the truth always seems to run in the middle… government spending probably does not stimulate the economy as much as people would want, just like tax cuts and trickle down may not work either…

however, the risk of doing nothing is probably greater.

we always know where the Cato Institute that you quote comes out, but these are the very same guys and think-tank that got us into this mess from the beginning…

First, the House comes up with a bill, which they did, and even implemented some of the Republicans ideas (tax cuts).

Then it goes to the Senate and is modified and cleaned up, as what is being done now with all the debate and amendments. Often it does not matter what the House did at the beginning, as the Senate regularly makes major changes to bills.

Then it goes to conference where the President can take out his pen and changes things himself when it goes to conference. He will do this after considering all the debate and all the points of view.

The reality is that the Republicans had a say in this bill in a very unprecedented way for not being the party in power. Obama is going out of his way to try and get some bipartisan consensus. In fact, this process has been the exact opposite of “jamming” a bill down anyone’s throat.

And if you are one of those who thinks the bill is all pork, that is complete BS. The things the Republicans are complaining about being pork or unnecessary, represents only 1% of the entire bill and most of that is now out of the bill. The fact that the Republicans are only complaining about 1% of the bill means that they are only looking for sound bites so they can play politics with this very important piece of legislation.

Barney Frank, the dems and especially Obama are more responsible for the economic meltdown due to the Fannie Mae (FM) and Freddie Mac (FM) backed mortgages crisis.
Link 1. Sen Obama was one of the attorneys of record ( See p.3 of cited document) who filed a class action lawsuit against Citibank Federal Savings Bank in Chicago in federal court (1994) accusing them of redlining and racial discrimination in lending and won. The legal outcome of the federal case (1998) was that banks all over the country were forced to make risky loans to unqualified buyers without sufficient collateral. Through this action Sen Obama bares a heavy responsibility for the housing crisis, stock market losses impacting people’s 401ks, retirements, and other incomes.

Link 2. Listen to all the dem crooks and see the money they received from Fm & FM. a). Listen to President Clinton in the above video around the 5:53 mark saying Dems were mostly to blame for FM & FM. mortgage situation.
b) then click on Videos # 5 in this set labeled “Dems In Their Own Words”.
c) then click on Video #5 in this set labeled “Clinton Admin. Bank affirmative Action”.
http://clearinghouse.wustl.edu/detail.php?id=10112&search=source|general;caseCat|FH;orderby|caseName;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5z9lD4C2Io&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_652267

Business aren’t complaining about their taxes. They are complaining about the cost of health care along with everyone else.

Money for STD training isn’t stimulative? Sure it is. One needs to order products from printing companies, one needs to be hired to design those products and people need to be hired to teach the program and present the matierials. So yes it is stimulative, just not directly. But it does create a demand for goods and services where currently there is no demand.

Lou Dobbs didn’t think the whatever million dollars for the gov. buying new auto mobiles was stimulative. C’mon I think people don’t have their thinking caps on. Giving bailout money to the auto companies so they can barely function isn’t stimulative as much as demanding a product from them. This is turn creates a demand for steel and all of the manufacturing chain that goes into producing the car that the government will buy.

BB-
You have not been paying attention if you think Repubs are 100% at fault. Feel free to play the blame game and then complain when nothing gets done. If Pelosi and Reid wanted to, they could create their bills and send them straight to the white house for signing. The only reason they haven’t is because they don’t have the support of their own members because the bills are loaded with crap that wouldn’t stimulate a field mouse. Remember, Obama “won” so he can do as he pleases.——————————————————————-Faulkner you are so correct. The Democrats are just as much if not more to blame for this. CSPAN has televised previously where McCain, and other Republican, even Hillary Clinton forewarned of the housing crash unless something was done. Barney Frank is shown as well as Pelosi saying there is nothing to fix, nothing is wrong.
I believe the Dems let this happen becuase they felt it would help them win the election. It did help them win, because people didn’t research how this mess came to be. As far as I am concerned Obama and the Dems DO NOT have america’s best interest in mind, just their own agendas.

So what the Dems had control of congress from Jan. 3, 2007. What is your point?

The house bubble built since really 2002. The bad lending practises, creation of the financial derivatives, crazy interest rate policy, getting us into a expensive and distracting war, tax cuts that created a huge deficit and the general mismanagement of the economy that got us to where we are today happened during Bush’s watch before Jan. 3, 2007.

After the Dems took control of the congress they really had no power anyways. Bush was unwilling to take into considering any of the Dems ideas, and he vetoed or threatened to veto anything the Dems tried to push through. Bush did not veto a single piece of legislation in his first term, as the pen only came out after the Dems took congress. Then he did a record amount of vetos; everything from childrens healthcare, to torture, to an Iraq timetable, etc. He made six vetos alone on the Medicare bill.

It is the party in power that has to take responsiblity. Just like it is Obama’s responsiblity from here on out.

Whether Dodd, Frank and Obama did or did not push for regulation is irrelevant. They were not in power. It was all up to the Republicans! What don’t you get! The ball was in the Republicans court, they had all the power during the mortgage bubble and collapse.