Ener1, an electric car battery company that the Obama administration awarded a $118 million stimulus grant to expand its operations , filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday after being unable to repay pressing debts. Read full article > >

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Obama-backed car battery company files for bankruptcy protection

Before you can ask whether President Obama has done a good job, you need to ask — and answer — another question: Compared to what? Take Andrew Sullivan’s essay on Obama’s record, which is getting a lot of attention. Sullivan writes that “the job collapse bottomed out at the beginning of 2010, as the stimulus took effect. Since then, the U.S. has added 2.4 million jobs.” Is that a good record? A bad one? It’s impossible to say until you’ve defined what you’re comparing it to. Read full article > >

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Has Obama done a good job? Well, compared to what?

Troy, Mich., is rejecting a transportation center that would have been fully financed with stimulus money.

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Michigan City of Troy, Led by Tea Party Mayor, Rejects Federal Dollars

If you were Herman Cain, what would you do? Undoubtedly countless men have pondered this question the past several days. The query got trickier when feminist attorney Gloria Allred presented a fourth woman — in person — to allege a past sexual transgression involving the former pizza executive. Or, as Allred colorfully put it, Cain’s idea of a “stimulus package.” Read full article > >

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Herman Cain and the parked car

The initial verdict on the administration’s new mortgage-refinancing plan was that it will have a fairly modest impact. Yes, it would likely help out struggling homeowners in states like Nevada and Florida, where home prices have plunged so deeply that many people now owe more than 125 percent of what their homes are worth. But it’s hard to see how the plan can boost the economy to any noticeable degree. Read full article > >

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More complaints, quibbles and advice for Obama’s housing plan

This week, Senate Democrats will break up President Obama’s jobs bill and begin voting on the pieces separately. First up is the $35 billion to state and local governments, $30 billion of which is earmarked for retain and rehiring teachers and $5 billion of which is meant to go to public-safety personnel. Senate Dems are proposing to pay for it with a 0.5 percent tax surcharge on income over $1,000,000 a year. Senate Republicans are proposing to filibuster. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the bill is further proof that Democrats “are still focused on the same temporary stimulus spending that’s failed to solve our jobs crisis.” Read full article > >

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Wonkbook: The case for rehiring public workers

Christina Romer had been asked to scare her new boss. It was six weeks after the 2008 election, and the incoming administration had gathered in Chicago. David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s top political adviser, couldn’t have been more clear in his instructions to Romer: The president-elect needed to know how bad the economy was going to get. No pulling punches, no softening the news. Read full article > >

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Financial crisis and stimulus: Could this time be different?

Despite the limping economy, the Republican Congressional leadership wants Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, to avoid further stimulus.

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G.O.P. Urges No Further Fed Stimulus

In societies governed by persuasion, politics is mostly talk, so liberals’ impoverishment of their vocabulary matters. Having damaged liberalism’s reputation, they call themselves progressives. Having made the federal government’s pretensions absurd, they have resurrected a supposed synonym for the government, the “federal family.” Having made federal spending suspect, they advocate “investments” — for “job creation,” a euphemism for stimulus, another word they have made toxic. Read full article > >

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Our floundering ‘federal family’

In societies governed by persuasion, politics is mostly talk, so liberals’ impoverishment of their vocabulary matters. Having damaged liberalism’s reputation, they call themselves progressives. Having made the federal government’s pretensions absurd, they have resurrected a supposed synonym for the government, the “federal family.” Having made federal spending suspect, they advocate “investments” — for “job creation,” a euphemism for stimulus, another word they have made toxic. Read full article > >

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Our floundering ‘federal family’

Not expecting further stimulus.

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Markets Prepare for Bernanke Speech

When Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, speaks at an annual gathering on Friday, markets will be searching for anything that indicates whether more stimulus is on the way.

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Markets Will Look for Hints in Bernanke’s Words

Onetime standard-bearers of Republican economic philosophy are among those saying the short-term focus should be on stimulus.

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Economic Memo: G.O.P. on Defensive as Analysts Question Party’s Fiscal Policy

Weiner’s roast, Palin’s belligerent ignorance, Gingrich’s implosion captivate Washington. Posturing over deficits and playing chicken over lifting the debt limit dominate the economic conversation. The reality facing Americans gets lost in the hubbub. It is as if an impenetrable fog separates Washington’s follies from America’s agonies. In Washington, the economy is said to be in recovery. Restaurants are full; housing prices are going up. Republicans think it’s time to replay old conservative favorites: Curtail aid to the unemployed, roll back financial and health-care reforms, repeal what left’s of the stimulus while pushing to slash spending and taxes. The Obama administration wants to brag on the 2 million jobs created over the last 15 months, despite “bumps in the road.” The Democrats are so cowed by the elite’s focus on deficits that they are afraid to put forth a jobs plan. Outside of the scandal du jour, the city is fixated on how much and what to cut. Read full article > >

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Speaking out for good jobs

This makes Nicolas Cage look like a punter. A report by the Government Accountability Office says that companies that received some $24 billion stimulus money owe a whopping $750 million in back taxes. While the government can’t name names, it has…

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Stimulus Recipients Owe $750M in Taxes