I now choose to turn to another topic--a topic that is important to many Americans, a topic that relates to an important anniversary we are recognizing. Today, we are highlighting the third anniversary of President Obama's failed stimulus package. The President promised 3 years ago that the stimulus would create what he characterized as millions of jobs. But today, unfortunately, devastatingly, there are nearly 13 million people in America who are still unemployed and many millions more have even given up on looking for jobs. Three years ago, the White House said that because of the stimulus package, unemployment would not exceed 8 percent. That has not happened. In fact, the unemployment rate has topped 8 percent for 36 straight months now--the longest stretch of high unemployment since the Great Depression. The Congressional Budget Office predicts it is going to go even longer. We will not see sub-8 percent unemployment, according to the CBO, until 2014. The President sold his stimulus package to the American people by claiming he would make immediate investments in what he characterized as ``shovel-ready'' jobs. But last June, the President acknowledged that ``shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.'' Nevertheless, a lot of money has been spent, as we have been waiting for these jobs to materialize--jobs that never quite came about. In fact, some of it was spent in ways that have nothing to do with stimulating the economy.…
On the recordFebruary 17, 2012
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