When President Obama took office in 2009, one of his very first acts was to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. But instead of an actual recovery, what we’ve received ever since has been an economy barely limping along, historically high unemployment and ever-more massive debt.
And despite years of big talk about jobs having been “created or saved”, cutting the deficit (ha!!), or endless “Recovery Summer(s)”, it’s been obvious for quite some time that his Keynesian plan didn’t work.
We’ve documented plenty of companies which have already gone under, too, despite their generous infusions of Government cash. Each one was problematic for a host of reasons, including:
- That taxpayer money could have been properly used elsewhere, or even (*gasp*) returned to the taxpayers!
- Government subsidies artificially distort the actual market and pricing of companies, as well as a company’s behavior.
- If a failing corporation can’t find investors or raise cash from the entire free market, …what makes the Federal Government think it knows better?
As evidence, we just discovered yet another 2009 Stimulus recipient gone under: a sawmill called Emerald Forest Product in Emmett, Idaho.
You’d think receiving $4 million in stimulus funding would be enough to help even a marginal business through at least a few years, especially after they’d been vetted by the Federal Government.
Or, … maybe not:
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It’s not like Emerald was doing all that well from the outset, either:
“…It opened in 2010, but stopped running less than a year later. Vinson says he rushed to get started, and some equipment didn’t work right. A family illness took him home to Montana. Last year, he and his partners filed for bankruptcy protection…”
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It’s examples like this that make me sincerely wish Obama would stay away from the economy altogether and just stick to stuff he’s good at.
You know: demagoguery, blame shifting, race baiting, campaigning, rabble-rousing, …that sort of thing.
Two Heads are Better Than One 
A couple of random thoughts:
First, WHAT is Obama doing giving money to folks who process cut down trees? WHERE are the environmentalists?
Second, they REALLY have a business in that town called “Hebrews Coffee”?
Third, even the SALMON in that area are being affected by the gubmint! Did you see on the scroll at the bottom of the newscast that 160 salmon died while being relocated to the Salmon River? Sounds eerily reminiscent of the Housing Project issues we had here in Pittsburgh 30 years ago….
It’s time for people to wake up and realize that the government can do a MUCH better job of wasting YOUR money than YOU can! Of course, this ONLY matters to you IF you are actually the one out of every two citizens that PAYS taxes….
Their arrogance, stupidity, and cowardice are things of legend.
It occurred to me a while back that the phrase “Government Hubris” was both (A) the perfect description of why so many stunningly stupid things happened in our country now, and (B) a textbook illustration of the word “redundancy“.
But yeah: “arrogant, stupid, and cowardly”??
Yep.
No problem.
Those’ll work, too.
😀
… ” just stick to stuff he’s good at” … honestly, I’d be satisfied if he just spent every bit of his time on the golf course, whether he is good at it or not.
😀
No argument from me on THAT one, Teach!
None whatsoever….!
It’s sad to see any business fail, but such is the nature of a free market economy. And government interference is never…. I REPEAT NEVER….the solution.
You’re right- Obama should indeed stick to what he’s good at.
I’m with ya’, Slayer.
And maybe the lesson here could be: “If the government is your Investor of Last Resort, you should probably check your business plan again”.
Of course, JTR, your comment THEN makes me ask: Who benefited from the $4 million bailout? The news report said they had to hold up payroll due to financial woes, but WHO are the owners, and WHAT was THEIR compensation during this time? How much of that $4 million went into THEIR pockets? And is this ANOTHER example of Obama’s crony capitalism?