Spending Money Today to Lose Money Tomorrow

Michele Bachmann | February 12, 2009 5:55 PM

As Congress readies itself to spend $300 million on golf carts as part of their multi-hundred-billion-dollar stimulus proposal, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has provided some very alarming numbers - and Congress should take heed.

According to the CBO, in 2009 and 2010, 98% of the tax cuts in the Democrats' economic "stimulus" package will go into effect, providing for 1.4% growth in our nation's Gross Domestic Product in that time. However, the other 2% of the stimulus tax cuts will go into the economy between 2011 and 2019 - along with about half the spending in the package. The problem with this equation is that the $1.1-trillion price tag (which includes the interest on the total package), our increasing debt and our crowding out of private sector activity will drive down our Gross Domestic Product to .2% less than it is today, prior to the stimulus.

So what you want to take away from these numbers is this:

Spending $1.1 trillion today will result in a loss of 0.2% of our wealth tomorrow. (Check out the Graph)

According to the peer-reviewed research and methodology of Dr. Christina Romer, the President’s head of the Council of Economic Advisors and the nation’s chief economist, The Republican Economic Recovery Plan creates twice the jobs at half the cost.

Americans know that tax cuts are a better way to immediately stimulate the economy than wasteful government spending. The Republican plan works to do just that.