3,700 Tax Cheats Got Stimulus Contracts

There has been a lot of news coverage recently about how 3,700 tax cheats got $24 billion in stimulus money. But the stimulus package wasted money in far worse ways. I explain at the Washington Examiner. Unemployment is much higher now than the Obama administration said it would be if the stimulus were enacted. Indeed, it’s higher than Obama administration officials said it would be if Congress had refused to pass the stimulus. (The Obama administration said unemployment would hit 9 percent if Congress refused to pass the stimulus, but not go beyond 8 percent if it did pass the stimulus. But unemployment reached 10.3 percent by October 2009.)

As the failure of the stimulus has become increasingly apparent, the Obama administration has touted its creation of imaginary jobs in non-existent congressional districts.

The stimulus actually provided incentives not to work, since it largely repealed welfare reform and provided incentives for states to increase their welfare caseloads.