I'm not going to waste a bunch of my time telling you why the $800,000,000,000 (that's billions for all you mathematicians out there) Stimulus Bill is worthless, but I will make a few points. First, not one job created thus far has been in the private sector, where we continue to lose jobs. The only jobs that have actually been created are government agency jobs and most of them are temporary. Second, many have argued that up to 90% of the bill's expenditures could be considered "pet-projects" or earmarks which would have little to no positive effect on the economy or the country as a whole. In fact, I would argue that it will be absolutely detrimental to the economy because they are taking OUR money, to fund shit we will never use, when that money could be spent throughout the local community. How does a train from LA to Las Vegas help farmers in Iowa or manufacturers in Michigan? Take a look at some of the wonderful things your tax dollars are being spent on as a result of the original Stimulus Bill.
http://www.examiner.com/x-2759-Business-and-Finance-Examiner~y2009m2d28-Top-10-wasteful-earmarks-on-stimulus-bill
And on top of this, they also passed the $410,000,000,000 (again, billions) Omnibus Spending Bill which contained 9,287 earmarks (60% Democrats - 40% Republicans). You've got to read some of these...it would be hilarious if it was a movie or a book instead of our country.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/upload/porktable.html
Now the geniuses on Capitol Hill are considering a second Stimulus Bill.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24661.html
"Democrats are all over the map on the stimulus and the possibility of a sequel." - The Politico
I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that not one of them ever read the first one. Wait, what am I saying? Of course they know what they're doing, they're the federal government, they know everything.
There sure are a lot of zeroes in eight-hundred billion. The most interesting one being the zero impact it has had on job loss and unemployment. Check out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/wm2521.cfm
At least you get something tangible when you spend on tanks and missiles. Does it really make sense to keep dumping hundreds of billions of dollars in "stimulus" to individuals and institutions that have already so clearly demonstrated an inability manage financial affairs?? Is there any difference between outright stealing money like Madoff and pumping taxpayer dollars into failing corporations?? At least they're recovering some of what Madoff took.