Stimulus Quick Facts

January 15th, 2009 - -
Stimulus Quick Facts

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

Total Cost of Stimulus Legislation: $825 billion
How does this compare?
- In 1993, the unemployment was virtually the same as the rate today (around 7%). Yet, President Clinton’s proposed stimulus legislation *only* contained $16 billion in spending

- The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

- This legislation nears a trillion dollars. President Reagan said the best way to understand a trillion dollars is to imagine a crisp, new stack of $1000 bills. If you had a stack four inches high, you’d be a millionaire. A trillion-dollar stack of $1000 bills would measure just over 63 miles high.

- In $20 bills, a trillion dollar stack would be 3150 miles high. That’s about the distance between DC and Trujillo, Peru.
President-elect Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save 3 million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job. The average household income in the U.S. is $42,000 a year.
This bill provides enough spending to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700.
This bill will cost each and every household $6,700 in additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.
Although this legislation has been billed and described as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, but only three percent ($30 billion) of this package is for road and highway spending.
Much of the funding within the proposed stimulus package will go to programs which already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the draft bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which already has $16 billion on hand. And, this year, Congress has plans to rescind $9 billion in highway funding that the states have not yet used.
Deficit spending will not expand the economy. If that were true, then the current $1.2 trillion deficit -- the largest in history -- would already be rescuing the economy. $800 billion more will not change that.
Trade groups state that every $1 billion in highway “stimulus” can be spent creating 34,779 new construction jobs. But Congress must first borrow that $1 billion out of the private sector. The private sector then loses or forgoes roughly the same number of jobs.
Japan responded to a 1990 recession by passing 10 “stimulus” bills over 8 years (building the largest national debt in the industrialized world). Their economy remained stagnant and their per capita income went from the second highest in the world to the tenth highest.

[Source: QUICK FACTS ON THE DEMOCRAT STIMULUS PROPOSAL; January 15, 2009]

Manmade Global Warming Theory 'Arrogant'

Since I couldn't have said it better myself, I decided not to. Below is a link to the article. The title says it all, except for the fact that, despite what Al Gore and the United Nations say, apparently, "The debate is not over."

http://businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081218205953.aspx

Pay to Play

A few weeks back, at the gym. The television in front of me was tuned to CNN. After a commericial for Medicare and a commericial for "Green Collar Jobs" (odd that there were 2 government commercials in a row), the lead story when the "news" returned was "should the first lady be paid." I nearly let the arm of the Elliptical machine smack me in the head when I heard this. The first lady get paid!?

They went on to describe how this poor woman is going to have to give up her lucrative career as an attorney.

They didn't continue with the rest of what she is going to have to do. She is going to have to travel around the world eating delicacies and meeting foreign dignataries. She is going to have to live in a huge mansion with servants at her beckon call. She is going to have to force herself to eat, wear and use only the finest of everything. She may have to make a commericial from time to time to let us know that "reading is fundamental", or "drugs are bad." She may have to make a speech or give an interview from time to time. And, oh yes, she would have to sleep with the President of the United States (ooohhh those pecs).

To her credit, Laura Bush's response to this question was "ofcourse the first lady should not get paid".

My first thought was that this is a trial balloon floated by the Obama administration because Michelle wants to get paid, but I shook my head and took a deep breath, slowing my pace on the elliptical as I realized that my heart rate was now pushing 4 digits. That couldn't be it. This must be an isolated goofy story that CNN has decided to throw out ther for no apparent reason. We will never hear anything about this again.

Boy was I wrong. Just today, Barack Obama is talking about how we will have Trillion Dollar deficits for the forseeable future because we have to spend our way out of this complete economic collapse. And suddenly the media is talking about Michelle Obama's salary again. Didn't the Obamas discuss what being a First Lady entails before Barack ran for office? We didn't vote for Michelle.

It is great that "for the first time in her life she is proud of her country" (now that her husband is President.) Perhaps she should, for the first time in her life, exhibit that pride and SERVE her country...as so many have done before her. Is it the good of our country or the good of the Obamas that is important to her?

THE AMERICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT

I often feel that there is no one in government today who gets it. No one who understands the damage that we have done by allowing our government so much control. In my research I came across a representative from Idaho who gets it. It is a small ray of hope in these dark days to know that I am not alone. The link below will take you to the profound words of one formerly Representative and now Governor of Idaho, Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-h20060309-43

Mmmm Yummy Sand

I admit it. By gosh I am a Glenn Beck listener. I cannot turn it off, whatever I do. I enjoy it, and to say that I enjoy it means that I am a masochist. This must be how the town’s people felt as Paul Revere road through town shouting, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

Dear G-d, I want so badly to bury my head beneath my pillow and suck my thumb until it all just passes by. "Go away Paul! Stop with your rubbish!" Oh how envious I am of those people who go through life blissfully ignorant of what is going on around them. Playing video games, watching sitcoms, chatting on the computer with dangerous strangers they've never met in real life; what bliss. The distractions, you might say, are their protection.

Oh, but no, I have to distract myself with Glenn Beck. He implores me daily to prepare myself and my family for the "Perfect Storm" that is washing onto shore. "Store up food." "Buy Gold." "Get your guns now, while you still can." My friends and family look at me with what can only be described as pity. It is a look one might give a toddler who eats sand and, while gagging and spitting, continues to shovel it in. "What a misguided fool."

Bail-outs (government purchases of private enterprises) continue to unfold from financial institutions, to GM to Boscovs. That's right; Pennsylvania will now be bailing out Boscov's. "Thank you Fast Eddie Rendell." (Mmm Mmmm yummy sand).

Whatever happened to a business failing, an entrepreneur buying up the assets and rebuilding the business from the ashes into something greater than it ever was? Edison had to fail 3000 times before he created a successful light bulb.

This won't stop until the government has a stake in EVERYTHING. We're almost there. They certainly have a stake in me and it will only grow larger when they control my healthcare. "AHHHH!!!"

Oh Glenn, look what you have done to me. I want to be like those other people; those family and friends who look at me with such sympathy. "Look at the poor little toddler eating that Glenn Beck sand." They shrug their shoulders believing that they would stop me if they could, but the "be prepared" motto of the boy scouts (oh those evil, hate mongering boy scouts) is ingrained in my brain, and as such, if the perfect storm is going to hit (and it appears it is) I sure as heck want to be prepared. "Mmm sand. I wonder if this next handful will taste like powdered sugar." They couldn't stop me if they tried.

These people of whom I speak; my friends, my family, my acquaintances; they are not dummies. They are far smarter than I. They actually enjoy their television shows, reading their fiction novels and playing their video games. Their blood pressure is probably within a range that the mortal body was created to handle.

That's what makes them smarter. They know what sand should really be used for; burying our heads.

The Bird is the Word

Senator Barack Obama should probably invest in a some itch cream. He seems to have prominent itches to scratch, in plain camera view, as he gets close to election days, and oddly enough, he tends to scratch these itches with a particular finger, just as he is talking about his opponent. Follow the links below to see the video:

Barack gets all itchy over Hillary:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/04/obamaflipsoffcl.html
More of the same while talking about McCain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBMdWxcFXQg

It was a much harder itch to scratch while talking about McCain. He has probably been too busy on his campaign to see a doctor for this obviously worsening skin irritation. It is a good thing he got that good, last swipe in there with the appropriate finger. Oooh yeah....that got it.

Will dermatologists be covered under the new government run healthcare plan?

The Pity Party Before the Parade

In 1980 an amazing, historic thing happened. The Phillies won the World Series. And here we may be about to see it happen again after 28 years of championship drought. As the minutes tick down until game time another game is playing out across the boob tube. The political game.

It's what I prefer to call the Barack Obama pity party. A half an hour of "these are your problems and this is how government will fix them." A 30 minute special about how the government should be responsible for solving all of our problems. He has certainly become more refined in his message since earlier in his political career when he talked about "redistributive change", but it is the same frightening message. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3DrrwtqPt0)

Here we sit on the precipice of Change with a capital C. It has been something that we have been gradually moving toward since FDR and now it is on the verge of coming to fruition. Through an educational system that has taught us that FDR with his New Deal and LBJ with his Great Society were the greatest things since sliced bread. Through a media that has encouraged us to be distracted from the pursuit of becoming great by allowing us to watch entertaining story archs about other people becoming great and then falling from grace.

This distraction has lead to complacency and a willingness to accept just enough to get by. We need dreams to remain great and expand upon our greatness. For many of us we need to hit bottom before we can reach for the top. We need to be allowed to fail before we can succeed. If government gives us a safety net, than our muscles will never have to stretch, and tear and as a result we will never get stronger.

I am infuriated. My G-d what happened to us. Our country was founded by ambitious, adventurous people with dreams. When they came over here from the other side of the world, they had literally next to nothing, and yet with "limited" government, they built a nation that has been arguably unrivaled throughout history.

Returning once again to the year 1980 something else amazing and historic happened. A truly great President was elected to office. A President who saw the United States for what it is. A land of liberty. A shining city on a hill. A man who saw universal healthcare for what it is; a pathway to a socialistic society that deprives Americans of their true rights and liberties. I implore you to listen to the words of President Reagan at the following link it is chilling and prescient. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0NWqvRidlk).

This nation would be nothing without liberty, and as we move more and more in the direction of government caring for our every need; trading liberty for security, we will soon find that what we thought was a loving cradle from a protective parent was actually a smothering headlock from a destructive tyrant.

As the pity party comes to a close, I take one last look at the man who, according to the poles, is a lock for next Tuesday, try to put politics out of my mind and look forward to the first pitch of the second half of the unfinished World Series game 5. Since there are no truly great candidates on the ballot this year, the most I have to hope for is a parade. Go Phillies!!