Uni-Partisan Agreement Reached On Stimulus Package

To the surprise of no one, the Democrats in congress have reached an agreement with themselves (mostly) that will allow them to pass the "Porkulus" spending package that they've wanted in order to make it look like they are doing something to help the economy.  

They've convinced two Republicans to go along with them; just enough to allow Obama to proclaim it a "Bi-Partisan" effort.  Senators Arlen Specter and Susan Collins, both regarded as "moderate to liberal Northeastern Republicans", are joining with the majority of Democrats in congress to see that "something" gets done. This, in spite of the fact that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that the package will do more harm to the economy than good. Specter and Collins are the best opposition that money can buy.

The agreement apparently cuts $110 Billion from the bill, making it a mere $880 Billion dollar package. The cost of the package will still manage to top a trillion dollars when interest is taken into account.  (Some even suggest as high as two trillion dollars).

President Obama, however, not being able to "stand the heat" headed off to Virginia for a retreat (read: "vacation"). Apparently, Obama wants to confirm Republican accusations of lack of leadership from the White House during the past few weeks.  There's nothing like taking a vacation two weeks after starting a job.  I'm sure most of us do that. Of course, Obama spent most of the week whining and complaining about Congress not getting his bill passed before he left.  

One reason Obama and the Democrats want a bill pass as soon as possible is because they are watching the polls and seeing that support by the American public for the package is slipping away by the hour. Every day the bill doesn't pass, they are losing somewhere between five and ten percent in the polls.  

As an aside, Sen. John Kerry took to the Senate floor today to pace, rant, and raise his voice in a monotone simulation of human passion as he spoke up for the massive spending bill the Democrats want to pass today under the guise of "stimulus." His argument against tax cuts for Americans during these hard economic times was illuminating:

"I've supported many tax cuts over the years, and there are tax cuts in this proposal. But a tax cut is non-targeted. If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there is no guarantee that they're going to invest that or invest it in America. They're free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest."

This, of course, is the fear of every good liberal. How dare Americans keep more of the money that they've earned and spend it like they want. It might not go to Planned Parenthood or ACORN. It might not be used to give condoms to kids or to teach homosexual tolerance. The American people might not want to spend their money supporting moms with seven kids living on welfare. They might even given some of it to (gasp) a religious organization or (even bigger gasp) a conservative cause or politician! We can't have that, can we, Senator Kerry. 

So, Congressmen like Senator Kerry place their own ideological desires over the rights and preferences of the American people. 

To make matters worse, Kerry showed a frightening indifference to the waste of taxpayer money by saying, "So frankly, you know, the difference between $50 billion on this bill or $100 billion -- let's get it moving. That is not going to make the difference in the economy."

I know that a $50 Billion difference isn't much to Senator Kerry, and I know that Speaker Pelosi doesn't know the difference between $50 Billion and a dollar and ninety five cents. Pelosi thinks $50 Billion is only a dollar or two for every working American, anyway. But to the rest of us average Americans, $50 Billion is getting close to being a lot of money.  

Kerry's priority is to get the stimulus package passed, not quibbling over a few hundred billion dollars here and a few hundred billion dollars there. Yet, if that's the case, you have to wonder why Kerry and his pals in congress couldn't bring themselves to support even one of the Republican amendments to the bill. For that matter, until today, it seems the Democrats in congress haven't even spoken to any of the Republicans about what it might take to make the bill more ... well ... bi-partisan.

For the Democrats in congress, the only time $50 billion to $100 Billion in tax dollars is worth worrying about is when taxpayers might have the dangerous freedom to spend it as they wish. When THEY are spending it, well, just don't worry your pretty little heads about it. 

Read more...

The End of an Era

Now that George W. Bush and the Republicans are out of power and Obama and the Dems are in power, we have witnessed an end to the era of scare-tactic politics.  Remember the Dems accusing President Bush and the Republicans of trying to scare Americans about everything?  Remember?

George W. Bush tried to scare us into a war on Terror.  He said that if we didn't go to war against al-Qaeda that they might attack us again.  They could actually kill people.  How dare Bush scare us like that.

Bush tried to scare us with the Patriot Act, as well.  As if there might be people right here in America that could try to harm people.  Shame on Bush.

And don't forget Gitmo.  Bush claimed that there might be some dangerous people there.  He refused to close it down in the face of criticism by scaring the American people into believing that it might actually contain some dangerous people.  

Aren't we all glad that that's all over with.  I'm glad the Dems and Obama have no intention of using scare tactics for political purposes.

... I guess that's all I have to say about that.

.... Oh, wait.  I also wanted to mention this:  We all need to get behind this stimulus package, because if it isn't passed, we will have the end of the world as we know it.  That's what Obama seems to be saying.  Obama warned on Thursday that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly.

In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the president argued that each day without his stimulus package, Americans lose more jobs, savings and homes. His message came as congressional leaders struggle to control the huge stimulus bill that's been growing larger by the day in the Senate. The addition of a new tax break for homebuyers Wednesday evening sent the price tag well past $900 billion.

Senate Democratic leaders hope for passage of the legislation by Friday at the latest, although prospects appear to hinge on crafting a series of spending reductions that would make the bill more palatable to centrists in both parties.

Obama painted a bleak picture if lawmakers do nothing.

"This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse," Obama wrote in the newspaper piece titled, "The Action Americans Need."

He rejected the argument that more tax cuts are needed in the plan and that piecemeal measures would be sufficient, arguing that Americans made their intentions clear in the election.

"I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change," he wrote.

I'm glad he's not trying the old scare tactics of Bush.  Fortunately we are now in an era of "Hope".

Read more...

The Emperor's New Economic Stimulus Package (Part 2)

According the Glenn Beck's Website, here is the breakdown of the "Porkulus" package:

• $825 billion total (as of 1/15/09) 
• $550 billion in new spending, described as thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in. 
• $275 billion in tax relief ($1,000 tax cut for families, $500 tax cut for individuals through SS payroll deductions) 
• $ 90 billion for infrastructure 
• $ 87 billion Medicaid aid to states 
• $ 79 billion school districts/public colleges to prevent cutbacks 
• $ 54 billion to encourage energy production from renewable sources 
• $ 41 billion for additional school funding ($14 billion for school modernizations and repairs, $13 billion for Title I, $13 billion for IDEA special education funding, $1 billion for education technology) 
• $ 24 billion for "health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies" and "to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments." 
• $ 16 billion for science/technology ($10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation; $6 billion to expand broadband to rural areas) 
• $ 15 billion to increase Pell grants by $500 
• $ 6 billion for the ambiguous "higher education modernization."

[Source: Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009] 

Here is a further breakdown of the package: 

NOTE: The following are highlights of the package; for the full 13-page summary from the Appropriations Committee, click here: 

(as of 1/15/09) 

Energy 
$32 billion: Funding for "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste 
$16 billion: Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit 
$6 billion: Funding to weatherize modest-income homes 

Science and Technology 
$10 billion: Science facilities 
$6 billion: High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas 

Infrastructure 
$30 billion: Transportation projects 
$31 billion: Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure 
$19 billion: Water projects 
$10 billion: Rail and mass transit projects 

Education 
$41 billion: Grants to local school districts 
$79 billion: State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid 
$21 billion: School modernization ($15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500; $6 billion for higher education modernization) 

Health Care 
$39 billion: Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid 
$87 billion: Help to states with Medicaid 
$20 billion: Modernization of health-information technology systems 
$4.1 billion: Preventative care 

Jobless Benefits 
$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training. 
$39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid. 
$20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs. 

Taxes 

Individuals: 

*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion. 
*Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor. 
*Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children 
*A $2,500 college tuition tax credit. 
*Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time. 

Businesses: 

*An infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two. 
*Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment 
*Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases. 
*Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

[Sources: Associated Press: Highlights of Senate economic stimulus plan; January 23, 2009; WSJ: Stimulus Package Unveiled; January 16, 2009; Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009] 

When is the money being is going to be spent, and on what? 

The government wouldn't be able to spend at least one-fourth of a proposed $825 billion economic stimulus plan until after 2010, according to a preliminary report by the Congressional Business Office that suggests it may take longer than expected to boost the economy. The government would spend about $26 billion of the money this year and $110 billion more next year, the report said. About $103 billion would be spent in 2011, while $53 billion would be spent in 2012 and $63 billion between 2013 and 2019. 

• Less than $5 billion of the $30 billion set aside for highway spending would be spent within the next two years, the CBO said. 

• Only $26 billion out of $274 billion in infrastructure spending would be delivered into the economy by the Sept. 30 end of the budget year, just 7 percent. 

• Just one in seven dollars of a huge $18.5 billion investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs would be spent within a year and a half. 

• About $907 million of a $6 billion plan to expand broadband access in rural and other underserved areas would be spent by 2011, CBO said. 

• Just one-fourth of clean drinking water projects can be completed by October of next year. 

• $275 billion worth of tax cuts to 95 percent of filers and a huge infusion of help for state governments is to be distributed into the economy more quickly. 

[Note: The CBO's analysis applied only to 40 percent of the overall stimulus bill, and doesn't cover tax cuts or efforts; a CBO report outlining all of its costs is expected in the next week or so.] 

• The Obama administration said $3 of every $4 in the package should be spent within 18 months to have maximum impact on jobs and taxpayers; if House or Senate versions of the bill do not spend the money as quickly, the White House will work with lawmakers to achieve the goal of spending 75% of the overall package over the next year and a half. 

[Source: AP: Three-quarters of stimulus to go in 18 months; January 22, 2009; Bloomberg News: Much of Stimulus Wont Be Spent Before 2011, CBO Says; January 20, 2009; link] 

Who will be spending the money? Will the states be receiving any money to spend, community organizations? Churches? 

The economic stimulus plan now moving through Congress would shower billions of federal dollars on state and local governments desperate for cash: 

• The House stimulus bill includes an extra $87 billion in federal aid to state Medicaid programs. 

• It allots some $120 billion to boost state and city education programs. 

• There's $4 billion for state and local anticrime initiatives in the legislation, not to mention $30-plus billion for highways and other infrastructure projects. 

• $6.9 billion to help state and local governments make investments that make them more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions. 

• $87 billion to states, increasing through the end of FY 2010 the share of Medicaid costs the Federal government reimburses all states by 4.8 percent, with extra relief tied to rates of unemployment. 

• $120 billion to states and school districts to stabilize budgets and prevent tax increases and deep cuts to critical education programs. 

Overall, about one-quarter of the entire $825 billion recovery package would be devoted to activities crucial to governors, mayors, and local school boards - making them among the plans biggest beneficiaries. 

Read more...

Huh?

File this under:  "What have the Democrats been screaming about for 8 years?"

President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan will include an immediate tax cut for middle-class families, and the incoming administration hopes to enact permanent tax cuts soon thereafter, a senior adviser to Obama said Sunday.

"Look, we feel it's important that middle-class people get some relief now," Axelrod said on "Meet the Press." Obama has "promised a middle-class tax cut," he added. "This package will include a portion of that tax cut that will become part of the permanent tax cut he'll have in his upcoming budget."

Giving people more spending money will "help get our economy going again," Axelrod said. He also said he is hopeful that the recovery plan will be ready for Obama to sign soon after his Jan. 20 inauguration.   (Story...)

Read more...