Too Dumb to Thrive

Do you think government spending is out of control and harmful? Then Time magazine's Joe Klein thinks you are a dodo.

by Jerry Agar

If you are one of the three out of four Americans who thinks that some or all of the stimulus money out of Washington has been wasted, then Time magazine’s Joe Klein thinks that the money has been wasted on you.  He thinks you are ill-informed, misinformed and a dodo who does not understand the most basic activities of your government.

Some polling suggests that less people than Klein thinks are on his and Obama’s side on this one.

Klein, in a particularly vicious attack on the majority of the public, defends the tax cuts that are part of the package, and that is fair enough.  But he then writes, “The next highest amount was $275 billion in grants and loans to states. This is why your child’s teacher wasn’t laid off…and why the fire station has remained open, and why you’re not paying even higher state and local taxes to close the local budget hole.”

There are three major problems with that statement:

1. As the Chicago Tribune reported, “More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.  Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers.”  There is more.  Click here.  And let’s not forget money going to congressional districts that do not exist.
2. Having money taken by force – that is how taxes are collected – from the states, running it through a massive federal bureaucracy and then sending some of the remainder back to the states is inefficient, not a gain.  Illinois gets back $.75 cents for every dollar we send to Washington.
3. Klein, in an attempt to bolster his view that he is smart and you are dumb, puts forth that things are much better than they would have been without the stimulus.  But President Obama promised us that the package would keep unemployment under 8 percent.  Nationally we are now at 10 percent, with Illinois over 11 percent.

It seems to me that Klein might want to try to figure out why one out of four Americans still think that the stimulus is working.  As for the rest of us, birds of a feather flock together – and not because we are dodos.