“Change” – but not just yet

"RECOVERY WILL TAKE YEARS, NOT MONTHS"... President Obama

If that’s so, why then do we hear that the crisis is so imminent we must spend over a trillion dollars now and more soon? Why is the money Obama wants to spend not going to improve the economy but rather on his socialist plans? Why is most of the money to be spent in the next two to three years and not now if we need an immediate “stimulus” to improve our economy and avoid the “worst depression in years”?

We hear the economy is in a crisis not seen since the Great Depression. Credit is frozen, consumer purchasing power is in decline, in the last four months the country has lost two million jobs and we are expected to lose another 3 to 5 million in the next year. President Obama says unless something is done, we will have a complete financial meltdown and that this bill is the first crucial step in a concerted effort to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, jumpstart our economy.

Just in case Obama’s plan does not succeed however, Obama says “The economy is in such trouble that, even with passage of this bill, unemployment rates are expected to rise to between eight and nine percent this year.” “Without this bill, unemployment could explode to near twelve percent. With passage of this bill, we will face a large deficit for years to come. Without it, those deficits will be devastating and we face the risk of economic chaos. Tough choices have been made in this legislation and fiscal discipline will demand more tough choices in years to come.”

Last fall President Bush and Democrats led the fight for stimulus bill whose immediate passage was critical. Obama insisted, the Democrats insisted, eventually RINO Republicans insisted. And without reading the bill conferred the treasury car the unfettered power to give away $750 billion without oversight or any control whatsoever. With $750 billion in hand, the government initiated nationalization banks with other industries to follow. Without doubt, the Obama socialist plan is to nationalize all 8,500 banks in this country in due course.

We now have the next “Stimulus Bill” with even broader aims than the first. Without adding the other costs in the total, the Obama stimulus plan approved by the House devotes $825 billion more to the socialist plans to extend government control. This amount is also misleading; by the time all interest and other costs are taken into account the total will be over $1.3 trillion.

The first stimulus bill was said to be for the purpose of buying “toxic mortgages” held by banks which devalued their portfolios and prevented them from lending. However only a few days after the bill became law, banks receiving government money did not buy toxic mortgages, instead the money was used to shore up their balance sheets, buy other banks and give management enormous bonuses. Why should we believe them now?

Now comes the Second Stimulus Bill but this one does not conceal the fraud it perpetuates, it come right out in the open with the allocations in the billions that have nothing to do with improving the economy, restoring employment and avoiding further job losses. If you don’t believe me, tell me how the following will generate more jobs, increase credit for people and business and restore buyer confidence.

The following allocations are reprinted from the House-Approved Obama Stimulus Package,

Some highlights of the package:

• $850 billion total (as of 1/15/09)
• $ 90 billion for infrastructure (most wont be spent for two or more years due to government regulations, e.g. environmental)
• $ 87 billion Medicaid aid to states
• $ 79 billion school districts/public colleges to prevent cutbacks
• $ 54 billion for research to encourage energy production from renewable sources
• $ 41 billion for additional school funding ($14 billion for school modernizations and repairs, $13 billion for Title I, $13 billion for IDEA special education funding, $1 billion for education technology)
• $ 24 billion for "health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies" and "to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments."
• $ 16 billion for science/technology ($10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation; $6 billion to expand broadband to rural areas)
• $ 15 billion to increase Pell grants by $500 • $ 6 billion for the ambiguous "higher education modernization."

[Source: Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009]

If this is not enough to impress you about the inability to accomplish the goals stated by President Obama and his supporters by the huge expenditure of taxpayer money, then also consider this:

Energy

$32 billion: Funding for "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste $16 billion: Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit $6 billion: Funding to weatherize modest-income homes

Science and Technology

$10 billion: Science facilities $6 billion: High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas

Infrastructure

$30 billion: Building and Transportation projects $31 billion: Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure $19 billion: Water projects $10 billion: Rail and mass transit projects

Education

$41 billion: Grants to local school districts $79 billion: State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid $21 billion: School modernization ($15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500; $6 billion for higher education modernization)

Health Care

$39 billion: Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid $87 billion: Help to states with Medicaid $20 billion: Modernization of health-information technology systems $4.1 billion: Preventative care

Jobless Benefits

$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training. $39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid. $20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.

Taxes

*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion; to all including illegal aliens and those not paying any taxes.
*Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor.
*Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children
*A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
*Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time.

[Sources: Associated Press: Highlights of Senate economic stimulus plan; January 23, 2009; WSJ: Stimulus Package Unveiled; January 16, 2009; Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009]

But all this money will not be spent now! The government will be able to spend only one-fourth of the proposed $850 billion economic stimulus plan until after 2010, according to a preliminary report by the Congressional Business Office that suggests it may take longer than expected to boost the economy. The government would spend about $26 billion of the money this year and $110 billion more next year, the report said. About $103 billion would be spent in 2011, while $53 billion would be spent in 2012 and the rest between 2013 and 2019.

• Less than $5 billion of the $30 billion set aside for highway spending would be spent within the next two years, the CBO said. • Only $26 billion out of $274 billion in infrastructure spending would be delivered into the economy by the Sept. 30 end of the budget year, less than 7 percent. • Just one in seven dollars of a huge $18.5 billion investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs would be spent within a year and a half.
• About $907 million of a $6 billion plan to expand broadband access in rural and other underserved areas would be spent by 2011, CBO said.
• Just one-fourth of clean drinking water projects can be completed by October of next year.
• $275 billion worth of tax cuts to 95 percent of filers and a huge infusion of help for state governments is to be distributed into the economy more quickly. Of course these are not actually tax cuts; this money would be another welfare payment to those not paying any taxes at all.

And who will be getting the taxpayer largess (via the stimulus plan)? Many recipients will be states, community organizations and Churches! [Think “ACORN”]

Imagine! - Another Obama ‘not so stealth plan’ to reward those who put him in office and produced Democrat majorities in the Senate and House – the gall of it all.

The media pours and the Obama-adoring public drinks the Kool-Aid.