$819 Billion Stimulus?

[ReelCommotion]

$819 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act --Does anyone think that it will work?

[Sterling]

Things are tough but it's like we're afraid of any pain and I think the press and government have scared the crap out of people and businesses so they are spending less, which makes the hype self fulfilling. Do we have real issues, yes, but I think we need to accept some short term pain and not borrow another trillion dollars to just spend. Whatever happened to free markets? Now we are nationalizing banks and the governments taking ownership in auto companies? Since when has government involvement actually made something run better (with the exception of our military)? Are we going to run banks, healthcare and auto companies the same way we run our public schools? And what about all the companies that would have picked up the business from the companies that failed? Where there is a void in a free market someone will fill it. My preference would have been to insure the people innocent in these transactions and let the rest go. Allocate a pile of it to back new business loans and give some of that bailout money back to the taxpayers (the one's that actually pay the taxes)!

Beyond all that this is supposed to be a stimulus plan to creat jobs. The plan put forth seems to be missing the stimulus. Here's a review by an economist.

So then what’s the multiplier for the $50 million for the National Endowment of Arts? How about the $400 million for global warming research, the $335 million for STD prevention, the $650 million for digital conversion coupons, the $81 billion for Medicaid, the $20 billion for food stamps, the $30 billion for Cobra insurance extensions, the $4.1 billion for neighborhood activist groups like ACORN, the $83 billion for the earned income credit to give tax refunds to people who don’t pay income tax, and the $6 billion to subsidize university building projects just to name a few.

I heard on CNBC that this proposal was largely driven by Pilosi. I am hopeful that Obama will stand up to her, take the pork out of this as promised, and put forth something focused on stimulus and ideally at a lower price tag.

[iguana1]

Unfortunately we do not get to run this expiriment twice (with and without the stimulus bill). The bill is ugly and pork laden. The Dems have stuffed a bunch of crap in, and the Reps just want more tax cuts. All of this noise misses the point that the stimulus bill should be a signal event to change the momentum at this point.

Doesn't matter what we think. It is going to pass and we are going to see what happens. I think that stimulus package #2 is a given at this point (my guess in 6 months). Hopefully at that point congress will have some grasp of reality and will drop their sacred cows to do th right thing.

[Dave Sikorski]

$819 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act --Does anyone think that it will work?

Will it work? Yep, it will work to grow the government with useless jobs and spending that will do nothing to stimulate the economy.

It's simply the dems throwing money at their friends and programs that they want.

This technique has never worked and will never work.

Tax cuts will help just as they have in the past.

Hopefully at that point congress will have some grasp of reality and will drop their sacred cows to do th right thing.

Ha, that's laughable.

-D

[Double D]

What does that come to, about $3,000 for every man, woman and child in the US?

Just give me my $15k for my family of 5 and I promise to stimulate the boating, tackle and beer industries

[ReelCommotion]

Iguana, I agree with you that it will indeed pass at some point and I think it is well over $819 Billion at this point.

From the looks of things, it wants to give money to people who don't even pay taxes. Kinda sucks being middle class right now.

[Dave Sikorski]

Iguana, I agree with you that it will indeed pass at some point and I think it is well over $819 Billion at this point.

From the looks of things, it wants to give money to people who don't even pay taxes. Kinda sucks being middle class right now.

Even undocumented workers.....

-D

[Sterling]

Think about this. Over half - 40 million returns pay no taxes. That means that those that do pay taxes, at some point need to pay to fund all of this.

By my calculation that's near $25,000 per paying tax filer. If you make more than $75k it's probably double that and far worse the more you earn.

[bigeasy]

#1 Excessive regulations choking creativity.

#2 Excessive taxes on business making profits unprofitable.

#3 Excessive litigation makes for CYA plays and high insurance costs- see Lily Ledbetter gender discrimination law.

I had some work done on the boat. We talked about the difficulty in making a profit. He said it is impossible to make a profit if you follow the rules.

Look for big growth in Underground Economy.

Don't expect changes in #1, #2, or #3.

[BYRD]

If spending money to stimulate the economy works, then why are we still in a "recession". Seems all we've done the last few years is spend money, and apparently it hasn't worked. I don't get it.

Seems to me that the best thing to do is allow businesses to do what they do best with out government interference.