[gadgetfanatic]

So the House approved the $820B stimulus package 244-188. That's 244 dems for it and all 177 repubs + 11 brave dems against it. What do you think about that?

[Dawg]

Just to see where your tax payer dollars are going (part of the new "stimulus" package):


$250M for new grass and repairs on the national mall
$50M for the National Endowment for the Arts
$276M for computer systems at the State Department
$87B for Medicaid subsidies
$400M for the Social Security Agency's computer system upgrade
$600M for GSA vehicle replacements with alternative fuel cars
$44M for Agriculture Dept Headquarters repairs
$1.8B to repair National Forest Dept. Vehicles and facilities.
$360M for child care facilities on Military Bases.
$276M to upgrade facilities at the State Department
$500M for bomb detectors at airports
$2.5B to upgrade low income housing projects
$400M for climate change research
$6.7B for energy efficient Federal facilities rehab
$20B for food stamps
$17B for Pell and Federal Student Grants
$38B for increased unemployment benefits
$13B for health insurance for unemployed workers
$20B for medicare and medicaid IT systems
$75 million for smoking cessation.
$335 million for STD prevention.
$200 million for Dep. of Defense to acquire alternative energy vehicles.
$1.5 billion (with a xxx8220;Bxxx8221;) for a xxx8220;carbon-capturing contestxxx8221;
$200 million for DoD plug-in car stations
$400 million for HIV and chlamydia testing.

This is a joke. Stimulus my ****ing a$$.

And for reference... the bailouts total over 8 Trillion ($8,000,000,000,000) now. That's over $57,000 a tax-payer.

[test54]

its all in your viewpoint, to me I say good as long as it helps.

and can you list the 8 trillion numbers, I had not seen the number that high. Also, many of the other bailouts are loans that can actually make money in time.

and to be clear the republicans voted no because they wanted more tax cuts, not necessarily because they were against the spending.

Its a clear difference in the parties, tax cuts (Rep.) vs. spending. Also, the elections in 2 years are on all the Republicans minds and to side against the President can help them if the economy is still dead in 2 years, which I expect.

[JSanders]

How in the world, FROM ANY POINT OF VIEW, will this stimulate the economy:

$335 million for STD prevention.
...
$400 million for HIV and chlamydia testing.

[dmead]

WTF is Carbon Capturing?

[zerog46]

$2.99 for a bottle of bleach will cure that problem.

[test54]

Originally Posted by JSanders

How in the world, FROM ANY POINT OF VIEW, will this stimulate the economy:

Jobs and cut down on uninsured visits to emergency rooms.

Originally Posted by dmead

WTF is Carbon Capturing?

Carbon capture and storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[JSanders]

Originally Posted by test54

Jobs and cut down on uninsured visits to emergency rooms.

Hospitals are hurting man, hurting. So whose economy will this stimulate? Some manufacture-buddy of Obama's that makes the product?

[Dawg]

J havent you learned yet Test is going to defend anything the big O does.

[JSanders]

Oh , I do know that.

I just want him to defend those two items, from his point of view, not Obama's, since he said it all according to one's point of view.

[akosnitzky]

I have read claims that this approach did not work in the 40's. What boosted the economy was the war.

[gadgetfanatic]

Originally Posted by akosnitzky

I have read claims that this approach did not work in the 40's. What boosted the economy was the war.

What you read is true...

[ezrunner]

Wirelessly posted (hope is everything!)

There is a lot of pork in this!!!

Even news stations and analysts typically friendly to the Dem. Are questioning this stimulus package!

The biggest help would be the media reporting some positive instead of all negative. Negative equates to fear which in turn causes people to not spend which makes matters worse. I know it isn't that simple

This package does not hold much hope to me. I am by no means an expert just my thoughts.

[dmead]

Originally Posted by ezrunner

Wirelessly posted (hope is everything!)

There is a lot of pork in this!!!

that's an understatement.

[test54]

Originally Posted by akosnitzky

I have read claims that this approach did not work in the 40's. What boosted the economy was the war.

That is correct. Also raising taxes did not work, Roosevelt tried that too and it failed. The current Administration has stated thats a mistake they will not make.

Hospitals are no where near hurting as bad as other sectors. In fact in most regions they are the only sector that is still understaffed and hiring.

I do side with Obama on most things as I agree with his goals. Also, the reasoning for my posts also has something to do with "devil's advocate" - good movie also.

No could ever totally agree on how to handle the stimulus, it could sit in congress for years and help no one or it could get passed and help people. The one thing that everyone agreed on was the timing, it needed to be passed asap.

[rjw3000]

I thought the bailout was garbage and so is this stimulus bill.

They don't need to agree on how to handle it if they just don't have a stimulus bill to begin with. And these clowns need to drop the pet projects and pork in bills, it's ridiculous and it finally appears that people are growing tired of it. These politicians in general aren't looking out for what's best for the general population when they add that stuff. In this case, the bill should just be just focused on what is best for everyone, not some side deal for some group who gave these idiots a contribution.

[test54]

I agree that there is too much pork in the bill. The stimulus is needed, anything to help create jobs, keep people from losing jobs and help the unemployed through the tough times.

rjw, I think the "what is best for everyone" is the impossible part. What is good for one person is no good for another, especially in politics.

[rjw3000]

here's what I mean by "best for everyone". On those items listed in that stimulus package, ask "is that going to help or meet the needs of the majority of Americans?"

How many things listed truly fit that criteria that are in this package? I think common sense points out what is not going to benefit the current situation in that bill for the majority of Americans. It's not that hard of a concept and I think people would love to see a president have the balls to say as much.

We don't need "politics" in this country right now and these clueless politicians in Washington need to get clued into that fact sooner than later. They seem to not notice they are all on thin ice and people are really paying attention right now.

[test54]

majority of americans is ok but I think that limits it to very few projects. How about Road & Bridges? they have been unfunded for years and are in need for funding. The unemployment benefits would not help a majority yet I think that is important.

How about: "Obama has proposed tax cuts of $1,000 for couples and $500 for individuals. This would apply to individuals with a maximum income of $75,000 and households with a maximum of $150,000 in income."
Tax credit for companies that avoid layoffs or make new hires. I would assume that if they have offsetting layoffs and new hires they wouldnxxx8217;t get any credits.
Allow companies to write off losses from 2008 and 2009 to retroactively reduce tax bills from the last 5 years. Normally these companies would only be able to write off the losses on current or future tax bills.
The tax write offs would be effective from Jan 1,2009 so any expenditures since then could be included in the tax loss.

Both tax cuts and spending are needed in my opinion, the spending is harder to plan but just as important.

[rjw3000]

I like roads and bridges, most people use those. I am even ok with upping unemployment benefits for a short term solution because many people have been laid off at the same time across the country. I think we should be helping them over a lot of that stuff listed above that are in the package

unfortunately, I'm not a fan of our overcomplicated tax system and making tax cuts here for these specific people and credits here doesn't excite me. Just adds more to our obscure tax laws we already have.