No Education...

One of our esteemed members of Congress was quoted today as saying, "There's no education from the second kick of a mule." Oh, sir, you may have something there. We have had multiple kicks from the Republican-led House of Representatives and multiple repetitions of the Republican Big Lie that the stimulus didn't work. And the second kick didn't add to our learning.

But wait a minute. Are we sure of that? What if we go back a bit?

I realize that reviewing history is not something the Republicans in the current Congress favor, but hang in there faithful reader, there may be something here...

Congress prevented the full stimulus that President Obama wanted, but it's his fault that the stimulus didn't work.

First kick from the mule. Well, it was the elephant, actually, but still...

What did we learn? Well, the stimulus did work, even as watered-down as it was. How are your roads compared to before the stimulus? How many of your acquaintances working in construction are back to work now as compared to before the stimulus? Any bridges near you repaired or rebuilt lately? Any new construction at all in your town? In your state?

Resist the Republican disincentive and think back. How many of those new jobs and how much of that new construction happened after the housing bubble burst and after the stimulus? How much new employment and new home purchases happened since the Republican-led, national-debt-related cuts in government funding? Anybody laid off find a job in that time-frame?

The stimulus may have kept us from a world-wide depression.

But wait. The national debt increased because of the stimulus.

Second kick. Still from the elephant in the room, but...

The short-term debt has increased, but the Federal Reserve is buying up the debt so we are paying essentially no interest. None. Read my lips. None. This means that there is no larger long-term debt. This means that if we can just improve employment and slow down mortgage foreclosures, taxes from us middle class folks will eliminate the debt in fairly short order. If we can force Congress to tax the top one percent of wage earners into paying their fair share, there will be no national debt problem even sooner.

Sure enough, no additional learning. The stimulus did work and it's unrelated to the national debt problem. Well, I'll be...

So now, President Obama wants an additional stimulus, which the Republicans resist on the strength of the assertion that the first stimulus didn't work.

By golly, kick number three and still no additional learning.

By golly, esteemed Congressperson, you are right. No additional learning from the second kick from the mule. Or elephant. Or third kick. Whatever.

Thanks ever so.