OBAMA STYLED "CHANGE" & "STIMULUS"

On November 4Th, the American electorate voted for "Change". Throughout the campaign Barack Obama convinced enough voters to not look to close, and trust his untested leadership.

Now barely two weeks into this administration that promised hope and change, we find ourselves with exactly what the electorate deserves. We have been given cabinet nominees, many of which feel above having to pay their taxes. This of course includes our new Treasury Secretary who will oversee the IRS. He did cough up the $34,000 after receiving the Treasury nomination. He had no intention of doing so prior to that time. This is 'change'?

Under the guise of a "stimulus package", the Democrats have usurped the legitimacy of such a noble cause, and instead, put forth a pork laden bill catered to the 'no accountability' left wing.

This attempt to borrow and spend our way out of a recession is not a new idea. Roosevelt tried in the 30's, and when he ran for his third term in 1940, our unemployment rate still hovered around 20%. That was after eight years of the same style stimulus programs. If not for the war clouds of Europe his reelection was in question. He went on to win because of promising to keep America out of the war, in spite of his dismal economic policies.

Japan tried the Roosevelt model during their prolonged recession of the 90's. It failed to work that time as well.

Now the Rain Man of Chicago politics appears to be attempting to imitate Bullwinkle. We all remember Bullwinkle trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Having pulled out a Rhinoceros, and then a lion by mistake, Bullwinkle exclaims "this time for sure".


According to the democratic controlled Congressional Budget Office, only one fifth of this stimulus would be felt in 2009. Most of the money is scheduled to be spent after the recession is predicted to end.

Obama claims to want this bill to pass in order to create jobs. It falls far short according to estimates. The Endowment for the Arts employs how many people? Contraception? How about $650 million for 'Digital TV.coupons'?

Less than 10% of the bill could be considered true stimulus, if one assumes tax credits and infrastructure spending will jolt the economy. The other 90% of the bill represents one of the most egregious acts of generational theft in our nation's history, with taxpayer money going to special-interest earmarks, an ill-conceived bailout to states, and permanent spending increases that expand government's reach in areas like health care and education.

The bill's selling point is that three million jobs will be created or saved by this package. What's alarming is that each job will cost $286,000 to create or save. Moreover, one in five will be a government job....I start my new government job next Tuesday!!

One of the more egregious provisions in the Senate bill is a $166 billion bailout plan for the states that rewards bad budgeting at the state level. Simply sending cash to states without asking for appropriate sacrifices is grossly irresponsible. States will no longer have the incentive to live within their means, because they'll assume the federal government will be there to bail them out.

Instead of a bailout, Congress could offer states an emergency loan that could be repaid at a low interest rate. This approach apparently wasn't considered because the members who wrote the bill aren't simply interested in saving jobs -- they want to push their agenda along the way.

A key example is health care. The Senate bill doubles the amount of the Medicaid bailout requested by governors and lays the groundwork for government-run health care, which invariably leads to rationing. This ideological overreach has led even some Democrats, like Nebraska's Ben Nelson, to express concern that various "sacred cows" in the package are hurting the bill's overall goals.

The bill is also loaded with old-fashioned pork, despite President Barack Obama's insistence that members of Congress refrain from adding earmarks. In fact, the bill contains the most expensive earmark in history: $2 billion for the FutureGen near-zero emission power plant in Matoon, Ill.

Of course Obama has no problem with a $5 billion earmark for his friends at ACORN. We all remember ACORN. This is the organization that had it's offices raided by the FBI after it became evident that the organization was blatantly involved with voter registration fraud, registering people multiple times, and registering fictitious names. Why punish them? Under this administration we will reward them. They not only drank the kool-aid, they helped pass it out!

Other non stimulative pork provisions include $88 million for a new polar icebreaker for the Coast Guard, $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees, and $850 million for Amtrak.

What is not in the bill is as troubling as what is. The package does nothing to clear the toxic assets and bad mortgages that helped trigger the credit crisis. These are some of the same scam mortgage products that Congressman Barney Frank D-MA defended when attempts were made to add more regulation to Fannie Mae. Why wouldn't Barney block re regulation? His lover, Herb Moses was the architect at Fannie Mae who was selling these mortgages and bringing home the resulting bonuses to Barney and keeping him draped in gold lame'.

It also contains very little meaningful tax relief to make small businesses and American companies more competitive. Instead, the tax provisions of the stimulus are essentially a modest cash handout that repeats the failed policy of George W. Bush's rebate-check stimulus.

The only thing that will be "stimulated" with this bill, is America's collective sphincter!