With history and flourish, Obama signs stimulus bill
Signing his modern-day equivalent to the New Deal, President Obama declared that the stimulus bill is the most sweeping economic recovery package in the nation's history -- one that helps keep his campaign promise to preserve the American dream.
"We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time," he said, before affixing his signature to the $787 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress on Friday.
Singing its praises as if the package had not yet passed, Obama continued selling the stimulus to a public that is far more enamored of him than of the bill.
He said the bill will "improve travel and commerce throughout the nation," will put the nation on track to transforming "the way we use energy," and "represents the biggest increase in basic research funding in the long history of America’s noble endeavor to better understand our world.
Combined with an expansion of a children's healthcare program he also signed, "we have done more in 30 days to advance the cause of health reform than this country has done in a decade," he added.
Obama said he signed "a balanced plan with a mix of tax cuts and investments. It is a plan that’s been put together without earmarks or the usual pork barrel spending. And it is a plan that will be implemented with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability."
Still, Obama acknowledged that much more needs to be done to restore the economy, but said that the economic stimulus bill is the "beginning of the end" of the work.
While the White House says the stimulus bill will save or create 3.5 million jobs in the next two years, the impact will likely take several months to take root. In the meantime, Obama has several crises to deal with: perhaps giving more loans for General Motors and Chrysler to keep them afloat, figuring out the details of version 2.0 of the bank bailout, and Wednesday outlining a plan to stem home foreclosures.
Beneath the lectern were three identical placards saying, "Making America Work."
He spoke at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science after touring the solar panel array that the museum uses for part of its power and that he cited as an example of the "green" alternative energy jobs the stimulus will generate.
Obama was introduced by the head of a solar energy company that has grown from 3 to 55 employees in the past three years, but that had to impose a hiring freeze and slash spending in the economic downturn.
Governor Bill Ritter called Colorado "the home of the new energy economy."
"This is how we rebuild America...." he said. "This is the promise of a better tomorrow."
Obama also issued an official statement on the stimulus bill signing:
"Today I have signed into law H.R. 1, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009." The Act provides a direct fiscal boost to help lift our Nation from the greatest economic crisis in our lifetimes and lay the foundation for further growth. This recovery plan will help to save or create as many as three to four million jobs by the end of 2010, the vast majority of them in the private sector. It will make the most significant investment in America's roads, bridges, mass transit, and other infrastructure since the construction of the interstate highway system. It will make investments to foster reform in education, double renewable energy while fostering efficiency in the use of our energy, and improve quality while bringing down costs in healthcare. Middle-class families will get tax cuts and the most vulnerable will get the largest increase in assistance in decades.
"The situation we face could not be more serious. We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression. Economists from across the spectrum have warned that failure to act quickly would lead to the disappearance of millions of more jobs and national unemployment rates that could be in the double digits. I want to thank the Congress for coming together around this hard-fought compromise. No one policy or program will solve the challenges we face right now, nor will this crisis recede in a short period of time. However, with this Act we begin the process of restoring the economy and making America a stronger and more prosperous Nation.
"My Administration will initiate new, far-reaching measures to help ensure that every dollar spent in this historic legislation is spent wisely and for its intended purpose. The Federal Government will be held to new standards of transparency and accountability. The legislation includes no earmarks. An oversight board will be charged with monitoring our progress as part of an unprecedented effort to root out waste and inefficiency. This board will be advised by experts -- not just Government experts, not just politicians, but also citizens with years of expertise in management, economics, and accounting.
"So much depends on what we do at this moment. This is not about the future of my Administration. This effort is about the future of our families and communities, our economy and our country. We are going to move forward carefully and transparently and as effectively as possible because so much is on the line. That is what we have already begun to do -- drafting this plan with a level of openness for which the American people have asked and that this situation demands."
Obama's full prepared remarks are below:
It is great to be in Denver. I was here last summer to accept the nomination of my party and to make a promise to people of all parties – that I would do all I could to give every American the chance to make of their lives what they will and see their children climb higher than they did. I am back today to say that we have begun the difficult work of keeping that promise. We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time.
Today does not mark the end of our economic troubles. Nor does it constitute all of what we must do to turn our economy around. But it does mark the beginning of the end – the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs; to provide relief for families worried they won’t be able to pay next month’s bills; and to set our economy on a firmer foundation, paving the way to long-term growth and prosperity.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I will sign today – a plan that meets the principles I laid out in January – is the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history. It is the product of broad consultations – and the recipient of broad support – from business leaders, unions, and public interest groups, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Democrats and Republicans, mayors as well as governors. It is a rare thing in Washington for people with such different viewpoints to come together and support the same bill, and on behalf of our nation, I thank them for it, including your two outstanding new Senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall.
I also want to thank my Vice President Joe Biden for working behind the scenes from the very start to make this recovery act possible. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid for acting so quickly and proving that Congress could step up to this challenge. I want to thank Max Baucus, Chairman of the Finance Committee, without whom none of this would have happened. And I want to thank all the Committee Chairs and members of Congress for coming up with a plan that is both bold and balanced enough to meet the demands of this moment. The American people were looking to them for leadership, and that is what they provided.
What makes this recovery plan so important is not just that it will create or save three and a half million jobs over the next two years, including nearly 60,000 in Colorado. It’s that we are putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done in critical areas that have been neglected for too long – work that will bring real and lasting change for generations to come.
Because we know we can’t build our economic future on the transportation and information networks of the past, we are remaking the American landscape with the largest new investment in our nation’s infrastructure since Eisenhower built an interstate highway system in the 1950s. Because of this investment, nearly 400,000 men and women will go to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, repairing our faulty dams and levees, bringing critical broadband connections to businesses and homes in nearly every community in America, upgrading mass transit, and building high-speed rail lines that will improve travel and commerce throughout the nation.
Because we know America can’t outcompete the world tomorrow if our children are being outeducated today, we are making the largest investment in education in our nation’s history. It’s an investment that will create jobs building 21st century classrooms, libraries, and labs for millions of children across America. It will provide funds to train a new generation of math and science teachers, while giving aid to states and school districts to stop teachers from being laid off and education programs from being cut. In New York City alone, 14,000 teachers who were set to be let go may now be able to continue pursuing their critical mission. It’s an investment that will create a new $2,500 annual tax credit to put the dream of a college degree within reach for middle class families and make college affordable for seven million students, helping more of our sons and daughters aim higher, reach farther, and fulfill their God-given potential.
Because we know that spiraling health care costs are crushing families and businesses alike, we are taking the most meaningful steps in years towards modernizing our health care system. It’s an investment that will take the long overdue step of computerizing America’s medical records – to reduce the duplication and waste that costs billions of health care dollars and the medical errors that every year cost thousands of lives. Further, thanks to the action we have taken, seven million Americans who lost their health care along with their jobs will continue to get the coverage they need, and roughly 20 million more can breathe a little easier, knowing that their health care won’t be cut due to a state budget shortfall. And an historic commitment to wellness initiatives will keep millions of Americans from setting foot in the doctor’s office for purely preventable diseases.
Taken together with the enactment earlier this month of a long-delayed law to extend health care to millions more children of working families, we have done more in 30 days to advance the cause of health reform than this country has done in a decade.
Because we know we can’t power America’s future on energy that’s controlled by foreign dictators, we are taking a big step down the road to energy independence, and laying the groundwork for a new, green energy economy that can create countless well-paying jobs. It’s an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years, and provide tax credits and loan guarantees to companies like Namaste Solar, a company that will be expanding, instead of laying people off, as a result of the plan I am signing.
In the process, we will transform the way we use energy. Today, the electricity we use is carried along a grid of lines and wires that dates back to Thomas Edison – a grid that can’t support the demands of clean energy. This means we’re using 19th and 20th century technologies to battle 21st century problems like climate change and energy security. It also means that places like North Dakota can produce a lot of wind energy, but can’t deliver it to communities that want it, leading to a gap between how much clean energy we are using and how much we could be using.
The investment we are making today will create a newer, smarter electric grid that will allow for the broader use of alternative energy. We will build on the work that’s being done in places like Boulder, Colorado – a community that is on pace to be the world’s first Smart Grid city. This investment will place Smart Meters in homes to make our energy bills lower, make outages less likely, and make it easier to use clean energy. It’s an investment that will save taxpayers over one billion dollars by slashing energy costs in our federal buildings by 25% and save working families hundreds of dollars a year on their energy bills by weatherizing over one million homes. And it’s an investment that takes the important first step towards a nationwide transmission superhighway that will connect our cities to the windy plains of the Dakotas and the sunny deserts of the Southwest.
Even beyond energy, from the National Institutes of Health to the National Science Foundation, this recovery act represents the biggest increase in basic research funding in the long history of America’s noble endeavor to better understand our world. Just as President Kennedy sparked an explosion of innovation when he set America’s sights on the moon, I hope this investment will ignite our imagination once more, spurring new discoveries and breakthroughs that will make our economy stronger, our nation more secure, and our planet safer for our children.
While this package is mostly composed of critical investments, it also includes aid to state and local governments to prevent layoffs of firefighters or police recruits – recruits like the ones in Columbus, Ohio who were told that instead of being sworn-in as officers, they would be let go. It includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis like the nearly 18 million Americans who will get larger unemployment checks in the mail. And about a third of this package comes in the form of tax cuts – the most progressive in our history – not only spurring job-creation, but putting money in the pockets of 95% of all hardworking families. Unlike tax cuts we’ve seen in recent years, the vast majority of these tax benefits will go not to the wealthiest Americans but to the middle class – with those workers who make the least benefiting the most. And it’s a plan that rewards responsibility, lifting two million Americans from poverty by ensuring that anyone who works hard does not have to raise a child below the poverty line. As a whole, this plan will help poor and working Americans pull themselves into the middle class in a way we haven’t seen in nearly fifty years.
What I am signing, then, is a balanced plan with a mix of tax cuts and investments. It is a plan that’s been put together without earmarks or the usual pork barrel spending. And it is a plan that will be implemented with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability. With a recovery package of this scale comes a responsibility to assure every taxpayer that we are being careful with the money they work so hard to earn. That’s why I am assigning a team of managers to ensure that the precious dollars we have invested are being spent wisely and well. We will hold the governors and local officials who receive money to the same high standards. And we expect you, the American people, to hold us accountable for the results. That is why we have created Recovery.gov – so every American can go online and see how their money is being spent.
As important as the step we take today is, this legislation represents only the first part of the broad strategy we need to address our economic crisis. In the coming days and weeks, I will be launching other aspects of the plan. We will need to stabilize, repair, and reform our banking system, and get credit flowing again to families and businesses. We will need to end a culture where we ignore problems until they become full-blown crises instead of recognizing that the only way to build a thriving economy is to set and enforce firm rules of the road. We must stem the spread of foreclosures and falling home values for all Americans, and do everything we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes, something I will talk more about tomorrow. And while we need to do everything in the short-term to get our economy moving again, we must recognize that having inherited a trillion-dollar deficit, we need to begin restoring fiscal discipline and taming our exploding deficits over the long-term.
None of this will be easy. The road to recovery will not be straight and true. It will demand courage and discipline, and a new sense of responsibility that has been missing – from Wall Street to Washington. There will be hazards and reverses along the way. But I have every confidence that if we are willing to continue doing the difficult work that must be done – by each of us and by all of us – then we will leave this struggling economy behind us, and come out on the other side, more prosperous as a people.
For our American story is not – and has never been – about things coming easy. It’s about rising to the moment when the moment is hard, converting crisis into opportunity, and seeing to it that we emerge from whatever trials we face stronger than we were before. It’s about rejecting the notion that our fate is somehow written for us, and instead laying claim to a destiny of our own making. That is what earlier generations of Americans have done, and that is what we are doing today. Thank you.
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Obama's stimulus bill will add $24 BILLION in new debt to the citizens of Massachusetts. In other words, in 15 days, Obama added more debt to you and me than the Big Dig in 15 years.
Welcome to "change." Change means selling out the working people and rewarding the fat, lazy, and unions.
Here we go. The Democrat Spending Orgy begins.
HANG ON TO YOUR WALLETS!
If you look at "where is your money going" on recovery.gov, Obama makes it look like tax cuts are the bulk of the plan but if you look at the bottom of the page you see.... "* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy." .... Hows that for transparency?
Here comes the crap sandwich!
And the stock market shows you how confident they are in this bill!
'It is a plan that’s been put together without earmarks or the usual pork barrel spending.'
If it helps it helps, but why blatantly lie to the public? There are too many people out there who think the pork-barrel thing is just GOP bickering. It's a fact and you can ask Schumer. I just don't appreciate the lying he said he'd change.
This is not an economic recovery package. It is the mother of all budget-busting, pork-barrel, earmark bills. This bill is an abomination, a disaster perpetrated upon the American people by a master demagogue preaching fear and a sycophant media unthinkingly repeating his mantra.
We have been betrayed.
Every sniveling liberal on the planet will have her hand and a tin cup extended for another portion of pork. Hussein's stimulus bill will add $24 BILLION in new debt on the backs of Massachusett citizens, mostly taxpayers of the next generation--some call it generational theft. IN a mere15 days, Obama added more debt to you and me than the Big Dig in 15 years.
Welcome to "change." Change means selling out the working people and rewarding the fat, the lazy, and the union thugs.
It is very sad the the undereducated and greedy are so rampant in our society - this nations modern properous history was built by Democrat Socialism.
I am sure those who decry social spending had family that benefitted from the New Deal and may have taken advantage of Pell Grants.
The hate is based on greed and the desire for social anarchy where everyone is out for themself.
President Obama had to do this to clean up the MESS left behind by a Government that REPUBLICAN controlled in both houses of congress and the White House for the majority of the last 8 year.
Republican worms turning is wonderful to see everytime I read one of their pathetic hate filled commentary ... it all comes down to selfishness for them.
Barry's All-You-Can-Eat Pork Buffet is officially open.
Welcome to Far Western Europe.
The accompanying article on this $787 Billion program's impact on consumers includes in its benefits that the higher income families are spared a tax increase for now. Well, those spared a tax increase want to know when the other shoe is going to drop and they'll have to raiding their children's college and retirement funds to pay for this ill conceived program. After all, somebody has to pay the interest and principal on this debt that we'll be selling to the Chinese to finance this program since the vast majority of the people benefiting from this program think WalMart is the greatest place to shop because they've got all those cheap clothes and household goods made in China.
The bill may not be perfect; in fact it may create certain problems. But for the "working people" (referenced above by oscarbozach) who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, who have never relied on public assistance and contributed to health insurance for their families through their employers for their entire lives, having our health care coverage subsidized while on unemployment is a great relief. Shallow and transparant? Maybe. Will it ultimately help in the long run? Who knows. Will it help me and my family in the short term? Yes. We will have to hope for the best with what may come later.
Oscarbozach,
I'm curious as to what your plan would entail...tax cuts, more de-regulation, less government interference, less government spending?
With respect to your comment that "change means selling out the working people and rewarding...the unions.": Is it your contention that membership in a union and being a "working person" are mutually exclusive? The folks who clean our offices and empty our garbage would probably disagree. They are some of the hardest working people I know and many are union members.
It's hard to believe all the criticism of this bill, and that there are so many morons who think they know more about economic stimulus than the PhD economists who helped write it. I have a Master's in economics myself, and I wouldn't dream of pretending to know know as much as you idiots think you do.
A defeat for us all.
I would have taken McCain any ol' day.
Comrades, .....perhaps it's time to fix the door on the bomb shelter and start saving canned goods. It's looks like the beginning of the end. Does anyone know where I can convert US currency to Chinese currency??? Taking out a loan to pay the interest on the debt that is covering the interest on the original debt that we incurred to keep us out of further debt sounds like a bad idea. Where is Al Gore and his lockbox when we need it???? If this is what happens in the first month...I can't wait to see what we have after 48 months.
Most of you that are posting all of the negative comments are the same people that voted (twice) for Bush and got us into this mess, this isn't just about fixing the economy short term but long term economic viability as well. Republicans seem to be to short minded to see that. If you hadn't noticed, the market hasn't been doing well for quite some time now, so of course the reaction is the way it is...that is to be expected at first with any change going on while the economy is at an all time low. You are just being swore loosers, it's easier being on the side that can just complain about everything, atleast the Obama administration is taking this seriously and isn't just jumping into something like the last administration. It may take a little longer to actually get to the American people but atleast it will be well thought out and actually touch the ecomony (unlike the last "stimulus package").
Can you imagine Sarah Pallin trying to deal with all of this!? "I can see Russia from my house"...LOL.
Y
The stock market has dropped over 2,000 points since Obama won... the first time in US history. Obama is a fraud... this is a socialist coup d'etat.... and honest hardworking Americans are about to become enemies of the state.
Our founding fathers are turning over in their graves.... while Stalin is cheering. Obama has defeated the US where the Nazis and Soviets failed. Will the fat and lazy rule forever? Not if the honest and hardworking fight back.
Why don't you knee-jerk negatives shove your thumbs further into your mouths so you can't keep blathering your continuous stream of anti-recovery act spleen.
The world is so full of those that find fault with everything, but have no solutions themselves. Negativism is their norm. They live to accuse and say no.
If not the recovery program, then what? More, more, more tax cuts? There hasn't been an intelligent financial idea out of the Republican Party since the days of DDE.
Maybe you could try to say something sensible, like suggest a rational approach to what we do to get us out of the financial mess that the last administration left us with. (And please, not tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.) It's real easy to criticize, but it takes some intelligence and thought to come up with solutions, even if they're imperfect.
It’s so unfortunate that when people are losing their jobs and homes left and right, you live just for the chance to say “I told you so”. And when we get out of this fiscal mess, you will be nowhere to be seen, except to say no to the next approach offered by an administration that was elected to do something – and is.
Oscarbozach,
I'll ask again: What do you think the government should do in response to the economic crisis? Calling Obama a socialist and a fraud will not solve the problem.
What woud you have the government do?
Oscarbozach
Is one of the only people here who can see that we are being taken over in the model of FABIAN SOCIALISM. Why do some of you think that giving more power to the Government is a good thing?
Oscar you are a complete and utter fool.
The stock market went down 8,000 point when Bush was in office, don't even through that around. The market is off because these are not "normal" times. This is not the same old recessions of the past. We are in historical times and these events are new. So please enough with your wing nut crap.
Sarah Palin wouldn't be dealing with this McCain would and if you want to talk about the Vice President being a joke take a good hard look at Biden. What a hack. We all live in Massachusetts, how can you possible say liberalism is the way to go?
"Change means selling out the working people and rewarding the fat, lazy, and unions."
"Change means selling out the working people and rewarding the fat, the lazy, and the union thugs."
Oscar and Steve: are you actually the same person or do you just copy your uninsightful talking points from the same source that you both obviously take your dittohead marching orders from?
Oscar, you want a fight, bring it, kid. I would rather live under Obama than under any fool you would have lead us. You are just another typical wing nut republican who can not accept that you failed. You failed to keep us safe, you failed to keep us strong and you failed, yet again, to make this country great.
It takes a Democrat to fix the mess the rethuglians leave. Always have, always will, cause the rethuglicans will always be wrong.
"...in 15 days, Obama added more debt to you and me than the Big Dig in 15 years....Welcome to "change." Change means selling out the working people and rewarding the fat, lazy, and unions." Posted by OscarBozach at 3:30 p.m.
"In a mere 15 days, Obama added more debt to you and me than the Big Dig in 15 years. Welcome to "change." Change means selling out the working people and rewarding the fat, the lazy, and the union thugs." Posted by Steve Baker at 4:06 p.m.
...
Can you guys at least mix the talking points up a little so it's not so obvious?
Thanks,
Rupert
The people responsible for bringing the greatest nation on earth to the brink of third world status now control the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government and they are using their unbridled power to ram pure global secular socialism down the throat of every American.
They just passed the biggest leftist spending spree in world history without a single bi-partisan supporter across the aisle. Obama's promise of bi-partisanship was just one of many campaign lies. Not a single legislator or American voter was allowed to fully read the bill before being forced to vote on it. Obama will sign it in to law today, before anyone knows what the bill says.
They bribed three New England senate RINOs in order to pass their bill aimed at stimulating government growth through record debt. Even seven House Democrats had to vote against the Marxist measure. The little RINO support they got, they bought. They had NO interest in a bi-partisan bill.
I would start by cutting the PAYROLL TAX. If you had any experience running your own business instead of stapling paper to a telephone pole like a community organizer, you would understand.
You guys want an alternative approach? How about TAKING A LITTLE BIT OF TIME TO CRAFT A TRANSPARENT AND WELL THOUGHT OUT PIECE OF LEGISLATION instead of rushing this pile of crap through to a vote before any of our useless legislators even had a chance to read it or give any kind of thought to its likely impact? History has shown that rash, knee-jerk government action - on the economy of all things - only makes things worse.
j wrote "I'm curious as to what your plan would entail...tax cuts, more de-regulation, less government interference, less government spending? With respect to your comment that "change means selling out the working people and rewarding...the unions.": Is it your contention that membership in a union and being a "working person" are mutually exclusive? The folks who clean our offices and empty our garbage would probably disagree. They are some of the hardest working people I know and many are union members."
J, stuffing $200 billion in Democrat pork in the stimulus and another $180 in Democrat pork in TARP proves that this is not about emergency action... this is about a power grab by Democrats. If you don't see that... you don't want to see it.
Unions made great contributions to this country 50+ years ago. Today they have morphed into an organized crime entity who demands rather than contributes. Perfect example is the UAW negotiations with the Big 3 this week. Another example is the Peabody Police union demanding 9/11 as a paid holidy when they had nothing to do with 9/11. Unions are for unions and unions only... they do not care if they destroy a community, state or country (i.e. PATCO). So while I have great respect for many union workers... I have zero respect for the unions themselves.
Unions Part II: If you want to see what will happen if America becomes as unionized as Ireland (35% of the workforce), two major employers in Ireland have are leaving the country because of unions. The exodus will continue until Ireland goes bankrupt and unions are banned (or at least restricted). You cannot be a unionized country and compete globally.
J: I'd have the federal government do nothing.
It's not the responsibility of the nation to protect people from themselves. Life is not always going to get better and better, and by attempting to artificially create a linear improvement rather than letting the curve happen, we only set ourselves up for a much larger drop at some point in the future.
I cant believe that people are already complaining and nothing has taken full effect yet. Obama is taking on the full responsibility of turning this country around, somethng the Bush administration could of cared less about. What would you expect Obama to do? Did we beat down Bush when he unvailed his "failed" stimulus package?? Bush has failed for 8 years and you guys cant even give Obama 8 minutes. Bush just did the package to make himself look busy and to act as if he cared....he obviolsly didnt cause the package failed and he knew his term was up soon anyways. He probably thought "Oh, i'll just hand it over to the next guy..."
Obama has to do SOMETHING! He cant just sit back and wait! We could continue down a path that could potentialy be worse than the package....do we want to wait and see? I dont.
...this makes me sick, its as if Obama is drawing a line in the sand, one side is the upper-middle class and wealthy citizens, and on the other side it is everyone else...guess which side is getting screwed?
...I also talked to a union worker today who told me he feels disgusted when he sees his fellow union workers not working to their full potential and getting absurd amounts of money...I'm not saying this is true for all workers, but he makes a good point!
Primary Goals of another Dictatorship
Grab grasp and control of all primary economic sectors - banking, health, energy, technology, transportation, communication and food (all of which is addressed in his so-called stimulus bill being signed into law today)
Erase US borders - provide amnesty for all illegal aliens living in the US and their families not yet here. Concede sovereign authority over US constitutional law to the UN. (This too is set up in the leftist stimulus bill)
Silence the last remaining voice of pro-freedom dissent currently heard only at talk radio (under the Fairness Doctrine proposed by John Podesta at the George Soros organization, American Progress)
Eliminate Second Amendment rights for American citizens while setting up a one million member civilian army loyal to Obama rather than to the people and their constitution (Early funding for which is provided in the stimulus package as well)
Continue to bankrupt the free market capitalist system, driving average American families into an economic corner where they will welcome Democratic Socialism in an effort to avoid life in a soup line (Watch as investors continue to flee from the market for safer havens abroad)
Buy state sovereignty with federal bailout funds, reversing the bottom up system of self-governance affirmed in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the Constitution, establishing the federal government as a top down dictatorship
Gary,
...this is somewhat irrelevant to your point, but can you tell me this?
why are tax-payers dollars going towards THOSE economists massive pensions? It's ludicrous that Obama and his advisors continue to avoid that subject. It just isn't right when many of OUR pensions are going down the tubes!
Jennifer: you may not have beat Bush down for his stimulus package, but many of the same people who are complaining about this stimulus package were just as vocal about that one being the wrong solution. As I've said before, Bush was not a republican, he was a southern democrat that just happened to believe in God
Jennifer,
....I agree with some of your points, did you honestly read the contents of the stimulus package, their are a lot of uneccesary's in there. Bottom line is that this package was rushed, and CHANGE doesn't necessarily mean FAST, it has to be what is best for this country in the longrun.
Tax cuts create spending - Yet they clearly do not provide the investment in the future that is required for us to maintain our competitive advantage in the global marketplace...
Stated otherwise
- Tax cuts are in reality just a quick 'sugar fix; with the associated high and crash
- By contrast overall the investments in the future provided by the stimulus package are just the 'meat and potatoes' our economy needs
Teh stupid is strong in this thread. You can't argue with a personality disorder. No wonder public sentiment is shifting toward a more Eliminationist view of Republicans.
All of those Republican Senators who opposed this bill should refuse to take any money for their states. That's right, if they think it's a bad bill, they should forgo the money and see how their states perform using status quo "Bush/Cheney" methods.
Jennifer - what if the path we're headed down WITH Obama's "stimulus" is worse than the path we would have headed down without it? Did you ever stop to think of that?
Anything or nothing would be better than this disgrace, rushed through Congress without a chance for debate, without even the opportunity for legislators to read it, and without Obama's promised 5 days of public review. Another Obama campaign promise broken.
This is not the way a republic functions. This is tyranny; corrupt, evil, tyranny.
The Stimulus Plan might not be perfect but anything is better than the last 8 years of torture. Least we forget what they created, here are some highlights:
•The increase in Tax Credits shifted the burden of funding services from the national level to the local level.
•Passed laws that violate a person's human rights, rights to privacy, rights of ownership, & our citizenship rights.
•Our national guard has passed doing 3 tours in Iraqi, we are up to 5 tours at least.
•The top 1% of the population became 400% richer than the middle class.
•A record number of older workers are being forced out for younger workers with lower wages.
•A record number of submortgage lender have gone defunct while Wall St folks got Rich.
•It’s the first time our law enforcement agents have been sent to jail for doing their jobs while the pursued Criminal they were trying to stop ran free & committed more crimes while free.
•Foreign entities are buying American-made state road and highways and placing tolls on them.
That's just to name a few. There is your Sorry last 8 years! Do you agree???
What a sham this is! A back room deal that's full of garbage. Obama makes me sick, he's just the same as any other Illinois politician - a puppet to those with power and money. Our "representatives" sent this thing through and broke the promise that Americans would have days to review it. (Liars.) Could that be because the more we learned the more we opposed the idea? Last poll I saw had opposition at 62%. Then Obama has the gall to chide those who opposed the bill (i.e. Republicans) to "remember that we work for them" and they should come around and support the insanity. His arrogance is unbearable! It's time to wake up America!
"Silence the last remaining voice of pro-freedom dissent currently heard only at talk radio" (etc.)
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hey Steve, didn't Oscar tell you? The Globe's just a front for the DNC. They know who you are! The feds are coming for you! Go stock up on Dinty Moore and run for Northern NH, man!
Looks like a lot of conservatives are writing of their displeasure at the stimulus bill! Yes by all means deem it a failure now. After all, government spending is only good when it goes toward military hardware and wars.
Flyday - for the sake of argument, let's suppose everything you say is correct. What does that have to do with the merit of Obama's "stimulus" package and the nearly $1.5 trillion he has added to the national debt in under one month in office?
Please try to focus.
My children, grand children, great-grand children and great-great-grandchildren are screwed trying to pay off all of these give-aways.
To all of those who are only focusing on the increase in the national debt and not what the money is going towards; what, pray tell, would you suggest be done to prevent what could easily become the next great depression? Should we just do nothing and say "oh well"? That did not work during the Hoover administration and I seriously doubt it would work now. Massive tax cuts for the richest 1% of Americans did not work either. The "bailout" of the banks and other financial institutions have likely prevented a collapse of our financial system.
Typical...the left/Democrats/Communists (interchangable, I know) have been wrong on nearly EVERY important policy decision in the last 100 years and unleashed communism and Nazism on the world in the 20th century...so let's try those ideas again!
To paraphrase Einstein (and yes, my fellow MA commies, he was smarter than EVEN OBAMA), "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result"...
But
But as
J WROTE: "I'll ask again: What do you think the government should do in response to the economic crisis? Calling Obama a socialist and a fraud will not solve the problem. What woud you have the government do? "
What do I want the government to do? GET OUT OF THE WAY. Stop all subprime mortgages that caused this entire financial meltdown... ... stop all section-8 housing that as increased rental rates by 50%.... stop telling our corporations what model of widget to make OR ELSE... Democrats are control freaks and frankly... they have the worst track record in world history.
Welcome to the rape of the American taxpayer. How does it feel to know that everyone reading this is personally responsible for $75000 of this bill. How many of you can write a check for $75000? This is what you voted for and this is what you have, hope you stocked up on astroglide.
So a single first-time homebuyer earning $75,000 doesn't get ANY stimulus to buy a house??!! Does this make sense?? I'm the group that won't default on a home loan in 5 years...I'm the one that QUALIFIES for a home loan and care pay the mortgage every month!!!
Thanos73 wrote "The stock market went down 8,000 point when Bush was in office, don't even through that around. The market is off because these are not "normal" times. This is not the same old recessions of the past. We are in historical times and these events are new. So please enough with your wing nut crap."
Thanos... the stock market has collapsed three times in the past 3 months: Obama's election victory, when Geithner announced his failed plan, and again when Obama signed the fake stimulus plan. Are you telling the board that the board collapsing a the exact time of each of these events was pure coincidence? Or does the market already know what WE know... that the Democrats will spew out-of-control spending like we have never seen until our country collapses.
By the way Thanos... the stock market has dropped 5,300 points since Obama became the front runner in June of last year. That is a drop of 41% by investors who feared that Obama was a true socialist. They were correct.
Why isn't anyone talking about the financial impact illegal immigrants are having on this country? Stop being so PC, this is about survival. They are crippling this country economically and socially.
I have to agree with my fellow realists(conservatives) that this stimulus bill is just a spending bill. It's what people want and the Dems are providing, money for nothing.
Dan,
Thanks for your honesty. We'll have to agree to disagree on the role of the federal government during times of crisis. Having the federal government do nothing in the present case is at best negligent and shows a reckless disregard for millions of Americans who are out of work (or soon will be) through no fault of their own.
Mike Jones at Post 29 should be on a T-shirt LOL
I would start by cutting the PAYROLL TAX. If you had any experience running your own business instead of stapling paper to a telephone pole like a community organizer, you would understand.
You know, I can't offer this categorically, but, by and large, conservatives tend to argue with facts, while liberals (like the supposed PHD) often argue with invectives.
Just saying...
Flyday611, you provided the list of statements below. I have responded in caps:
•The increase in Tax Credits shifted the burden of funding services from the national level to the local level.
FUNDING OF WHAT?
•Passed laws that violate a person's human rights, rights to privacy, rights of ownership, & our citizenship rights.
OBAMA HAS NOW ENDORSED BUSH'S ANTI-TERRORIST ACTIONS (WIRETAPPING, ETC.) EXCEPT WATERBOARDING
•Our national guard has passed doing 3 tours in Iraqi, we are up to 5 tours at least.
IT IS CALLED A VOLUNTEER ARMED FORCES AND THEY ARE STILL #1 IN THE WORLD AND VOTE REPUBLICAN
•The top 1% of the population became 400% richer than the middle class.
NOT AS OF TODAY - THE MARKET STARTED TO CRASH WHEN OBAMA BECAME THE FRONT RUNNER
•A record number of older workers are being forced out for younger workers with lower wages.
20 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE A GREATER IMPACT ON WAGES THAN ANYTHING ELSE - AND KERRY, KENNEDY, REID ET. AL. WANT ANOTHER 20 MILLION
•A record number of submortgage lender have gone defunct while Wall St folks got Rich.
THE 30-YEAR DEMOCRAT SUBPRIME MORTGAGE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT FINALLY COLLAPSED CAUSING A CHAIN REACTION OF DEFAULTS AND OUR FIRST EVERY "TOXIC DEBT"
•It’s the first time our law enforcement agents have been sent to jail for doing their jobs while the pursued Criminal they were trying to stop ran free & committed more crimes while free.
I ASSUME YOU MEAN COMPEAN AND RAMOS. I AGREE WITH YOU ON THIS ONE. THE PROSECUTOR WAS A NUTCASE.
•Foreign entities are buying American-made state road and highways and placing tolls on them.
THAT IS BECAUSE STATES OF OVER SPENT AND ARE TECHNICALLY BANKRUPT THANKS TO UNIONS AND PENSION BURDEN. HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSH
That's just to name a few. There is your Sorry last 8 years! Do you agree???
NO
This Government spending (not stimulas) bill won`t do jack for the economy it will only put each tax paying American $36,000 further in debt for our children to have to deal with.
Keep printing the $ with nothing to back it up and see how low the dollar dips.
Soon you will need a whell barrel full of cash to go to the supermarket lol.
How can anyone say this will fix the economy just look where the $ is going.
Oh sorry we will get an extra 8.00 a week after taxes and interest.
yup, $13 more in the working class guys paycheck every week? that sure stimulates and upgrades my life ! now I can get hmmmmmmm 2 #6 meals at mcd's extra per week or maybe in a few weeks 4 gallons of gas too. OOPS Thats right DEVAL PATRICK is going wipe that thought too. Obama Sold the working stiffs out already !
Oscarbozach wrote: What do I want the government to do? GET OUT OF THE WAY. Stop all subprime mortgages that caused this entire financial meltdown... ... stop all section-8 housing that as increased rental rates by 50%.... stop telling our corporations what model of widget to make OR ELSE... Democrats are control freaks and frankly... they have the worst track record in world history.
Oscar,
Your laundry list hardly constitutes the government "getting out of the way." It seems rather activist to me. Democrats are the control freaks? Last time I checked the GOP was the party of the anti-choice/anti-gay crowd. As for your contention that Democrats have the worst track record in world history, it is laughable...Where to begin? Victory in WWII, Social Security and civil rights seems like a pretty good track record to me, but I'm sure you'll just respond with your usual nonsensical rant about socialism, unions and economic "freedom". Keep up the good fight...30% of Americans are right there with you!
obama cant give our money away fast enough. he doesnt believe in competition or that the people who work the hardest and come up with the best ideas should succeed.did you know that the solar panel company that introduced him the day he signed the great payback socialist bill is taking money because they are going under. they demand every worker boss or laborer make the same pay. they all take 6 weeks vacation and they are all forced to give the same amount to charity.we will never recover from obama.
I think stimulus packages are just a showoff, because I can't figure out the change even after the stimulus package.