I am not going to benefit from the $13 bucks a week, I already own a home so the $8,000 credit is no good. I have no plans to buy a new car so deducting sales tax is no good. I do not build bridges, dig ditches or work on the roads so thats out. I have a few clients in the trades so maybe they can help green up the federal building, not likely though. STD’s are not a major concern nor are free condoms. I don’t see anything in it for me…maybe I could start raising Salt Marsh Harvest Mice, yeah thats the ticket.
The “stimulus” plan is a joke. Obama got on TV and said “There are no earmarks, there is no pork in this package”. What a load of hooey! Didn’t he even bother to read what was in the damned thing?
The damned package was written by Pelosi and the congress. Obama should have taken the bull by the horns as written the damned thing himself.
Trust these morons to do it makes him look inept, dumb and used buy the same old Washington political base.
Is this the change we voted for? NO, it’s just more of THE SAME!
“Is this the change we voted for? NO, it’s just more of THE SAME!”
In the leadup to the election, did you truly in your heart of hearts believe that there would be transformative change just because Obama was elected?
Mind you, I don’t think McCain would have been any better. A Rep prez with a solid majority in the House and the Senate = nothing gets done or else everything is an uphill battle. Still, those who voted in the “Hope” for “Change”…I’m genuinely interested in an answer to the question “Do you think you are getting what you paid for or do you feel gypped?”
Careful, you’ll be labeled an angry, whining, middle-class white-guy. 
True story…yesterday I am at the Toyota dealer getting my 4runner serviced. I walk by this older black man who is reading the paper. I ask him “Is there any good news in the paper” and he just smiles at me…5 minutes later he looks up to me and says he found some good news, “At least people on social security are getting $250 checks”. I smiled at him and said, “I guess you have to get all you can”…he smiled back.
The average American cannot fathom how much the debt is and how this package along with other bailouts are increasing the debt…I don’t think this black man thought of it as welfare but as something his govt owes him. Meanwhile, I wonder how much did it cost him to get his Camry fixed?
Bottomline, is the current group is counted on the fact that enough voters are ignorant. We are doomed.
I don’t think this black man thought of it as welfare
just curious. what significance does his race have?
I will probably benefit.
From what I’ve read, it looks like the stimulus package gives the NIH $10 billion over 2 years. The current NIH funding is about $29B / year. NIH funding had stagnated for the past few years, so this was very much needed as we were at a serious risk of losing an entire generation of scientists.
The direct effect on me is that my grants and my lab’s grants are more likely to be funded, which means I get to keep my job. I will also be able to hire graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and research assistants.
To answer your question, nothing in the package for me.
What are “earmarks and pork” to you? If it doesn’t go directly to your pocket then it’s wasteful spending? Just wondering. If the bridge you drive over falls into the river then you’d say they should have built a new one years ago. If it isn’t in the river yet building a new one is pork?
I hear people say “they need to do something about this”. Then when “they” do something it’s more complaining, those damn no good politicians are all full of shit, blah, blah, blah.
BTW, Obama who has been in office less than a month did write the stimulus plan. It then went to the House and Senate where debate, compromises and horse trading took place. Things were changed, that’s how our government works.
Paul
Because he was black. If he was chinese, I would have said chinese, if he was a red man, I would have said red man. If he was a brown man, I would have said brown man.
Beyond that I would illustrating a segment of the populaiton that voted overwhelmingly for Obama - black Americans. This gentlemen was a nice guy, we had further conversations yesterday. But after speaking to him, I realized he is not going to look deep into anything Obama does…he got his, a measly $250 check - and that was “good” news.
Don’t try to make my statement into a race issue, give up the PC crap.
What are “earmarks and pork” to you? If it doesn’t go directly to your pocket then it’s wasteful spending? Just wondering. If the bridge you drive over falls into the river then you’d say they should have built a new one years ago. If it isn’t in the river yet building a new one is pork?
I hear people say “they need to do something about this”. Then when “they” do something it’s more complaining, those damn no good politicians are all full of shit, blah, blah, blah.
BTW, Obama who has been in office less than a month did write the stimulus plan. It then went to the House and Senate where debate, compromises and horse trading took place. Things were changed, that’s how our government works.
Paul ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021203502.html?wprss=rss_business
You could see a decent tax cut, depending on your tax situation.
I’m a little bummed I just bought a house, but will miss the new $15K home buyer credit.
Don’t try to make my statement into a race issue, give up the PC crap.
??? I didn’t say a thing. I think your post spoke quite eloquently for you.
It seems it’s a matter of opinion as to what is money well spent and what is pork and wasteful. I think there will always be some things that miss the mark. I know I buy things that turn out to have been a waste of money. I’ve donated money to things that probably weren’t worthy in hindsight. That’s just my little world and I decide what to spend my money on. Having 300 million people and their 500+ elected representatives agree on what is good and what is wasteful will never happen. Myself, I’d rather see things get done even though we know there will be some waste, there always is. The point now is to shovel money out into the economy and do it fast. If we end up with some nice trains and battery factories all the better.
I’m gonna get alot mail in my inbox for this one…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/opinion/26krugman.html?_r=2
“The point now is to shovel money out into the economy and do it fast.”
Agreed, there are a lot of folks hurting right now, we need to add jobs and get them back to work. Handing out welfare is not the answer. I would love to hire back the folks we had to lay off at the very least and even bettter, create additional jobs. The construction industry has been decimated.
I’m gonna get alot mail in my inbox for this one…
http://www.nytimes.com/.../26krugman.html?_r=2
Krugman needs to find a “real” job. He accuses conservatives of doing what he has done over the past 8 years. Funny how things never seem to change.
“The point now is to shovel money out into the economy and do it fast.”
Agreed, there are a lot of folks hurting right now, we need to add jobs and get them back to work. Handing out welfare is not the answer. I would love to hire back the folks we had to lay off at the very least and even bettter, create additional jobs. The construction industry has been decimated.
About $300 billion of the package is appropriations not related to welfare. They are for construction of buildings, retrofit of homes, construction of roads and the like. There are also investments in new technologies for equipment, as well as investment and construction of smart grid components.
The point now is to shovel money out into the economy and do it fast.
Right. The problem is that the economy is shrinking because we’re saving more and losing our jobs. The problem with pure free market capitalism is that it has inherit instabilities and, unchecked, this sort of shrinkage can feed on itself (Keynes’ “Paradox of Thrift”) resulting in absolutely catastrophic effect (Great Depression).
The government is modulating this dip by being “the spender of last resort” - just throwing money out there. Of course it’s not free money. We’ll pay for it in the future. I see it as a damping function on a sine wave. We’re trying to make the the dip shallower, but also lowering the future rise by increased debt service.
I’m a huge fan of the free market, and am under no illusion that my entire standard of living and way of life is a direct result of it. But all the people clamoring for a completely hands-off approach to the economy need to go crack open some economics and history text books.
And the problem with the free market is people. If everyone made rational, well-informed decisions based on perfect information it would work perfectly. But people tend to make emotional or “greedy” decisions. They overlook obvious risks. They will accept a small short-term gain even with risk of huge future loss. They hide bad information from the marketplace to protect themselves. Which is why some degree of Red commie socialistic regulation is need.
So the details of the plan don’t really matter all that much. The money will work its way (trickle down anyone) through the system.