Thursday afternoon, I participated in a blogger conference call with Assistant Minority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Thad McCotter. It was immediately understandable why Rep. McCotter is the Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee.

The topic du jour was jobs, specifically why the Democrats’ stimulus hadn’t produced any and why it isn’t likely to create any anytime soon.

Rep. McCarthy said that Democrats are changing their tune on the stimulus bill, saying now that it’s more of a “stabilization bill.” This explains why they’re now planning a second stimulus bill (which they’re calling a jobs bill) that’s expected to cost approximately $300,000,000,000.

The first question I asked their opinion on was how much of the current unemployment was due to the irresponsible spending. I said that entrepreneurs know that the irresponsible spending will quickly lead to higher taxes, higher inflation or higher debt, each of which is the enemy of small businesses.

Reps. McCarthy and McCotter said that that’s had a negative effect on job creation and economic growth. Rep. McCotter mentioned that massive deficits were drying up credit markets, which were impeding additional economic expansion, too.

I followed that question up by telling them that I’ve posted numerous times on this blog that we aren’t seeing job creation because nothing in the stimulus bill is designed to increase entrepreneurial activity. Rep. McCarthy said that that’s the chief argument that Republicans used when debating the stimulus back in January and February.

Another blogger asked whether the impending specter of elections was changing the mood of Democrats. Rep. McCotter said that there was a noticeable difference. He then said that “when politicians returned after the stimulus vote, Republicans were smiling and Democrats weren’t.” He then said that after the Cap and Trade vote, Democrats’ frowns were bigger and that the Republicans’ smiles were still there. Finally, Rep. McCotter said that the Democrats’ frowns were bigger still after they returned from their districts after their health care vote. Rep. McCotter said that throughout all the votes, Republicans have returned from their districts smiling.

In my opinion, they’ve got good reason to smile. The people are turning against Democrats. The bad news is that the people are turning because they’re afraid of what lies ahead for them, whether it’s delaying their retirement or whether they’re afraid that they won’t be hired anytime soon or whether they’re afraid that America won’t return to time-tested ways of growing the economy.

Two other things worth noting: Rep. McCotter said that he held a townhall meeting on a Saturday but he didn’t get an announcement out for it. In a city of 300,000, 3,000 people still showed up for it. Secondly, people he’s talked with are worried that Democrats care more about ideology than they care about putting people back to work.

It’s time that the Democrats ditched their ideology-based economics plan. It’s time that Democrats admitted that their stimulus plan is an expensive failure that’s piled up debt faster than it’s raised unemployment.

Finally, Reps. McCarthy and McCotter said that the possibility of the Bush tax cuts expiring is pouring cold water on businesses’ plans to expand and hire. Personally, I think the fastest way to start growing the economy is for the Obama administration to announce that they won’t let the Bush tax cuts expire and that they’re dropping Cap and Trade and their health care legislation. If those three things happened, you’d quickly see the economy take off.

This won’t happen because the minute the Obama administration made that announcement is the minute the Democratic base would abandon him.

The House GOP has returned to being the party of ideas. More importantly, they’ve returned to being the party of solutions. Follow this link to read more about the House GOP’s common sense, main street-oriented solutions.

Technorati: Bloggers, Conference Call, Kevin McCarthy, Thad McCotter, House GOP, Jobs, Economy, Bush Tax Cuts, Spending, Stimulus, Deficits, Cap And Tax, Health Care, President Obama, Jobs Summit, Democrats, Election 2010

Cross-posted at California Conservative