With all this bailout conversation going on, I just had to weigh in. I apologize to anyone coming here to see pictures of Peru, but if you don't want to read about another person being upset about this "stimulus", please come back tomorrow, I promise I'll have some good pictures and stories not associated with economics or politics.
So the US Gov't is getting ready to spend nearly $1 trillion and citizens are asking good questions like: where is this money going? How many jobs will it create? Isn't $1 trillion too much? Why are we rushing this through?
Let's be clear, there is not a single solution. Tax cuts are not the answer. People are fearful and if you give them money right now, they will hoard it. Tax cuts also cannot fix roads, build infrastructure, and fund public education.
Radical spending, however, will not fix the problem either. Funding projects that will take years, will not help things now. We are fighting the issue that economists call a "self fulfilling prophecy." If people believe something is going to happen, they will change their habits and patterns in anticipation of that event, thus creating the event.
We need to build concerte things now. We need to build projects that will increase efficiency in the future, that will reduce people's travel time to work, that will enhance the value that they provide to society. We also need to provide assistance to states so that there is a temporary safety net to assist people that lose their jobs, but also provide the services and the know how for them to find new jobs.
This bill must not be an ideological spending bill where pet projects are funded. We need to target the sectors that are being hit the hardest because you can't turn a financial analyst into a green energy engineer, or a nurse. You can't turn a construction worker into a scientist researching global warming, or somebody seeding the National Lawn ($200 million!!!).
I've been very disappointed with our politicians responses:
From the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee (he helped craft the bill)
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=274243
"So what?" This is our money buddy. You and your political friends might get away without paying taxes, but the rest of us have to. A Democracy means we can ask these questions, and you will answer them, or we will vote you out.
President Obama's shifting response on how many jobs it will create:
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=272913
2 million, 3 million, or 4 million jobs? Depends on how you feel? Maybe you should put together your economic team before we spend $1 trillion, come back with a real plan and then we'll spend some money.
How much is a trillion? Is it too much?
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=273033
No big deal, we're the US Gov't and we're going to take another 10% of the economy from you the taxpayers, and spend it how we want. Don't worry, there's $30 billion in there to fix roads. Where's the other $750 billion going? Ummm...on other stuff, just trust us.
If we had rushed this through, this little sentence about protectionist policies could have set off a firestorm of economic protectionist policies around the world, thereby repeating what actually lead us into the Great Depression:
http://news.aol.ca/article/obama-bill-causing-grave-concerns/506468/
It kind of makes you wonder why Rep. Pelosi was smiling when this bill passed in the House without a single Republican vote. Do they want to set off an economic disaster (even greater than the one we're in now), or did they just never take an economics class?
We're not going to tell you what we're spending the money on:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/02/daley-refuses-to-release-stimulus-project-list.html
What happened to no pet projects:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/23/biden-vows-no-pet-project-stimulus-bill/
God help us.
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I have never been able to understand why, when times get tough, the federal government pulls out another credit card and starts spending like crazy. It is foolish and irresponsible. State and local governments have to cut back, but the Feds feel they need to respond by increasing our obligations as taxpayers.
ReplyDeletePoliticians claim they are putting people back to work, but at what cost. Do these roads, bridges, and buildings actually position our economy for growth and stability, or just build us things we didn't need anyway? The money should be invested in "the next big thing" (compact battery power, solar power, networking, etc...or whatever else), which is the only thing that will eventually turn the economy around.
Every upturn in an economic cycle is ALWAYS driven by innovation and investment. Not by building political projects.