Last year about this time, we were told the we had to have a "stimulus" package to "save or create 3.5 million jobs".  I still to this day don't know how you count "saved" jobs.  Either way, if you take a look around, those jobs are nowhere to be found as the December jobs report shows a loss of an additional 85,000 jobs.  The unemployment rate sits at 10% and our country is up to its eyeballs in debt.  Both of these numbers fail to take into account how many people have stopped looking for work or collecting unemployment.  Do you remember what Nancy Pelosi said about the $787 billion stimulus package?

“After all the debate, this legislation can be summed up in one word: Jobs. The American people need action and they need action now.”

And definitely don't forget that the stimulus package would not have passed the Senate without the aid of then Republican Arlen Specter and Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Now, Nancy Pelosi and President Obama are calling for an additional "jobs" bill.  Notice the language here.  It's not a "stimulus" bill any more, but a "jobs" bill.  Own the language, own the debate.  It puts the Republicans on a defensive front automatically.  It's one thing to oppose a "stimulus" bill, but another to oppose a "jobs" bill.  I wonder how much Ben Nelson or Mary Landieu kind of buy offs will have to be in the jobs bill for it to pass the Senate. 

There are several problems with the old stimulus package and the new "jobs" bill.  First, the government cannot create jobs, period.  The original stimulus package showed us this and the new "jobs" bill will be more of the same as it was still true when FDR tried the same things.  Second, I openly question whether this is another ploy to buy votes.  The first stimulus package was chocked full of pork barrel spending and the uneven distribution of stimulus dollars by 2 to 1 Democratic districts to Republican districts.  It is probably not lost on the Democratic leadership and the White House that the Democrats are in trouble in the polls, re-election races, and with retirements.  How can they show shore up their withering Democratic electorate?  Spend, spend, spend.  Expect more pork in the name of jobs.  Expect more debt.  Expect the same results as the first stimulus package.