Is red the new green?

Christina Romer, chairperson of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, said Thursday that the $194 billion already spent from the $787 billion economic stimulus gave a jolt to the economy that contributed to growth in the second and third quarters of the year.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product in the first, second and third quarters of 2009, respectively, were negative 1.9 percent, negative 3.3 percent and negative 3.8 percent. It looks like economic growth got increasingly worse each quarter.

Maybe I am missing something, but this does not look like a jolt to the economy.

Romer also told that same congressional panel that by the middle of next year the impact of the stimulus will level off. In other words, what we have seen so far is as good as it is going to get.

She went on to say that spending so far has saved or created 600,000 to 1.5 million jobs, but warned that unemployment will remain high, above 9.5 percent, through the end of 2010. She's right. By the way, the administration said we needed the stimulus bill passed to keep the unemployment rate under 8 percent.

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports show that 2.7 million jobs have been lost since the stimulus was passed, reflecting the fact that 49 out of 50 states lost jobs during that period.

The 9.8 percent of the workforce (15 million workers) that is unemployed really doesn't care about imaginary "saved jobs" because they were not among them.

I know it is not politically correct to ask this question, but how do you measure "saved jobs"? I must have missed that class when I was a mathematics major in college. Shame on me.

The phrase "it's the economy, stupid" has become popularized over the last two decades. It still is all about the economy, and the administration is not being honest with the American people.

Their policies to stimulate the economy simply are not working!

So they continue to distract the public with ineffective economic crumbs like Cash for Clunkers, first-time home buyers' tax credits filled with fraud and abuse and a $250 bonus to senior citizens on Social Security that wasn't legally required, and that seniors didn't even ask for. They know this country is headed for bankruptcy.

With a national debt of $12 trillion and a 2009 national debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion, Congress will need some more breathing room for its spending habits. Since it is a Democrat-controlled Congress with a Democratic president, they will probably authorize an increase over a beer when we are not looking.

It appears that to this administration and Congress down is the new up and red is the new green. When businesses and families have more money going out than coming in, we call that "in the red" from traditional accounting lingo. We can't raise the debt limit on ourselves and sell the debt to foreigners, nor can we pass a tax increase on to anybody at will.

Not only does this administration and Congress deny that we can count or read. They now believe that We the People are color-blind.

Red is red, and we are not stupid.