobs while wasting taxpayer money. A new analysis of stimulus spending in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District supports that criticism.
According to the Obama Administration’s “Recovery.gov” website, during the past 18 months the stimulus bill has spent more than $226 million in the 8th district to fund 244 projects, while only creating 169.46 jobs.
Joe Walsh, the Republican nominee for the 8th district, commented, “If you do the math, you see that the Administration has spent more than $1.3 million per stimulus job! While American families and small businesses are struggling and making tough choices, Washington is wasting their money.”
Walsh continued, “The stimulus has failed. According to the Obama Administration, this bill created fewer than 10 jobs per month in our district – 80% of those were government jobs. Sadly, this stimulus is a bailout for state and local government that was never designed to help the private sector grow the economy and create jobs.”
The truth is – the Obama “stimulus” didn’t completely fail – it stimulated people to get off of their couches and get engaged with the “We the People” part of self government. And now the “stimulus” has also put the spending on the Iraq War into a much-needed perspective.
