O.C. Republicans sell out on Obama “stimulus” money

This is obscene:

WASHINGTON – An unusual new alliance of political, labor and business leaders is determined to see that Orange County gets its fair share of Obama bucks.

The leaders who sat around a table at the Orange County Business Council last week did not all agree on the wisdom of President Barack Obama’s $825 billion stimulus package. They certainly did not all pledge to go to the mat for such a massive proposal. And it’s not clear that they can influence where the money goes.

But the interests of labor in retaining jobs, educators in getting money to fix schools, transportation officials in getting road projects done and business leaders in minimizing the effects of the recession convinced them to give it a try.

“We need to speak with one voice,” said Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro, who along with his Republican counterpart, Scott Baugh, participated in the meeting. “The fear is we’re going to be bypassed. That has historically happened to us.”

It’s especially obscene that Republicans, supposedly the “small government” party, are participating in this new looting. Scott Baugh should be ashamed of himself for joining local Democratic socialist Barbaro in this vast new increase of federal power over our lives. It’s really only spreading Chicago-style corrupt politics across the country. Let’s take the arguments apart.

Where’s the money?

First, there are no “Obama bucks,” the fanciful phrase the Register writers used. Money either comes from a) ripping off taxpayers more, b) borrowing, or c) inflating the money, which means the value of money goes down. Soon, you end up like Zimbabwe, where they just printed a $100 trillion note.  Or you get Weimar Germany’s hyperinflation in the 1920s, with its murderous aftermath.

No “stimulus”

Second, this is not a “stimulus.” The only way to stimulate an economy is to remove the shackles on the private sector so it produces more. The government-sector doesn’t “produce” anything, but only consumes. Sure, they can print more inflated dollars and spend the money on building roads and schools in the wrong places.

But real economic growth only comes from the private sector inventing and making new products. We’ve stopped doing that in America as Bush — supported by Baugh and O.C.’s entire delegation in Congress — wasted $5 trillion (and 4,236 dead troops, as of today) on the Iraq War, paying for it with deficits, debt, and inflation. That vast economic disaster is the real cause of the Bush Depression

Global production shifted to Asia, whose economies today are more capitalist than ours — especially “communist” China. America’s main product today, including the “Bailout Bucks,” is debt owed to Asia.

The solution, then, is not more of the same under a new president, but ending the Iraq War, ending the deficits, ending the debt, ending the inflation.

More government…

Third, more government is more government.  Don’t Republicans understand that? If you spend more federal dollars in Orange County, that means more federal jobs here. And those folks are mostly Democrats. They’ll vote for Democrats because Democrats will increase their pay, perks, and power.

Frank Barbaro, at least, understands what’s going on. He doesn’t want to be “bypassed.” He wants those Democrat-appointed jobs to come here so they boost his party rolls.

Once again, Republicans are punching-bags for Democrats, who in the end always win.

If Republicans didn’t exist, Democrats would have to invent them.