Weekly Quote: Karl Rove dismantles Obama budget numbers

Karl Rove
Wall Street Journal
1-15-09

“Many Obama proposals are spending marketed as stimulus. Much of his “middle-class tax cut” goes to people who have no federal income tax liability. It’s really a $500 per worker annual tax credit. Is $20 a week ($40 for couples) in welfare stimulative?…Take the “green jobs” he promises. There are 6,856 people who work for companies that make solar cells in America and 2,150 people who work for the biggest wind equipment maker. Mr. Obama says he’ll create 459,000 new “green energy” jobs like those. Can he really do that? A lot of people will be keeping score. Mr. Obama says 244,000 of his new jobs will be in government. Will these new government employees disappear when the economy recovers? Or is Mr. Obama pushing the largest expansion of government since LBJ’s Great Society?”