In President Obama’s uninspiring Inaugural address he made it a point to stress bi-partisanship and, in reference to gloomy economic prospects said this, “We have chosen hope over fear.”
Whenever any politician speaks (and, sorry to say I include Obama as just another politician), you’d be foolish to accept the words have any meaning until they’ve been run through the reality-grinder. Because the very next week, in explaining why we need to spend another $800 billion after the first $850 billion had no positive effect, Obama was quoted as saying, "A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe." So much for hope over fear.
Bi-partisanship? Republicans, except Northeast whackjobs, weren't even invited to discuss the content of the latest spending spree.
It’s words like "catastrophe" that actually turn crisis into a catastrophe. Is there any evidence out there that indicates successful problem-solving by Congress when in the midst of crisis? We end up with quick fixes, pork-barrel spending to move reluctant legislators and a lot of proud back-slapping that the Union has been saved by their thoughtful and quick action. The problem is, it’s doubtful any of the owners of the slapped backs completely read what in the 1,000 pages they voted for. God forbid anyone have a chance to read it in its entirety – especially those prone to leap from buildings from such bad news.
There is a delicious irony that there are hearings on financial Ponzi Schemes in one part of the Capitol while Congress creates the world’s largest scam a few hearing rooms down the hall. The difference in the hearings is the victims of the Congressional scheme will be future generations saddled with debt that will bury them in red ink their entire lives.
This isn’t to say Obama is solely to blame (although I want to remember all the headlines referring to this as Obama’s stimulus bill). The new president is just another political snake oil salesman peddling the same cure Bush and his team offered just six months ago. In case you’ve forgotten about the purpose of the first $700 billion – with the added $150 billion Congressional surcharge – was to stabilize the financial services industry. Anyone out there try to get a loan for anything lately? Anyone see any difference before and after the government threw our money at the problem with little debate and little open information?
When the two “stimulus” packages are added together the cost to benefit ratio to the taxpayer is criminal. Obama’s stimulus promises tax breaks that work out to $13 per week and drop to $8 per week next year. By contrast, if they just gave each and every American a share of both programs, we’d each receive almost $7,000. That’s $28,000 for my direct family alone. And, what would we do with that money? Who knows? Maybe spend it, creating jobs, maybe save it, making banks more liquid and secure, maybe invest it, taking foreclosed properties off the books or save sagging stock values, maybe give it to charity, creating opportunity to others less fortunate. Neither stimulus bill does anything close to what the average American would do if given that money.
Of course when you get to the bottom line, spending priorities is far from the main point. Congress, which has only one trained economist among members, needs to remember that the money they spend has to come from somewhere. They either have to print it, borrow it from China or take it from taxpayers. Either way, it sure looks like we lose.
7 comments:
Well, it seems we are posting on the same thing! Your post is brilliant. It's a thoughtful evaluation of the stimulus bill. You have also been fair in not blaming the fiasco on Obama, which is what the Democrat's playbook says you MUST do when attacking the other side.
Damn politics.
Well, to quote Rambo: Bush drew first blood.
So the DEAL is done! there's not a
thing that can be said to save US..
John Bubber will save us, er.... I mean President Obama!
I agree with the bulk of what you are saying and I too am vehemently opposed to the "bail out" in its final form. I do not understand a system that rewards the perpetrators and penalizes the innocents.
I have wondered for some time why this stimulus money cannot and should not be placed in the hands of us the consumer and allow us to determine who is saved. We can call it "trickle-up economics" I guess.
Of course our leaders tell us we can't be trusted with this kind of money, that our greed and poor judgement will come at too high of a price. Some of us may make risky investments that will do more long term harm. Others may use it to buy drugs. Others will spend their stimulus money on luxury items they don't need etc. Of course the irony here is that these banks, upon receipt of our money, will make risky investments, their employees will buy tons of coke, and "top earners" will be sent on paid spa days to help them cope with the stress of their high demand jobs.
That we as a people are prepared to overlook this type of hypocrisy is perhaps the strongest evidence yet that the "man has won". If we had any free thought or liberty left it would be revolution my friends. Instead we sit like suckers doped up on American Idol and The Desperate Housewives of Orange County, plugging along with the hope that if we just play ball we too may get our McMansion and SUV.
In regards to your Obama bashing I have to disagree with some of that but not for the reasons you think. I am ok with the minority of people in this country who are in opposition to our President and after 8 years of bashing our President I respect that the opposition has a right to voice their opinion. Although I voted for him it does not mean that I blindly follow him. Frankly, I do not think he has done well so far.
But while I disagree with his plan, I am not sure what else he is supposed to do. In my opinion, and I recognize we disagree on this, he has worked with the opposition more than any President in recent history. Sure his biggest problem is the fact that he apparently cannot control Pelosi and Reid, but I think his claims that he wants to work with Republicans are real (and lets be honest he really could just give them a giant middle finger on every single issue based on the majority they have).
At the end of the day It is Obama's job to develop a plan and present it to us the people. The Republicans job is to either agree or disagree and present an alternative plan. As far as I can tell they have done neither (just saying the words tax cuts is not a plan.) Instead they demonize the current plan and make the case that Barack Obama and his "socialist agenda" are going to destroy this country, conveniently forgetting to point out that he has essentially matched his predecessor's plan dollar for dollar. Where are the cries of heresy regarding Bush's "socialist agenda"? Then their (unofficial) spokesman Rush goes on the radio and says things like this: "I want everything he’s doing to fail ... I want the stimulus package to fail ... I do not want this to succeed." Really? The same man who declared that anyone in opposition to a war time president is a traitor.
Again, I do not agree with this plan and I am sickened by the "leadership" we have in Washington DC right now, completely regardless of political affiliation. We are all witnessing the the decline of the Great American Empire and we have only our pathetic elected officials and apathetic public to blame. As the man who once saved this nation foretold, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Yikes, where to start? Most republicans did not vote for Bush's unknown and unsupervised spending plan. It was the democrats who put that in with the help of a few idiot republicans. Rush and most other conservative talk show hosts were apoplectic about the first huge government spending orgy. I mentioned that in my post, too.
As for Obama, in effect, he did give the republicans the finger. Whether by design or lack of leadership, he let Pelosi and Reid do the liberal wet-dream spending proposal and those two stooges left the republicans out of conference committee except for the three republican senators they knew they could and would peel off; Collins, Snowe and Spector. If Obama wanted bi-partisanship on this, why didn't he use the bully pulpit of his office to chastise Reid and Peolosi for closing the door on republican debate?
The republicans, like last fall, did put forth a plan of their own. It called for lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% -- the second highest behind stagnant Japan in the industrialized world, they wanted the Bush tax cuts made permanent, they wanted to lower capital gains taxes to get money flowing again, and, most importantly, they wanted to remove one line in Sarbanes-Oxley that would have allowed banks to sell their bad debt to people who wanted to buy it at 30-cents on the dollar. Under Sarbanes-Oxley (passed as an urgency bill from the Enron scandal), banks have to declare such property as zero value so it doesn't seem as though they are cooking the books, and therefore it is impossible to sell something worth nothing for something.
Who knows if the republican bill would have worked any better, but please tell me what universal and managed health care has to do with a stimulus along with gobs of pork, inlcuding $18 billion to build schools in Milwaukee where there is declining enrollment and empty schools? Who knows what else is in the 1,000 pages. Few people had a chance to read it before a vote was taken and then Obama goes off on a Valentine's Day date with his wife instead of signing this supposedly urgent piece of pork. He violated his own campaign promise that any bill would be put up on the internet for five days before he would sign it. It's still not up.
I heard what Rush said and you are just taking the same line out of context that the media did to show how Rush is so partisan that he wants Obama to fail at all costs. He said if the president was going to change our system to a Socialist system, then he would want him to fail. And then he said he hoped that wouldn't happen and hoped he wouldn't fail because our country couldn't afford mistakes right now. You had to listen to the whole comment, not just the parsed part.
I can't think of one thing Obama has done that is bi-partisan except have a few republicans over to his new house to watch movies. What else has he done? Bush at least stupidly allowed Ted Kennedy to write his education bill just before Kennedy stabbed Bush in the back. Bush also signed McCain-Feingold's campaign finance reform that was supported universally by the dems and only reluctantly by a few republicans. Meanwhile, it appears the billion-dollar man Obama figured a way around campaign finance.
I don't really care about bi-partisanship. Politics, if anything, should be partisan. If you don't believe in something strongly, you have no business believing you can take care of the peoples' business while we are out earning a living and trying to pay for Congressional spending. I'm tired of centrists. Be passionate, and that doesn't always mean you have to agree. Wimpy republicans make me want to vomit. Have a nice day (should I go back to Russia now?).
Good discussion here folks--I am not sure our own mis-guided, over stepping and out of touch government leaders likely spent this much time in real discussions about what they are inflicting on our country. Now, more than ever, it seems monumentally important that one take care of ones self and loved ones as it seems our government has set us up to fail. The recent actions on "saving our country" are not aimed at allowing people to prosper, share and be in charge of their own destiny. We are surely rewarding those who have over stepped their bounds and hurting those who in that past might have wanted to help but now feel not only the pinch of not being able to help but also the resentment of the burden being placed upon their shoulders. This new stimulus program doesn't encourage anyone to go out and make a good go of things as their efforts will only be marred by higher taxes, sharing the wealth with those who make a profession of poor choices and the greed of a corporate America that at this time makes me ashamed not proud nor one bit interested in being a member of their club.
A very scary time indeed. I am already going to apologize to my grandchildren and their children for what we have become and for what we have done to them.
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