Stimulus package

[cotts135]

First, lets call it what it really is, payback. Pelosi and other Dems authored the origianal bill to payback organized labor for thier support. There is very little job stimulus in a bill that BHO obviously never read. Second, in regards to the hands off by Republicans comment. The problems didn't just start over the last 8 years. Many have been predicting a burst of the financial bubble for many years. The timing was just poor for the republicans.Third, anything good in the bill was put in there by the Republicans. You know, the amendments that have a chance of actually stimulating the econony.Fouth, I don't think the eonomy is as bad as the press makes it out to be. The media used it during the election to help defeat the Republicans. With the election over, they need something to yap about, so they all jumped on the economy. With all the coverage, they have scared people to death about spending money. Finally, no real solutions are on the table for the real problems. The bill is nothing more than huge spending bill.I was hoping it could never get worse than another LBJ. Your current President (I didn't vote for him and don't claim him to be mine), could be much worse than LBJ with taking the entitlement mentallity to new highs!

I mean c'mon.............................are you kidding me. Sorry there, but really, you have to be part ostrich to believe that. I know.....................I know it's the media's fault. It always is when things are not what you want them to be. The other thing is if everyone knew that the financial bubble would burst............ then why didn't the Bush administration address the problem.
Alot but not all of the problems we face today was because of policies enacted by the Bush administration. He had plenty of help with Democrats supporting these bills.
It's time we moved on from this and figure a way to fix this problem. I think Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership in the house should be ashamed of themselves for obviously putting forth a bill that was deeply flawed. I think Democracy served us well here because the Republicans at least yelled loudly enough that we are not going to be stuck with the original draft. In the end I think this bill will be better for it. Let's hope so.

[backpasture]

George W. Bush: Interest rate, 8% down to almost 0%. Inflation, 2.6%. Unemployment, 4.5%.

You're touting the the economy's performance under Bush??? Seriously?

You're giving credit to Bush for bringing the Interest rate to almost 0%, as if that is a GOOD thing??? Do you have any idea why Interest rates are as low as they are? (Hint: It's not because the economy is doing well.)

Don't think I need to pass the bong. It looks like you've already been hitting it pretty hard.

[backpasture]

I think Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership in the house should be ashamed of themselves for obviously putting forth a bill that was deeply flawed. I think Democracy served us well here because the Republicans at least yelled loudly enough that we are not going to be stuck with the original draft. In the end I think this bill will be better for it. Let's hope so.

Spot on. This is the way the sausage is made, it's just that people aren't usually paying attention to the process.

[Julie R.]

Kelder sent me this, but I think it would be a nice start toward funding the stimulus package. And no I did not go to all the fact checker sites, it's close enough for me!

"The Proposal"
When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well. Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.
Our government should not be immune from similar risks.Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.
Accomplish this over the next 8 years. (two steps / two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.
Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:
$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay / member / yr.)
$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people's staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)
$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.
$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion / yr)
The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country?
We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well.It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.
Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established. (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)
Note:
Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we have 3 senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.
Summary ofopportunity:
$ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.

$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (that's 8-BILLION just to start!)
Big business does thesetypes of cuts all the time.
If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits there is no telling how much we would save. Now they get full retirement after serving only
ONE term.

[M Remington]

So which of these are bad (other than a Democratic president initiated them) and why?

I would also like to know opinions on Obama's limiting executive pay when a company is bailed out.

[M Remington]

Julie, your post doesn't work. Since "all politics is local," we need representatives who know the issues of our districts. Assigning representatives to larger districts would amount to a bunch of mini-senators.

[JDogger]

Quote:
Originally Posted by backpasture
Thanks for the Cliff Notes version of the talk radio Talking Points. "Anything good in the bill was put in there by the Republicans," is my favorite part of this WHARRGARBL. .

I will agree with you that the problems didn't start over the last 8 years. Let's give credit where it's due --- to the 'Reagan Revolution'.

That may be the most accurate comment made.

As popular as the changes were, I believe that the "Reagan Revolution" did more to damage the long term soundness of our economy in general and our financial services industry in particular than anything since the deregulation under Harding. Massive profiteering in the S&L industry was followed by total collapse at the taxpayers' expense. Massive profiteering through the liquidation of pensions assets to bolster current profits and bonuses is directly linked to the unfunded pension liabilities we see today that are being bailed out by taxpayers. The deification of the trickle down economics and supply side mantras is directly linked to the most massive concentration of wealth in our history, runaway speculation with the assets of our largest companies, and a culture of greed.

Our lunch is being eaten by countries that have kept their sights on the long term value of their businesses (a lesson learned in Japan only after their own collapse) while we have lost control of our strategic business assets to gain short term labor cost advantages.

How's that for a lefty rant and thread hijack?

Lets not forget Nixon's 'opening of China'. That served us well didn't it?

JD

[YardleyLabs]

Quote:

Lets not forget Nixon's 'opening of China'. That served us well didn't it?

JD

I actually thought it was the best thing he ever did as President.

[Patrick Johndrow]

"Hope this is the beginning of the end for liberals in this country regards."

Patrick, they will never really go away since all of our universities and
primary education systems are loaded with the pointy-headed sandal
wearing "FRUITLOOPS". Reagan beat them back, but Bush the elder
let them come back in 1991 with his tax increase. Liberals are similar
to Johnson Grass, you have got to keep treating them with "RoundUp"
on a regular basis to keep them in check. Our problem is that we let
up on them when we have them by the balls. "Take no Prisoners" is a
motto I wish my party would subscribe to.


Bitter Clinger Regards

We can always hope they go away cant we?

[Art Geddes]

Much ado has been made in this thread in regards to us being a democracy. We are not a democracy, we are a republic with a democratic form of representation. A republic is a form of government based on law, in our case the Constitution of the United States of America being the supreme law of the land. What we need is for our representatives to fully realize the severity of they oath they take to protect, defend and preserve the Constitution, not attempt to change it.

Art