Monday, August 31, 2009
We Will Get Fooled Again (Apologies to Pete Townsend)!
I'm sitting in this coffee shop in Portland Maine (vacationing). And right at the table next to mine I hear a guy who's just loving Obama to pieces. In fact, he's spouting to his buddies that the President is literally "saving us". "The only reason we HAVEN'T had a great depression is because of Obama's stimulus/the bail-outs. If it wasn't for him, man, we'd be in really big trouble."....................................................................................Some interesting analysis, wouldn't you say? Of course, it would have been even more interesting to see how he would have responded to a couple of facts related to this; 1) the fact that a lot of the spending in the stimulus package, instead of actually being stimulative, is more along the lines of pet-project spending and 2) even if it was stimulative, only a small fraction of the money has actually been spent (most of it will probably be spent in the out-years, after the recession is over). I mean, think about it. Unless the stimulus bill was able to create a sort of psychological boost to us/our economy, it's really hard to see how less than 100 billion could have prevented a 1930s type depression.................................................................................And then, of course, there are all of the potential consequences of such a big spending strategy. First of all, what does all of this spending do in terms of debt accumulation. What, too, does it mean in terms of inflation (the constant printing and borrowing of such large sums of money)? And, yes, folks, what about the Chinese? What if those folks ultimately decide to stick it to us?........................................................................................As for those of you say that it was Bush and the Republicans who actually started this deficit spending spiral - BILLSEYE!! You won't get an argument here, me-buckos. I mean, really; pre-emptive wars, corporate bail-outs, pork-barrell spending, Medicare part D. Absolutely the Republicans set a bad precedent. But that doesn't mean that Obama and the Democrats have to continue it....P.S. Now they're talking about yet another surge in Afghanistan. Ca-ching ca-ching.
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4 comments:
Yeah, I'm with you all the way through including the last. But going back to the beginning, what would an alternative economic prescription to cure the BushenCheney Plague (that was left to Obama) look like?
My recommendations (and, granted, I'm probably full of crap here) would have been 1) a payroll tax holiday, 2) a permanent MIDDLE CLASS tax-cut, and 3) much more of an emphasis on infrastucture (needed infrastructure; bridges under code, etc.). Me, I'm actually kind of shocked that the Dems didn't adopt my first recommendation (more money directly into the hands of the working poor).
Wow you mean the stuff the Republicans insisted couldn't be part of the bill infrastructure.
Nothing of a permanent nature was allowable.
Remember Congress put this camel together, not the administration (still not in office at the time.)
The Bush administration sat on it's hands following the election and watched the economy burn.
I have little use for the Republicans, 1138. Paulsen, in particular, was a total disgrace.
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