Obama, in a press conference the other night, arrogantly stated that he didn't understand the opposition to the $700B-and-something bill as not being a "stimulus" bill, but a "spending" bill. He stated that spending is equivalent to stimulus. Let me respond.
(1) Giving tax relief to people who don't pay taxes is not stimulus--it is redistribution of wealth. While many of those who receive this money need it and will spend it on their families, much of the money will end up in the "underground" economy.
(2) The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says this bill is a disaster and will not have the intended affect. Even liberal Democrat economists agree.
(3) Most of the infrastructure spending won't take place until at least 2011. This won't create jobs now.
(4) Much of the spending is targetted for pet Democrat projects with highly limited impact and benefit--most of the money will be going to already rich people. Sure, a FEW jobs may be created, but they will be low-paying and limited scope. This is "trickle-down voodoo economics" all over again. It didn't work in the 80's and it won't work now. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer back then and the same thing will happen now.
This bill will fail. Then the Democrats will blame it on not spending enough. The Republicans will blame it on targetting the wrong things. The real answer, in my book, is that the money shouldn't be packaged and pushed through Congress so fast that nobody really knows what's "in the language" as Nancy Pelosi put it. It needs to be debated openly and among both parties and time taken to really think it through.
I'm tired of scare tactics to push legislation through. It harkens back to the Fascist Party under Mussolini.
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