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Let me try to understand this: We have elected a president who promised change. He and the Congress want a multibillion-dollar stimulus package that our grandchildren will not even be able to pay off. It has so much pork attached that any right-minded person would not support it.
Then add to this the factor that an interior secretary has been appointed who is from Colorado and is trying to totally kill the economy here, as is our governor.
Why not enforce the regulations that are in place? No wait, we must listen to the tree huggers and the Middle East oil cartel. We wouldn’t want to offend any of them. Let’s not try to develop anything to get us away from foreign dependency.
Think about this: A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
LORIE CULLUM
Grand Junction
12 Responses to “More big government”
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
You’re absolutely right. The American public has NO idea what all is in the so-called stimulus/spending bill.
“Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 5:36 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
JMH,
I read that article this morning. Just one more step towards socialism. I wonder if BO and congress will tell their doctors, they (BO and congress) don’t qualify for treatment for some illnesses. Just like this plan will for the rest of us. BO and congress are nothing but a bunch of JACKASSES!! Again, just your normal politician BS!!
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 5:50 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Oh silly me, I forgot, BO and all the politicians have all the coverage they want or need, and always will.
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
It’s funny to me that the top economists are not sure whether or not the stimulus plan will work. It is based on a model that some economists believe worked during the great depression (there is some debate over this). It is just funny that people like you think this is not going to work when if you look at the top people in the field they are split over the issue, but even the people who don’t think it will work say that it could, it is just an untested model that might not work. I understand doubting whether or not this stimulus will work, but if those who know economics don’t even know, how can you difinatively say that it is a stupid idea?
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 6:09 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
BO is squandering a wonderful opportunity.
First he allows the liberal Congress to load up the “stimulus” package with every Democratic pet project unde the sun (Shumer today said the people don’t care about the pork in the package - he is wrong).
Then, when Republicans present an alternate package, one which is strictly stimulus, BO tells the folks that Republicans don’t want to do anything. That is a lie.
He continually talks about the catastrophe that awaits us if his package is not passed. He is using scare tactics instead of trying to uplift the people.
Next he plays up this announcement today about how the Treasury secretary will explain the new package that will save the banking system and give support to the housing plunge. And what do we get? Zilch. Nothing but an outline without any specifics. That is why the stock market plunged today. Today’s announcement should have been postponed until they had something worth talking about.
He showed in his press conference last night his gift of oratory and his knowledge of the subject matter. But his performance on doing what needs to be done has been very poor.
This is very sad.
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 9:19 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
So your problem isn’t the money, it is the fact that Obama didn’t go with Conservative plans??? I think it is the conservative ideas that drove us to the recession and you want to continue down that path?
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 10:21 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Good luck waiting until they have something “worthwhile” to talk about Cof52. These death throws of the keynesian, central banking scam are not going to be solved by firing up the printing presses and dropping cash off at each of our local city halls nationwide. This is just going to prolong all of the suffering. Has anyone had a look at the similiarities between the actions being taken now and the “New Deal” policies of the 30’s? Eerily similiar, if not exactly the same. There is widespread consensus amongst economists that these policies extended the depression and now we are pursuing the exact same problematic ideas. We don’t even have to go back 20 years to see how Japan tried stimulus packages to see another concrete example of “stimulous” failing to actually lead to healthy, sustainable economic growth. These stimulous plans are nothing more than pet projects for the commander in thiefs in power. There are no differences in the policies of these buffoons other than that they pay a slightly different shade of shareholder. The answer to the reoccurring problem of bubbles is to take away the bubble maker, the Federal Reserve! And then move back to a constitutionally controlled government. These are radical ideas for most Americans because we have become conditioned to believe everything we are told. We have so many things around us that we don’t understand because of their technological complexity that we think that everything is to complex to understand. Is it so complex to understand that if you spend more than you make for long periods of time you eventually run out of credit and go bankrupt? Apparently. Rather than let bankrupcty clear out years of awful credit policies producing huge amounts of poor investments, we will just prop up the system with more monopoly money. Too bad for us.
Posted February 11th, 2009 at 12:56 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
“Then add to this the factor that an interior secretary has been appointed who is from Colorado and is trying to totally kill the economy here, as is our governor.”
Good Lord, girl. What possible motivation would a governor and an interior secretary have to “totally kill the economy” in the state where their families and friends live? Just because they don’t share your ideas for hoew to fix our problems, you accuse them of being unrepentant economy murderers? Gosh, I know them both, they don’t seem like the maniacal murderous type to me.
Why don’t you chill on the over the top rhetoric?
” A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.?”
Hey, are you trying to scare me? Are they coming after my guns? My bible? My scalp? Circle the wagons, boys, them heathens is a comin’ fer us!
Posted February 11th, 2009 at 8:49 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
david cox, the Great Depression began with a recession in August of 1929. The economy started to plummet after the stock market crash in October of that year. The government action taken during the Hoover administration, in the face of a worsening recession, was as follows: 1. They raised taxes in order to balance the budget. 2. They imposed the Smoot Hawley tariff that stopped global trade. 3. They raised interest rates in order to defend the Dollar which was tied to gold. 4. They did NOTHING to help a banking system that was collapsing. 5. They did NOTHING to help people out of work. 6. They did NOTHING to help farmers who were getting killed by collapsing farm prices.
During the Hoover presidency, the rate of unemployment rose from near 4% to near 25%. By the time the New Deal programs came into being, the economy was so deep in the hole that it was very, very, hard to turn.
There were some good things that came out of the New Deal and some bad things. They were experimenting with what to do because they didn’t have a playbook to follow.
I’m not going to praise all of what was done in the New Deal, but to do nothing now and allow the banking system to collapse would, without question, drop us, and the rest of the world, into depression.
There are some folks who don’t mind if we are plunged into depression. They say the sins of the past must be washed away and the economy needs to restart without any old baggage. Many have nothing to lose and a lot to gain if the economy and the stock market drop much further.
But most of us would rather see the economy recover ASAP. The problems of the financial system are deep and difficult to solve. I would rather they take the time to get it right, but I also believe that need to stop giving false hope, as they did in recent days, when they say the Treasury has a plan when it doesn’t.
And BO needs to stop attacking the previous administration.
And he needs to stop lying about the cause of the current debacle. It was not that taxes were cut. It was that mortgage companies, with the encouragement of the Congress, gave out loans that they should not have given, and financial institutions that were allowed to gamble to an extent that should never have been allowed by the regulators.
He needs to stop giving campaign speeches.
He needs to stop scaring people and, instead, start giving them hope and assurance
Posted February 11th, 2009 at 9:07 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
kakuni1977 said: “I understand doubting whether or not this stimulus will work, but if those who know economics don’t even know, how can you difinatively say that it is a stupid idea?”
For the very reason that even those who know economics don’t know if it will work - makes it a TRILLION dollar gamble. Most (if not all) economists do agree that “something” needs to be done. But an all-or-nothing TRILLION dollar gamble is most definitely insane.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that if a whole town is burning down you don’t START by remodeling the firehouse, building better firewalls between buildings, purchasing new smoke alarms, and researching state-of-the-art firefighting techniques. No, you FIRST use the most tried and true methods to get the darned fire under control.
While most/all/many economist don’t “know” whether it will work, there are many who are adamant it won’t.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/135282
“ASU, including the W.P. Carey School of Business where they all work, is one of many public institutions that stands to benefit greatly from the roughly $800 billion plan. The package includes huge sums in aid for ailing state economies, like Arizona’s, that could offset tens of millions of dollars in higher education budget cuts.
Regardless, the ASU economists who signed the Cato Institute’s statement - Prescott, Happel, Nancy Roberts and Allan DeSerpa - argue that the federal government’s plan could be a waste of nearly a trillion taxpayer dollars.
“We’re spending all this time nitpicking at this stimulus package,” said Roberts, an economics professor. “You know, should there be money in there for National Endowment for the Arts? Should Amtrak be in there? What about child care? When, in fact, it’s really begging the question, should the federal government be doing any of this at all?”
Prescott, who won a Nobel Prize for economics in 2004 for his study in business cycles, said massive government spending likely lengthened the economic struggles each time. Economists in the field are deeply divided on the issue of federal stimulus.
“I don’t know why Obama said all economists agree on this,” Prescott said. “They don’t. If you go down to the third-tier schools, yes, but they’re not the people advancing the science.”
“With all due respect, Mr. President”
http://www.cato.org/special/stimulus09/alternate_version.html
Posted February 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
JMH, if you believe the stimulus idea is bad because it is untested, than I agree with your concerns. It is not a tested method, and could be a bit of a gamble. I support those with your opinion as I stated. I just don’t think people can say that the principle ideas are that bad when there is still big debate on the issue of whether it will work or not. The gamble is the only concern and I think if the government gives money to programs that will than hire or keep people employed, there is a good chance that the stimulus will work. Do I know for sure, No, but I am optimistic that it is a good start… If it doesn’t work, I guess in four years we will all vote the other way.
Posted February 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
kakuni1977, if it was only a “bit” of a gamble, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. No, it’s a TRILLION dollar spending commitment. Would you risk your life savings and put a triple mortgage your house for a 50-50 gamble? And 50-50 is probably overly optimistic!
The background on this bill says it all. Obama told the majority leaders to come up with a bill, quick!, that would total $800 Billion. What fun, huh? Did Congress go to the economists for guidance as to SPECIFICALLY what spending would actually stimulate the economy or what would get the most immediate bang for our big bucks? Heck no. Are the multi-million dollar sums based on thoughtful projections? Heck no. Obama and the Congress aren’t even listening to the Congressional Budget Office.
At the bottom of it all are profound ideological differences about the role of government control v. free market capitalism - and it’s the extremes and corruption on both ends that are destructive to our American way of life.
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