[SumItUp]

It’s hard to believe that our federal government thinks they can spend their way out of the mess that we are in, but they seem fully intent on doing it. Keep in mind, the federal deficit for 2009 is already at $1.2 TRILLION. If you had any hope that they would use the proposed $825 billion bill to actually revive the economy, think again. This is scary. I am not sure how the modern version would be accomplished, but I think it’s time for another Boston Tea Party. I hope this makes you angry.


Here are a few spending items that have been pulled out to highlight their absurd thinking. If you want to review the entire 13 page document, you can go to http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/Pre ... -15-09.pdf

-$6 billion to weatherize "modest income homes."
-$6 billion to provide internet in "underserved" areas
-$6 billion for "higher education modernization."
-$20 billion in health information technology to "prevent medial mistakes."
-$20 billion to increase food stamp funding
-$87 billion to provide a "temporary" increase in Medicaid funding
-$300 million to provide rebates for people who purchase Energy Star products
-$600 million for the federal government to buy brand new energy efficient cars
-$400 million for state and local governments to buy brand new energy efficient cars
-$2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration programs
-$350 million to research using energy efficient technology on military bases
-$300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, "benefiting public health and reducing global warming"
-$500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.
-$400 million to build major research facilities "that perform cutting edge science"
-$1.5 billion for expanding "good jobs in biomedical research"
-$400 million "to put more scientists to work doing climate change research"
-$600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
-$250 million "to address long-term economic distress in urban industrial cores and rural areas distributed based on need and ability to create jobs and attract private investment."
-$650 million to continue the coupon program to enable American households to convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission.
-$300 million for the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries
-$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
-$400 million for "ready-to-go habitat restoration projects"
-$2 billion to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.
-$120 million to provide subsidized community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans
-$1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies.
-$500 million to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency at some of the over 42,000 housing units maintained by Native American housing programs
-$10 million for "rural, high-need areas to undertake projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices"

[LUconn]

It's cool that you can spend money on everyday pork and label it a stimulus these days. How does money for fish hatcheries stimulate anything, economy-wise?

[TDDance234]

Welcome to your new America.

[Kolzilla41]

Let me tell you, I have a very very modest house. How do I get this weatherization money?

[NJLibertyboy]

The Federal Government is a joke.

My cousin in a landlord-tenant lawyer up in our home-state of NJ. She sees all these federal housing projects created for "modest/low-income" families get destroyed by people who don't appreciate them. It makes her laugh because many of these people agree to pay the Federal Government as little as $3/month to live in Federal Housing, and then don't pay and trash the place. She told me that we as taxpayers are screwed on every end. We have to pay to move them in, then after they get evicted, we pay to move them out (Moving truck, movers, etc). When they get evicted and have to go to court to fight it, they are provided with a government-paid attorney. Then, we have to pay to fix up the joint, which can cost up to $200,000.

By the way, is there any funding in there for smell-proofing the walls in my apartment? I know it doesn't quite fall into weatherization, but my neighbors make smelly Indian food and it leaks into my apartment. I have to have my electric Febreeze Air-Freshener on high all the time.

[BJWilliams]

People used to say "Pork, the other white meat..." now it should be "Pork, the latest trend in government" or some other significantly more witty slogan.

[Ed Dantes]

The problem is that any sort of 'stimulus' where the government doles out money necessarily means that the government is picking winners and losers. Such activities are yet to work since Marx devised the theories of socialism.

A more fair proposal would be to suspend the federal withholding tax for a set number of months until the receipts the government lost would be equal to the $825 billion. That way, the people who pay for the gov't are keeping more of their money, which they can use to either get out of debt or stimulate the economy a bit more.

[NJLibertyboy]

Sounds good to me!

[Fumblerooskies]

Ice Cream & The Election

Excellent analogy! From a teacher in the Nashville area. Who worries about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream? The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot. The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother. The day arrived when they were to make their speeches Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best.

Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down. The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely could say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide. Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and fifty-two percent of the people reacted like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other forty-eight percent of us know we're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

[ATrain]

-$6 billion to weatherize "modest income homes."-BOO
-$6 billion to provide internet in "underserved" areas-YAY (coming from Farmville, I'll happily accept this concept, even though it goes against my normally conservative values)
-$6 billion for "higher education modernization."-BOO
-$20 billion in health information technology to "prevent medial mistakes."-BOO
-$20 billion to increase food stamp funding-BOO
-$87 billion to provide a "temporary" increase in Medicaid funding-Ok
-$300 million to provide rebates for people who purchase Energy Star products-BOO
-$600 million for the federal government to buy brand new energy efficient cars-BOO
-$400 million for state and local governments to buy brand new energy efficient cars-BOO
-$2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration programs-BOO
-$350 million to research using energy efficient technology on military bases-BOO
-$300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, "benefiting public health and reducing global warming"-BOO
-$500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.-BOO
-$400 million to build major research facilities "that perform cutting edge science"-define "cutting edge science"
-$1.5 billion for expanding "good jobs in biomedical research"-BOO
-$400 million "to put more scientists to work doing climate change research"-BOO
-$600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.-BOO
-$250 million "to address long-term economic distress in urban industrial cores and rural areas distributed based on need and ability to create jobs and attract private investment."-BOO
-$650 million to continue the coupon program to enable American households to convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission.-BOO
-$300 million for the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries-Ok
-$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts-BOO
-$400 million for "ready-to-go habitat restoration projects"-BOO
-$2 billion to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.-Ok, but do they really need $2 Billion to do that?
-$120 million to provide subsidized community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans-BOO
-$1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies.-BOO
-$500 million to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency at some of the over 42,000 housing units maintained by Native American housing programs-BOO
-$10 million for "rural, high-need areas to undertake projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices"-BOO

So under me, we'd have around a $95 Billion stimulus package. I'm ok with increasing medicaid funding, provided it goes to people working full time but can't afford private coverage for whatever reason. The $6 Billion for high speed internet for underserved areas I'm all for, as being from the middle of nowhere it is frustrating when I go home to the parents house and dial-up is the only option. I'm also ok with the child care provision, but my question is why aren't more churches helping to take care of that?

[ATrain]

It's cool that you can spend money on everyday pork and label it a stimulus these days. How does money for fish hatcheries stimulate anything, economy-wise?

B/c they can hatch more fish...more fish in the water means there's more fish for fishermen to catch...these fishermen have to buy rods, fishing licenses, provide transportation and fuel for their transportation, lures, and other items. Each of those items must be manufactured. In addition, the more fish there are, it can also potentially increase the number of fishing tournaments a community can hold. If a professional fisher wants to bring their family, that adds more into tourism dollars because they will be shopping or dining out while the fisherman is stuck on a boat-that had to be manufactured and bought and gassed up-catching fish, that were hatched in a fish hatchery.

So, you see, our entire economy revolves around the fishing industry, which must be stimulated by fish that are hatched in a hatchery

The above information is provided courtesy of BUSI 500: How to BS anything.

[LUconn]

So under me, we'd have around a $95 Billion stimulus package. I'm ok with increasing medicaid funding, provided it goes to people working full time but can't afford private coverage for whatever reason. The $6 Billion for high speed internet for underserved areas I'm all for, as being from the middle of nowhere it is frustrating when I go home to the parents house and dial-up is the only option. I'm also ok with the child care provision, but my question is why aren't more churches helping to take care of that?

You are what's wrong with America. Pork is bad. Unless it benefits you personally. You're frustrated with dial-up? Oh I forgot that Al Gore added high speed internet to the bill of rights a few years after he invented it. If a service provider thought they could make some money by serving farmville, they would string lines out there. They obviously don't think it's worth it.

[ATrain]

So under me, we'd have around a $95 Billion stimulus package. I'm ok with increasing medicaid funding, provided it goes to people working full time but can't afford private coverage for whatever reason. The $6 Billion for high speed internet for underserved areas I'm all for, as being from the middle of nowhere it is frustrating when I go home to the parents house and dial-up is the only option. I'm also ok with the child care provision, but my question is why aren't more churches helping to take care of that?

You are what's wrong with America. Pork is bad. Unless it benefits you personally. You're frustrated with dial-up? Oh I forgot that Al Gore added high speed internet to the bill of rights a few years after he invented it. If a service provider thought they could make some money by serving farmville, they would string lines out there. They obviously don't think it's worth it.

So if you went out and bought an energy star appliance, you would send the rebate check back to the government?

[El Scorcho]

So under me, we'd have around a $95 Billion stimulus package. I'm ok with increasing medicaid funding, provided it goes to people working full time but can't afford private coverage for whatever reason. The $6 Billion for high speed internet for underserved areas I'm all for, as being from the middle of nowhere it is frustrating when I go home to the parents house and dial-up is the only option. I'm also ok with the child care provision, but my question is why aren't more churches helping to take care of that?

You are what's wrong with America. Pork is bad. Unless it benefits you personally. You're frustrated with dial-up? Oh I forgot that Al Gore added high speed internet to the bill of rights a few years after he invented it. If a service provider thought they could make some money by serving farmville, they would string lines out there. They obviously don't think it's worth it.

So if you went out and bought an energy star appliance, you would send the rebate check back to the government?

I know you weren't asking me but if I were answering...

1. No, because it's just me getting my tax dollars back that never should have left my pocket in the first place.

2. It's a moot point because the rebate checks shouldn't exist in the first place. Government has no business placing their stamp of approval on any one company, technology or market. That is essentially what they're doing when they issue bailouts. If our government were operating as it should be, it would be completely agnostic regarding the success or failure of any industry.

[Baldspot]

Ice Cream & The Election

Excellent analogy! From a teacher in the Nashville area. Who worries about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream? The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot. The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother. The day arrived when they were to make their speeches Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best.

Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down. The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely could say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide. Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and fifty-two percent of the people reacted like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other forty-eight percent of us know we're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

Post of the Year Consideration.