He ain’t heavy, he’s my stimulus.
Posted by Troy Johnson on February 17, 2010 · 1 Comment
Here we are, about a 1/3rd of the way through the $787 billion budgeted stimulus plan and we have so many naysayers talking about how the Administration has failed and/or the stimulus didn’t work. Here is where I have some fun. It is literally ignorant and irresponsible to refer to something that is only a 1/3rd of the way through as a failure. Now the Wall Street Journal has already this week showed us in ‘living color’ the hypocritical nature of a bunch of Republican congressmen/women who took the stimulus money for their individual states and championed to their people as to how some jobs were created and saved and/or the money was put to good use. However, when it came down to actually giving any credit politically to the Administration they have nothing but contempt and criticism for the stimulus. Even worse, they have in turn led some of their more impressionable and/or closet racist followers to believe that failureof the stimulus is the case. I will try to help put the stimulus into a more ‘here’s the bottom line’ type of speak so that even the cheap seats can follow. ( A rather sarcastic sports reference) Thank you very much!
Much of the first 1/3rd of the stimulus was to maintain social services and government jobs and to provide tax cuts for workers. Now, the pace and direction of stimulus spending are about to change.
Infrastructure spending is on hand for year two of the stimulus program. Private-sector employers will benefit a lot more from this. The way I look at it. Those private businesses that are run by Republicans that would rather keep a partisan stand to spite their businesses getting money to help them gain momentum or hire and/or keep employees should refuse the money and it should be noted so that when the money helps other businesses the partisan bullshit won’t hold water. I wouldn’t allow them to take the money then around election time have Rush or Glen of the mouth. ( My clever stool spouting reference ) Thank you very much!
Note this: Many Republicans leaders have criticized the relative lack of private businesses hiring directly attributed to the stimulus.
Oh what tangled web we weave when we weave webs…. (My clever Bushism) Thank you very much!
This week is the stimulus program’s one-year anniversary. Is there anyone who can with a straight face say that it didn’t keep us from going into a deeper recession? Not to mention that the stimulus is still largely incomplete. It’s still got a whole lot more to do. That’s why it’s easier to mis-inform and scare you about it now so that they have more ammunition bearers to help with the Tea Party, Lunatic party or radicals party mis-information gatherings..
Most of the money alocated to specific projects hasn’t been paid out yet, and there are still an additional $195 billion in tax cuts on the way. Let me repeat that again. $195 billion in tax cuts money on the way. How impressionable and feeble minded do you have to be to see that as a ‘fail’ , a bad thing, communist or a Government takeover? A takeover of what, help and assistance?
The bulk of the money proposed for projects like new rail lines and water projects, about $180 billion, will be spent this year.
Now the first year of Infrastructure spending didn’t really have a big impact on net employment, simply because a lot of the activity was mechanized. Do you really think there won’t be any jobs created from the aforementioned rail lines and water projects?
Many agencies have been holding competitions to decide which projects should get stimulus grants, vetting applications for grants for initiatives such as high-speed rail construction or electric-vehicle projects. In some cases, federal agencies have had to go as far as set up entirely new programs. There has also been $20 billion allotted for doctors to create electronic medical records, $4.5 billion for an energy Smart Grid and $7.2 billion for broadband networks. You will see this probably towards the end of this year to early next year.
(Do you start to see a pattern here?)
I used to wonder and get angry at how Obama could be so cool, calm, collect and quiet when confronted by all this bullshit. I am now beginning to get the picture. Many of the radicals and naysayers tried to make it seem as though if the seas didn’t part and everyone wasn’t running around in new jobs and a ‘Barney’ type of euphoria after the first year, that Obama failed, the stimulus failed, the bailout failed and Cash for Clunkers failed. This is not the case people. Spending by state and local governments has about the same effect as spending in the private sector, and not cutting a job has a similar macroeconomic impact to creating a new one. Recipients of stimulus money say they are currently funding the jobs of about 595,000 people. However, in reality, as many as two million jobs have been supported directly or indirectly by stimulus money. Government data has indicated that most of the jobs supported by stimulus spending belonged to public employees at the state and local level, including about 325,000 teachers and school staff. This cannot be a bad thing can it? I didn’t vote on Bush for his first term but I did for his 2nd term. I just didn’t think Kerry could do the job. If Bush had made these choices I would applaud him. Funny part is, so would most of the Republicans downplaying the choices right now. Subsidizing those jobs avoided layoffs, or state and local tax increases that could have further undermined the economy. But they didn’t result in substantial hiring of people who had lost private-sector jobs. Let this thing play out people. Check out the chart below and hopefully it can help to shed a little more specificity into the stimulus breakdown.
Until next time my friends. WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION!
It may be true that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, hence my ability to expound verbally and in writing regarding a multitude of subjects which Troy has adopted quite effectively. So please indulge my attempt at throwing some light on Troy’s rants and revelings, while at the same time expressing my humble opinion. I consider myself a moderate and somewhat of a Vulcan (”I seek logic”). I also consider myself a religious man, but dane to expound religiously on such a vehicle as this website. Therefore I will just give it to you straight, no chaser, and hope you can handle it.
Lately Troy has adopted the mantle of non-partisan marauder regarding our nation’s present predicament. He is appalled by the general publics inability to grasp the simple but constricting plan offered by our president. I too am a bit baffled. We are a nation that endured at least eight years of declining employment, pork- barrel politics, big business failures (the auto industry, IndyMac, Bernie Madoff, etc.), and our nation wants President Obama to erase all this ineptitude in a year or less, while at the same time pulling us out of the Middle East Wars and resolving a trillion dollar deficit. I ask you….does this sound logical?
And in Washington “across the aisle” (which I personally don’t give a bleep about) conservatives are lining up at media events and cocktail parties mumbling to each other “I told you so….Obama is failing.”. Of course these same conservative pundits and politicians haven’t a clue as to how to solve the same problems they hang around Obama’s neck, not unlike the “Scarlet Letter” Hawthorne wrote about. And surprisingly several of Obama’s most ardent supporters seem to be abandoning blaming Washington for “playing partisan politics” and not attempting to work together to pull the nation out of it’s econimic doldrums. That is illogical….isn’t it?
These so called Obama supporters seem to be doing what any Washinton politician does….abandon ship once the enemy returns fire (”I am not seeking re-election/resigning/will be of greater service to the nation in private life.”). It’s not a Republican thing or a Democrat thing. If McCain were president, the similar rats would bail if his administration encountered ssimilar difficulties as Obama. ….doesn’t seem logical.
The logical thing for us to do is to support a man whom we as a nation elected because of his integrity and idealism, and work together as a nation to effect positive change. But of course there’s no money in it big business or special interest groups or primo politicians. Live long and prosper.
- Ed Johnson