Getting jobbed

President Obama remains convinced he can turn the economy around by borrowing and blowing hundreds of billions of dollars, even though Washington's previous spending sprees have accomplished little beyond increasing the national debt to $12 trillion.

The federal government must "spend our way out of this recession," the president said Tuesday. "Our work is far from done."

The president would have us believe he's also concerned about ever-growing budget deficits. And yet Mr. Obama now proposes using bailout funds repaid by banks -- money that, by law, must be used to reduce the budget deficit -- as a means to launch all-new spending.

Mr. Obama wants billions for new highway and bridge construction. He wants billions for "green jobs" programs that will retrofit homes with better insulation to make them more energy-efficient. Billions for COBRA payments for laid-off workers. Billions for direct stimulus payments to citizens. And billions in bailout funds for state governments that don't want to cut spending to balance their operating budgets.

Sound familiar? All were part of this year's $787 billion "stimulus" bill, which still hasn't run out of funding. But before this budget buster can run its course and disappear, the president wants to bolster almost all of its economically dubious provisions -- and pay even more interest on them, to boot.

"At least the president's proposal will result in one new job -- he'll need to hire a magician to make this new deficit spending appear fiscally responsible," said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.

The Obama administration's latest economic recovery plan includes two good ideas: a tax cut for small businesses that hire in 2010 and a one-year suspension of the capital gains tax on profits from small-business investments. These are the kinds of policies that lead to job and wealth creation, although their temporary nature might not be enough incentive for employers to expand their payrolls when business is down. Instead of one year, why not permanently?

The bailout and stimulus bills were horribly lacking in objectives and accountability, and, unfortunately, there's no reason to think President Obama's newest spending proposal will be any different. No matter how many more people lose their jobs, administration officials can continue to claim that things probably would be worse without their benevolence.