My (Kim Priestap's) most recent American Issues Project column was posted on Friday. In it I describe how Obama's economic house of cards is collapsing down around him and us. Here's a portion:

The Obama Administration's economic house of cards is trembling and on the verge of collapse. This is not a surprise to those who paid attention to the sloppy workmanship that went into it. Nonetheless, the American people fell in love and bought the house sight unseen. Now, however, it has become apparent that it is a disappointment. Rather than purchasing a structure based upon sound design and construction, Americans got one that was thrown together without any regard to safety, detail, or craftsmanship. In spite of all this, President Obama told us we needed the house immediately and that there was no time to inspect its construction or verify that the foundation was sound or that its electrical and plumbing systems were in good working order. Instead, he insisted we had to move in immediately or dire consequences would follow. Five months later, it is clear that our house is falling apart. Obama and his administration, however, are going to great lengths to convince the American people that the problems with his economic house of cards are just cosmetic and easily remedied with a new coat of paint and a few extra nails. But the shoddy construction and design flaws have become obvious to everyone who is paying attention.

Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan is failing. The bill the president said would stimulate economic growth is actually decelerating the economy because there very little stimulus in the stimulus bill. Instead, the majority of the spending in the bill is directed toward accountability, education, aid to state and local governments, health care, energy programs, and food banks and other community organizations. As a result, 1.6 million jobs have been lost since president Obama's stimulus bill passed. Oddly, though, he keeps repeating the claim that he "saved or created" 150,000 jobs, a number that is unconfirmed and unconfirmable because the US Department of Labor does not keep records of "saved" jobs. So where is Obama getting this number? Jared Bernstein, economic advisor to Vice President Biden, said he the figure was an estimate based upon what jobs would have been lost if the bill was not passed. In other words, the number was made up out of whole cloth. The lack of factual support, however, does not stop the president from continuing to repeat his claim. In fact, he is doubling down and saying he will "ramp up" the stimulus so as to save another 600,000 jobs this summer. Again, these numbers will be impossible to confirm.

The president told the American people that his stimulus bill would hold the unemployment rate at 8 percent. Without the bill, he said the unemployment rate would top out at 9 percent. Today our unemployment rate is at 9.4 percent, which is a significantly steeper rate than originally projected. Many economists and analysts are now predicting it will hit double digits by the end of the year. Mr. Bernstein is trying to shift the blame for the 9.4 percent unemployment rate on former president Bush, saying the unexpectedly high rate is due to the economic figures from last year's 4th quarter. As the saying goes, only a poor carpenter blames his tools.

Read the rest. If you have any thoughts on the subject, feel free to leave a comment either here or at AIP.