This would all be the height of hilarity if it wasn’t actually happening.When the screaming in my head stops, I have quiet time to imagine all these budget-, policy-, and financial services-types in Washington running around like a hundred Charlie Chaplains:leaderless, directionless, and ridiculous.What are they doing?!?!I don’t at all claim to have the answers to these economic problems, but it certainly can’t be the death-by-a-thousand-cuts profligate spending of which we’re suddenly so fond.
Many seem to be saying (you know who you are:thank you) that we can’t simply resolve this situation by throwing money at it, but no one is closing the spending floodgates.I’m as scared as the next person of a prolonged recession, or (God forbid) a full-blown depression, but I’m more afraid of weathering this storm only to face 50 percent income taxes and so much government intervention and regulation that capitalists and entrepreneurs flee for the hills.We can’t afford for the engines of American ingenuity to decide to shut down to avoid conflict with our government.
I wrote last time about the importance of us learning our collective lessons from this crisis.The government is doing us no favors in that regard.We’re being scolded for having spent beyond our means and buying homes our incomes couldn’t support.We’re also being told that only our spending as consumers keeps the economy growing, and until we start doing that again, they’re going to do it for us.That causes me to wonder:when we start spending again, will they stop?And if they stop (or especially if they don’t), how much of our paychecks will be devoured by taxes to pay for it all (including the interest on our national debt)?It already feels like a vicious cycle, and it’s barely begun.Hilarious, huh?
In the wake of the Stimulus Bill, that was so hurriedly rushed through Congress that not one Congressional Member read the bill before voting on it, we have encountered more huge economic downturns, many immediately following the follies and falters of Congress and this administration. As we look back, 92 percent of our viewership believes Congress was not justified in passing the bill without allowing themselves or the public time to read the bill.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was on NBC's Meet The Press this morning. On the show, Governor Jindal explained why he planned on turning down a portion of the federal stimulus money currently allocated to go to his state:
Because of near unanimous opposition to the poorly planned and poorly developed economic stimulus bill many Republicans are facing the ire of the Democrats and some in the media who have decided that their opposition equates wanting America to fail. Editorials to this affect suggest that believing the economic stimulus bill is wrong, is un-American. Instead, the ridiculous expectation that some Americans must concede their beliefs and support this bill is not bipartisan; it is intolerant of our principles.
Instead, the real news should be the ridiculous notion that if this Administration reheats and rehashes the archaic and misguided policies of the FDR and Carter presidencies the results will be different this time around. And while this Administration, like FDR’s, was not responsible for the economic mess it inherited, they will be held responsible for prolonging an economic crisis through poor policy. Remember, this is not the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and those comparisons amount to nothing more than fear-mongering for the purpose of passing a bill.
Furthermore, the idea that Republicans should not oppose the stimulus because of the fiscal irresponsibility on their watch is preposterous. Someone, anyone, especially an elected public official who is salaried by the American taxpayer has the duty to stand in the way of fiscal irresponsibility. And while it may be the case that W. and the Republicans turned left in a crisis, the logic of following fiscal irresponsibility with more fiscal irresponsibility is incoherent.
So what amounted was a stimulus bill that was not bipartisan, and President Obama’s efforts in that regard were a failure. But to hold Republicans responsible for the lack of bipartisanship on this bill reminds me of a good quote from The Audacity of Hope:
"Genuine bipartisanship assumes an honest process of give-and-take, and that the quality of the compromise is measured by how well it serves some agreed-upon goal, whether better schools or lower deficits. This in turn assumes that the majority will be constrained – by an exacting press corps and ultimately an informed electorate -- to negotiate in good faith.
"If these conditions do not hold -- if nobody outside Washington is really paying attention to the substance of the bill, if the true costs . . . are buried in phony accounting and understated by a trillion dollars or so -- the majority party can begin every negotiation by asking for 100% of what it wants, go on to concede 10%, and then accuse any member of the minority party who fails to support this 'compromise' of being 'obstructionist.'
"For the minority party in such circumstances, 'bipartisanship' comes to mean getting chronically steamrolled, although individual senators may enjoy certain political rewards by consistently going along with the majority and hence gaining a reputation for being 'moderate' or 'centrist.'"
Thanks to the WSJ for drawing attention to this, it is shocking that this is not a quote from a bitter Republican complaining about the stimulus bill, it is President Obama, suggesting that he understands bipartisanship and would understand why his stimulus was nowhere close to being bipartisan.
And so, in all likelihood, the rest of this Administration will follow suit: blame for the promise and failure of bipartisanship does not belong to Republicans, the past few weeks are evidence that for all their noise they have no power, but to Democrats. It is misguided to believe a genuine hand of bipartisanship was extended only to be met with a clenched Republican fist; instead, the Republicans were offered an accomplice’s role to which most, finally, displayed some principles. The Democrats responded not with tolerance, but with claims of a mandate from the American people.
The idea that the American people gave the Democrats authorization to repeat the failures of past administrations neglects the reality that over 46 percent of Americans did not vote for Obama, none of us voted for the Stimulus (none of us even had the chance to read it), and, for perspective, only .15 percent of American voters voted for Nancy Pelosi, hardly a mandate. For Congressional Leaders to feel empowered by the American people is a crime, the Congressional approval rating recently skyrocketed from 19 percent to a whopping 31 percent (from historically poor, to a mere pathetically low), meaning, of course, that 7 of ten Americans don’t believe they gave Pelosi and her cronies any type of mandate. And while this is the reality of the American Republic, it illustrates the illusions of grandeur with which some politicians are dealing. Someone should send Pelosi and the President the writings of John Stuart Mills, because this is the tyranny of the majority in a very vulgar form.
“Labor – rather than the nation’s quantity of gold and sliver – is the cause of increase in national wealth.” This phrase was postulated almost 300 years ago by an odd-looking Scot named Adam Smith, the father of political economy. Smith, along with David Ricardo and a few others, taught us that labor combined with production are the basis of creation of the real wealth of a nation.
Recently Smith’s writings came back to me as I was waiting in my dentist’s office scanning an issue of a certain auto magazine. The article that caught my eye was about the best new cars in America today. A table of the best car brands was a true shock. Out of 30 brands listed, only five were brands from U.S. auto makers.
Yes, our automakers are in a terrible shape, but I believe that we are facing another more serious challenge. It is not the threat of global terrorism, or the rise of fundamentalism, or Roe vs. Wade, or anything else the media would like us to believe. The name of our challenge is the decline of American industry through the loss of manufacturing and production to overseas suppliers, which is leading to an increasing reliance on a service economy to be the engine of growth of the United States.
Just like Adam Smith, I believe that the production of goods is a key element of the economy of any nation and no economy can survive without it in the long run. Production is the only activity that actually generates surplus (therefore value) which can be shared and distributed to others. You may argue that our agriculture is highly productive and a leader in the world, but we can not survive economically as an agricultural society. Just ask Paris Hilton how she enjoyed life on the farm.
We are a global economy and we do want to help people around the world and lift them out of poverty, but we need to think strategically as to our own economic future. Our policy makers need to focus on major restructuring of our economic and fiscal policies to support growth of the U.S. manufacturing industry. Recent economic indicators (unemployment, loss of manufacturing orders) are absolutely frightening and we must act to restore our global leadership in manufacturing and production. Let’s hope that the new stimulus bill supports this position.
It was so important to get this Stimulus Bill passed and have it on the President’s desk by the Inaugural. So important that if it wasn’t done by then the sky would fall. Then it was not done, the sky was still in the sky, and it became absolutely imperative that the bill got done or it would spell certain catastrophe. So the bill is about to pass and it is only the second phase of a litany of “emergency” opportunistic legislative efforts by a Congress with a 12 percent approval rating to capitalize on “Change.” Even the President’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel admits that the best time to get other unrelated agenda items done is during times of crisis.
So since the sky is falling and the United States teeters on the precipice of doom, what exactly are the life-raft provisions in the bill that will save us all? The answer should shock every American. Nobody knows. When members of Congress were asked if they had a chance to read the largest spending bill in the history of mankind, and one that borrows from our future generations to pay for our current economic discomfort, they almost unanimously replied that there won’t be time. New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg indicated, “No, I don’t think anyone will have a chance to [read the entire bill].” Please God tell me you’re kidding. Ever heard the adage don’t sign something you haven’t read? Well don’t vote for something that will plunge our children’s children into debt without reading it. It seems to me that if the stakes are legitimately high, and if it’s true that the sky hinges on falling, it might be worth while to spend an extra day making sure the contents of the oh so important bill are what they should be for the good of the Nation.
As a few easily-duped Senate Republicans were used like chips in a poker game on Friday evening to strike a deal to send this Nation $1.3 trillion (when considering all amendments to the bill) more in the hole, and to borrow from our children’s future to pay for our current “needs,” this irresponsible act should beg the question to all of us, how was this so-important bill written, and what is so magic about the number “$800 billion” set by the President and Vice President as necessary to stimulate the economy.
After spending eight years as staff in the U.S. Senate, it is beyond alarming how politics almost always trumps policy, and how thoughtless our policymakers have become. Make no mistake, this bill is random in its provisions and correlates little to the need for economic stimulus. It is a wish list of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the committee chairmen from the Democratic Caucus across Capitol Hill. It is a purely partisan bill that was crafted by Congressional Democrats over a period of a month in secret staff meetings, and exclusive of any Republicans. It is the product of a backwards effort to “hit” the President’s randomly-selected target of $800 billion. It is merely a passing of the plate in search of pet projects, an effort designed to garner enough support and to fill the $800 billion tank. A target based not on analysis, but rather on an over-self-inflated bank account of political capital.
Why now? Why so fast? Because the President can get away with it. A month, six months, a year from now, he may no longer be able to jam a massive social welfare and union payoff bill down taxpayers’ throats. He must strike now and fast while the American drones that elected him still have their glazed eyes and hopeful hearts. After all, soon to come is another round of Troubled Assets Relief Program – or TARP to bailout irresponsible businesses, a huge Omnibus appropriations bill, then an enormous federal highway bill, and yet a third TARP bill right behind that. This Congress is on track to spend an amount equal to the entire U.S. gross domestic product ($14 trillion) – all in one year!!!
Let’s look at the warning signs for this bill. The Congressional Budget Office indicates in its February 4, 2009, report that this bill will create between roughly 1.3 and 3 million new jobs. On the low and high ends, that’s $600,000 and $200,000 per job, respectively. Sustainable jobs? No. But jobs that will exist long enough to get Mr. Obama and his Congressional leaders re-elected, and then start to disappear just in time for a new Administration to take the blame for the demise. Republicans and economists who are supportive of taking action argue aggressively that this bill will not stimulate the economy as its being sold. If the President truly is for small businesses, wouldn’t it be more of a stimulus to this economy to simply zero out taxes from small businesses for the next two years with tax incentives to hire new employees? Instead, by mortgaging the future, CBO indicates that this bill will have an adverse effect on these same businesses as taxes will have to be raised to support the future debt.
This bill is not “needed.” There is no doomsday around the corner for the economy if billions are not spent on painting school hallways, building a Frisbee golf park in Maine, or helping to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases. There is no doomsday if we fail to send billions to federal agencies to combat climate change, or buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. There is no doomsday if $650 million more federal dollars are not given to Americans to switch from analog to digital television. While some of these are things we should invest in for the long term, they are not things that will break our economy in the short term.
So, Mr. President, it’s time to hit the “start over” button on this process. If you truly are a figure that transcends politics and wants Washington to work in a new way, here is how you should work to stimulate the economy: First, take a breath. You control both Houses of Congress and the White House and have the luxury of a thoughtful process. Your race for passage of this bill screams that is not in the best interest of the Nation. While you have momentum from your election to implement your agenda, it is not your agenda that is being implemented with this bill. This Nation is $11 trillion in debt, and with future obligations to Social Security and Medicare, we are heading quickly toward bankruptcy. This is not the time to put politics before policy. It is time to come together as a People, and make the most effective and efficient investments. You won the election because of your temperament, mostly. Exercise it and slow down this process. TARP 1 was done as you are proceeding with this and Americans expect that you will learn from that.
Second, sit with leaders from both parties and talk through a list of priorities that directly stimulate the economy in the short term and long term. Be completely clear to them that the list should only include non-parochial priorities. You took a good first step by calling for no earmarks in the bill, but by ceding the drafting of the bill to a Congress with a 12 percent approval rating you lost control of the process and failed to lead. You should appear on television and walk through what is in the bill and why each provision is important enough to borrow from the future to pay for today. Talk about the Alternative Minimum Tax fix, explain your investment in new technologies, and other necessary provisions.
And, third, you should stop paying back constituencies that contributed to your election. You made it clear during your campaign that you were not beholden to lobbyists or special interests. Well, your words speak louder than your actions of late, and this needs to change.
We are a diminishing country, Mr. President, and there are major and very severe consequences for spending more into debt. Stop this. Government is not the engine that has made this country great. In fact, it was excessive government that served as the catalyst for the American Revolution and the formation of this great Land. We cannot spend ourselves to freedom and prosperity, but we can harness the power of the American people and let innovation and development take hold. But with crushing debt on our shoulders we cannot be anything but servants to your bureaucracy in perpetuity.
Remember in November when politicians were scrambling with a gun to their head to pass BAILOUT #1 (now sometimes referred to as TARP) that the original problem was the collapse of the housing sector in the U.S.? It is a little hard to remember at this point, because no one is talking any more about what needs to be cured as the genesis of this financial cancer, they are just giving a pill for every symptom while the disease spreads because no one is addressing the underlying problems that would indeed if addressed, cure the cancer in our financial sector. American "standard" medicine is a failure because it spends more time and money than any other country "ruling out" all the diagnoses that you don't have before it even comes close to diagnosing what you do have. It's wasteful of resources, inefficient & expensive for society and most importantly, time-consuming, painful & costly for patients. No common sense is used any more in just cutting to the chase of the problem either in medicine or bailouts these days and both are running up a tab on American taxpayer's backs that will likely never be paid off. Politicians are selling the future generations of Americans mostly off to foreigners (whichever countries national treasuries and individual investors or corporate investors will still have them) via Treasury securities. All politicians and heads of Wall Street are thinking about now is, "Get the band-aid, get the band-aid, get the band-aid and put it on ME!" They want an instantaneous solution to a cancer that has been growing since the Clinton administration with the relaxation of Federal Housing policies. These policies were fed by G.W. Bush's dream and corresponding relaxation of policies so that every American could own a home. The cancer grew.
Obviously given this diseased state of the U.S. economy, you cannot cure the cancer without attacking it at its origin and cutting that off first. By doing that you will have the exponential uptick in the economy just as we have lived through the erosion these last several months as it fell out in many ways. We've been hearing a lot of talk and analysis over the past several weeks both from President Obama and the Democrats as well as their Republican counterparts. Essentially the differences in the two perspective simply boil down to this: the Republicans want to continue the Bu-sh-it policies of cutting taxes as a way to stimulate the economy & the American financial sector while the Democrats want to finance government projects, jobs and programs to stimulate the economy. Neither will achieve any of the goals of truly making the economy & financial sector fundamentally any different NOR DO THEY AT ALL ADDRESS THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM FOR WHICH WE WERE CALLED UPON TO FORK OVER CURRENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS OF MONEY.
I assure you that forking over a trillion more dollars to the Baby Boomers in charge who mismanaged and ruined our economy and finances in the first place is by no means worthy period. They failed in the first place as they disregarded the balance sheets and shareholders of the very institutions they were charged with a fiduciary duty to run. They failed in the second chance with the first bailout by misusing American taxpayer funds for their own personal gain. Now, Americans at the hands of our Congressmen and Senators and President Obama and his staff are about to sell out countless future American generations underneath the Baby Boomers financially by endebting them endlessly for yet another foreseeable unsuccessful set of partisan programs that benefit the same captain of industry who RAPED AND PILLAGED AMERICAN SOCIETY IN THE FIRST PLACE UNDER THE BUSH REGIME? Grow up! Even with the best of intentions on their side, this BAILOUT #2 is ill conceived, rushed, and misdirected piece of legislation that should die now!
What needs to happen now is what needed to happen before, those who wrote bad mortgages and profited from them, need to write the interest rates down to current levels and the homeowners and investors who bought the homes at artificially inflated prices need to suck up their personal losses, not socialize these losses on society while they keep all the profits when they make winning financial bets. It's very simple. This is a private problem that needs a private solution between the two parties involved. The FBI should investigate and prosecute all those involved in the LIAR LOANS who took enormous fees on the front side of those mortgages just for origination and seize their personal assets to pay for the costs. This is theivery pure and simple. So is using taxpayer money by Wall Street executives for boondoggles as they are called in finance. Pay for your own offsite golfing. Pay for your own AIG spa treatments. Pay for your own transportation to work just like the rest of America does-we'll see how many executives commute from Chicago to NYC on private jets at that point. Pay for your own meals, don't charge the firm for the after-tax cost & the American people for the tax deduction. Pay for your own escorts. Wall Street attitude of entitlement has grown well beyond cancer and the propsed new legislation for bailout #2 doesn't address it. Fair tax and other regulation of the financial services sector and enforcement will go along way. Let the institutions fail-no one is lending anyway. Get a huge clawback clause and seize the assets of all the employees involved not just the top 5 executives and give the money back to the American taxpayer to who it belongs. Why is it that we have such a hard time in America calling a crime a crime and seeing right from wrong when using other people's money? Cure the cancer and stop the bailout package. We need to rebuild an economy based on fundamentals, not try to sustain or reach again to the height of the illusions of where our economy was before. So any package that tries to restore America to what it was before the crisis is going to fail. We need to treat the cause, and the symptoms will then dissipate. If we go forward with bailout #2 amd treat only the symptoms, you might see some illusory improvement in some areas where the economy is hurting, but the fundamental erosion will still continue to proceed underneath the illusion. Let's start practicing medicine and finances in America that make sense.
It was just 21 days ago that our newly inaugurated President spoke the following words: "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." Apparently, memory is the first attribute to go after entering the Oval Office, as President Obama contradicted himself just days later with another dramatic quotation in the face of Senate defeat: "A failure to act, and act now [on the bill], will turn crisis into a catastrophe." If you ask me, it is time our Commander in Chief makes up his mind. The position he has earned and embraced within the last month does not take kindly to playing both sides of the aisle. You cannot promote hope to get elected then swiftly drop the hammer of fear once colleagues begin to show they disagree with your proposals.
If the President was more focused on promoting the good things that this bill will produce (if any) instead of saying how bad things will get if we don't pass it, the American people and the stock market might be more willing to embrace it. Regardless, it looks like this bill will pass, and hopefully it will help. My concern (beyond the likelihood of the bill actually working) is how often will President Obama stray from the path that got him elected and got so many Americans excited about voting again -- i.e., change, hope, etc.
Editor's Note: AmericaSpeakOn is tracking how President Obama's stimulus package is being received around the country. We are encouraging our readers to send us local newspaper articles and share them with the greater AmericaSpeakOn community.
This Union Leader article was sent to us this morning from a ASO reader in Concord, New Hampshire:
A GRASSROOTS EFFORT. Fred Tausch of Nashua is a frustrated, well-to-do businessman who got tired of watching politicians of both parties spending taxpayers' money. And so, spending $100,000 of his own money, he's trying to do something about it.
In full-page ads today in this newspaper and others, in radio advertisements and on a new Web site, the 37-year-old entrepreneur and investment manager emerges onto the political scene to provide an avenue for others upset about the size of the stimulus package and likely more spending measures on the horizon.
Tausch is a registered independent who, after voting Republican for most of his life, supported Barack Obama in the last election, even contributing $2,300 to the cause.
Tausch said he "got excited about his message. There was not a lot of fiscal discipline in either party, and I thought that when Obama talked about change, he was including that he would be more cautious about how we spend money. And that's just not the case."
Tausch says the federal government should have a limited role in trying to turn around the economy. He supports tax cuts for "working class" families and government purchase of government-backed securities to stabilize the mortgage industry and "keep people in their homes."
But he said he considers much of the spending in the stimulus plan excessive and fears it will have "a profound effect on the American economy. We're responding to a bad financial situation by borrowing a tremendous amount of money and spending it in a way that I don't think will help the economy very much."
Tausch said he wanted to do something to express his opinion and provide a place for people to talk about government fiscal policy, regardless of their political leanings.
He started up an organization he is calling STEWARD, an acronym for Stimulate the Economy Without Accumulating Record Debt. Not the most streamlined group name we've ever heard, but unique.
The site contains a blog, a link to an explanation of the stimulus and several other sections including an "ideas center."
"If I can get people to participate in the process and help provide a voice to people who are concerned, maybe we can help those who represent New Hampshire understand that we care not only about this package but also about what will probably be continued dramatically increased federal spending in the future," he said.
Tausch said he has no interest in running for office, but is just "trying to play a role in the process."
Okay. I have an issue with the ongoing implication by the president that it was tax cuts that got us “where we are today.” Here’s what he said in his weekly address over the weekend:
“Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems…"
In contrast, I’ll just offer what I think is a better explanation of “how we got here” from the president’s own Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, in his speech yesterday..
“I want to explain how we got here. The causes of the crisis are many and complex. They accumulated over time, and will take time to resolve.Governments and central banks around the world pursued policies that, with the benefit of hindsight, caused a huge global boom in credit, pushing up housing prices and financial markets to levels that defied gravity.
Investors and banks took risks they did not understand. Individuals, businesses, and governments borrowed beyond their means. The rewards that went to financial executives departed from any realistic appreciation of risk.
There were systematic failures in the checks and balances in the system, by Boards of Directors, by credit rating agencies, and by government regulators. Our financial system operated with large gaps in meaningful oversight, and without sufficient constraints to limit risk. Even institutions that were overseen by our complicated, overlapping system of multiple regulators put themselves in a position of extreme vulnerability.
These failures helped lay the foundation for the worst economic crisis in generations.
When the crisis began, governments around the world were too slow to act... When action came, it was late and inadequate. Policy was always behind the curve, always chasing the escalating crisis. As the crisis intensified and more dramatic government action was required, the emergency actions meant to provide confidence and reassurance too often added to public anxiety and to investor uncertainty.
The dramatic failure or near-failure of some of the world's largest financial institutions, and the lack of clear criteria and conditions applied to government interventions caused investors to pull back from taking risk.”
This is complicated, yes, but more accurate and therefore more responsible than the cheap-shot implication that tax cuts caused the current recession.
I think that Geithner stayed away from the Obama implication that tax cuts are to blame because he knows that our current situation has nothing to do with tax cuts – because tax cuts aren’t bad. They are good. They help stimulate the economy, especially when they are given to job creators like small businesses!
I give Geithner credit for mentioning small business several times in his speech, too. I’m glad they are being remembered when it comes to access to credit.
See this linkfor more specifics (i.e. a payroll tax holiday and increased expensing) on how to help the economy by helping small business.
In 1284, the town of Hamelin is suffering from a terrible plague of rats. The town council tries everything to get rid of them -- without success. At last, the Mayor promises 1000 florins to the one who can put an end to the plague.
A stranger dressed in bright red and yellow clothes shows up and says he can rid Hamelin of the rats. At night, the stranger starts to play a soft tune on a flute, luring all the rats out of the houses and barns towards the river Weser, where they drown.
The Mayor refuses to pay the piper: "Playing a tune on a flute is not worth 1000 florins. Get out of Hamelin!"
But the piper returns on a Sunday morning, when all the grown-ups are at church. Again he starts to play a tune on his flute. This time, all the children follow him, as he walks out of the gate to the mountains. Suddenly, a cave opens in the mountain. The piper walks into the mountain, still followed by the children, and the cave closes again.
In the Robert Browning poem, to which many of us were introduced, the Pied Piper is selling his talents to the Hamelin city council,
``Please your honours,'' said he, ``I'm able, ``By means of a secret charm, to draw ``All creatures living beneath the sun, ``That creep or swim or fly or run, ``After me so as you never saw! ``And I chiefly use my charm …”
Beware of charmers!
Combine difficult times, a sense among many (stoked by the President and the media) of impending doom, an incredibly effective orator, a swooning press and deceit and you have a formula for the disaster with which we are being threatened. Ever the charming Pied Piper, Obama lied to the Country last night. Just a few examples:
No pork in the stimulus package --- click here and draw your own conclusion --- he lied.
(A friend of mine, a financial businessman in NY, offered this upon seeing one piece of the largess granted to NY --
"An ‘earmark’ requires a member of congress to make a specific request for funds. So, this plan to bail out a developer's failing plan to build a new arena to house the New Jersey Nets isn't technically an "earmark" because the funds will be directed by Democrat Governor Patterson and Democrat Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. (There might be more pork than (at) a South Carolina BBQ, but don't you DARE call it an earmark!) Doesn't it give you a nice feeling to know that "yes we can" uses eminent domain and government debt to deprive citizens of their private property so that "we" can advance the private interests of the politically connected? After all, that's what "change" was all about, wasn't it."
Worst economic situation since the Great Depression -- I guess Obama has forgotten the Carter Administration conditions of inflation over 12%, 21% interest rates and unemployment topping 11% -- he lied.
No willingness by Republicans to work with Dems on a consensus bill -- he lied.
Bush policies led to the mess we are in -- We know there is plenty of blame to go around to the greedy, arrogant and deceitful operatives of the banking, investment and finance crowd; to the Congress for failing to enforce regulations; and to consumers and lenders for abandoning prudent home purchase and mortgage decisions -- he lied.
4 million new or saved jobs --- there is not a person living who can detail how or predict whether that will be accomplished --- he lied.
Most economist support his economic stimulus plan -- many, many do not (read here) -- he lied.
But, he does it so smoothly. Hope you heard MSNBC's Chris Mathews and his expressions of ecstasy over last night's performance by Obama. America, we are in deep trouble.
Elections have consequences and like the children of Hamelin, many are hearing the Siren's Song, that enticing and deceptively alluring plea from The One.
This “economic stimulus” package of the Democrats (and only three Republicans) is loaded with ineffective spending to accomplish the stated goal of jump starting the economy and creating (or saving) 3-4 million jobs
The Senate Republicans offered an alternative for half the price with tax cuts and spending mechanisms far more likely to stimulate the economy right now. But, so much for negotiations with those hell bent for socializing our government and economy.
Consider the list below of one attempt to put the details on the table -- an updated list of wasteful and non-stimulative spending contained in the text of the Nelson-Collins (amendment to the Senate Bill) “stimulus” compromise.
The list contains more than $15 billion worth of spending that would exclusively benefit federal employees, such as renovations for new offices, hybrid cars and workplace safety. One of the more egregious provisions in the bill would be a $1,500 tax credit to anyone that purchases “neighborhood electric vehicles,” which are actually golf carts. Additional benefits are available for motorcycles and three-wheeler purchases. (Section 1151 of the Nelson-Collins amendment) hybrid cars
$3 million for purchasing “neighborhood electric vehicles” (golf carts) $5.5 billion for making federal buildings "green" (including $448 million for DHS HQ) $650 million for the Digital Television (DTV) transition coupon program $1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth $200 million for workplace safety in USDA facilities $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries $75 million for the Smithsonian Institution $750 earmark for the National Computer Center in MD $224 million for International Boundary and Water Commission – U.S. and Mexico $198 million to design and furnish the DHS headquarters $10 million to fight Mexican gunrunners $850 million for Amtrak $100 million for lead paint hazard reduction $39 billion slush fund for "state fiscal stabilization" bailout $275 million for flood prevention $65 million for watershed rehabilitation $255 million for "priority procurements" at Coast Guard (polar ice breaker)$650 million for abandoned mine sites $1.3 billion for NASA (including $450 million for "science" at NASA) $100 million to clean up sites used in early U.S. atomic energy program $10 million for urban canals $1.5 billion for carbon capture projects under sec. 703 of P.L. 110-140 (though the original section only authorizes $1 billion for five years) $300 million for hybrid and electric cars for federal employees $500 million for State and local fire stations $180 million for construction of Bureau of Land Management facilities $500 million for wild land fire management $110 million for construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service $522 million for construction for the Bureau of Indian Affairs $412 million for CDC headquarters $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD $100 million for constructing U.S. Marshalls office buildings $300 million for constructing Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office buildings $800 million for constructing Federal Prison System buildings and facilities $307 million for constructing National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) office buildings $1 billion for administrative costs and construction of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) office buildings $160 million for "volunteers" at the Corp. for National and Community Service
Submitted by ASO member: Orson Swindle
Orson Swindle served for eight years with the Reagan Administration, the last four as Assistant Secretary of Commerce, and recently, over seven years as a Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. A career Marine Corps officer and fighter pilot, he was a prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam for over six years.
Last night, President Obama held his first primetime press conference for a full hour of valuable all network coverage. American Idol it was not; but for those of us interested in serious political discourse and open questions it did provide a first glimpse at the new President’s style and rhetoric, now that the governing is beginning.
Sadly, President Obama repeatedly built false Republican straw men to tear down, and was intellectually dishonest in his description of Republicans as supporting “no government response” to the current economic crisis, or “tax cuts alone.” Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics provides a complete analysis.
Here’s hoping the new man with the bully pulpit doesn’t turn out to be slick-suited bully…
Content and intent of the stimulus bill -- soon to be passed by Congress, continues to baffle the average American. The term “average” is not meant to insult anyone or infer anything – but rather, the term describes all Americans – not better or worse than our fellow citizens, everyone created equal. To put a finer point on it, we’re all riding on the good ship USS USA together, for better or worse. But every ship has a control bridge, and for the moment, it is the leadership up on the bridge that worries us “average” taxpayers.
Down below decks, we are the engine room mechanics, meal cooks and stewards. We are coal shovels, painters and carpenters. We are the ones who wear the overalls and get dirty. Up on the top deck, wearing their starched whites, are our commanding officers who we hope know what they are doing. Amongst the crew, we wonder out loud of their abilities. Do we want them to be aggressive, passive or just plain competent?
A recognized hallmark of effective leadership is excellent communication skills. Aboard the USS USA, that means White House and other administration officials communicating clearly with each other and with the taxpayer – clearly explaining why the ship is on a particular course. And, God forbid the ship is damaged, telling us precisely what actions they plan on taking. Americans don’t contemplate giving up the ship and we never will – but we have always required adequate and informed leadership.
In these early days of the Obama administration, the telephone lines that run from the bridge to the crew spaces below deck are jammed with mixed messages. It is not enough to say “ladies and gentleman, we’re going to sink and it’s going to be horrible”. Americans respond, “Yeah, so what are we going to do about it?”
The overstatement and soaring hyperbole on the size of the hole in our bottom has so far been the troubling hallmark of White House messaging. The last thing the crew needs to hear as the ship founders is “we’re in a hell of a mess” followed two minutes later by “we’re still in a hell of a mess.”
As the water pours into the ship, or, as is the case currently, billions of dollars flowing out of the taxpayer’s coffers, not one person in the entire administration is able to explain clearly what the devil is being done with the billions of dollars we are being asked to kick in. The money is flowing out of the ship like so much engine oil. The crew hears broad generalities about infrastructure repair, job creation, highway repair and such but absolutely no specifics as to how these pieces fit into the big picture. Remember the AIG bailout money? Yes, that money was pumped out during the last administration, but the current gang on the bridge admiring their gold braid is repeating the same mistake. They are suffering from a case of “the slows”, as President Lincoln like to call it.
Lincoln canned General McClelland after the Battle of Antietam for his “slowness”. Lincoln wanted results, not equivocation. Possibly this president will show the same fortitude of the man he constantly quotes and instill some aggressiveness in his “best and brightest” that have promised great things to the crew.
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