Stimulating "more government and more debt"

Obama presses his case on stimulus

Excerpt:

"The Democrat bill won't stimulate anything but more government and more debt," Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, chairman of the Republican conference, said Tuesday. "The slow and wasteful spending in the House Democrat bill is a disservice to millions of Americans who want to see this Congress take immediate action to get this economy moving again."

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Several Republicans said they would like the tax cuts to move more swiftly, according to people in the room, but the president replied that $275 billion was the most he would be willing to negotiate.

A 40-Year Wish List - You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill

Excerpt:

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.

We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.

Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus.

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Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?

Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles. Congress also wants to spend $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities. The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million; we love the Smithsonian, too, but this is a job creator?

Another "stimulus" secret is that some $252 billion is for income-transfer payments -- that is, not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. There's $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren't job creators.

Bill May Not Stimulate Jobs Right Away

Excerpt:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected less than half of the $355 billion that House Democrats want to spend on highways, bridges and other job-creating investments is likely to be used before the end of fiscal 2010. The CBO said the balance would likely be spent over the next several years, after the recession is projected to end.

Republicans said the analysis shows that the package, which Democratic leaders drew up with top Obama aides to boost the ailing economy, wouldn't create the promised jobs. "Clearly, we're not talking about a stimulus bill," said Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican.

Comments:

• I am praying for my friends (some of whom read this!) who are out of work. I actually fear for my own job based upon what is happening in my company and our industry. I have a son, a nephew, and a niece who have all recently lost jobs. I say this to emphasize that real economic stimulus is in my mind a high priority and that real economic stimulus should create real jobs right here at home (not in China, Mexico or the other places from which we import!)
  
• This Nancy Pelosi authored package won't do it! ("Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.)
  
• This bill is government waste piled high. Your children and grand children will pay for it in inflated dollars and this (along with the 10 Trillion dollars of debt (see the debt clock in the upper right!) will be the end of this nation as we know it. Perhaps and probably not in our lifetimes, but this waste will be the financial ruin of this country that I love!
  
• What would real stimulus look like? A cut in taxes - sharp, deep and short! Put money back in the hands of the American populace. A tax holiday of even a month or two would stimulate this economy.
  
• Republicans are wise to vote against it!