You have got to be kidding!…

But that does not mean it is right!

Tax cuts are a waste of time to stimulate the economy. See this:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2009/02/12200_house_gop_stimulus_tax_cuts_crs.html

Sixty-seven percent of the American people approve of how President Obama’s handling his efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill, as opposed to 48% for Democrats in Congress and 31% for congressional Republicans.”

In addition, the disapproval rating for Congressional Republicans remains a “staggeringly high” 58%. And the public continues to view the package as a matter of paramount concern. 51% of those polled consider the plan’s passage to be “critically important,” with “Only 16% say it is ‘not that important.’”

http://www.gallup.com/poll/114202/Obama-Upper-Hand-Stimulus-Fight.aspx

Here is the summary:

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf

How can you say there is not a lot of infrastructure? It is right there in front of you.

Here are just a few of the items.

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: 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

Individuals:

*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion.
*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.

Businesses:

*An infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two.
*Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment
*Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases.
*Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

I hope they were not religious. what must they have thought?I It takes that to know what the biblical meaning of forsaken is.

Of course we are the undisputed world champions of bushfires but this one is beyond predictions.

We have an excellent bush fire predictive ,management & fighting services but we also have eucalypts forests which are highly combustible.

The weather last week was 8 days continual of over 105 degrees (fahrenheit)/43 celsius. The weather on Saturday was 110 degrees in Melbourne (46c ) & 114 in the country. The humidity was less than 10% & the wind was gusting at over 40 miles per hour from the NW _which was manageable then it swung to 60 mph SE.

This is when people were caught . there is othing like an Australian bushfire with forests of 30 foot eucalypts combusting. the air is full of smoke & embers .& fierce wall of noise.. Those who fled in panic most likely died-in cars , running from houses ,in streets & even sheltering in churches..

I write this to explain that conditions were extreme & that arson may have been a cause of some outbreaks – the death toll is due to conditions &
undoubted & understandable panic.

To live in a mountain hamlet & not be able to escape -as fire travels exponentally up a ridge /mountain is to face hell.

We are not a religious country .We will not blame. The people will be ok .

I look forward to the forests growing & regenerating.

Geithner’s speech “basically puts a spotlight on the fact that the government has no idea how to fix the problem,” said Jeff Buetow, senior portfolio manager at Portfolio Management Consultants. “People bought on rumor and hope, and now they’re selling on reality.”

Investors focused on the financial rescue showed little reaction to the Senate’s approval of its $838 billion economic stimulus package. The bill must now be reconciled with an $819 billion version passed by the House. Congressional leaders hope to have the bill on President Barack Obama’s desk before a recess next week.

“The economy is in deep trouble. The stimulus plan is not very stimulative. It’s not addressing the real problem,” Buetow said. “We have an insolvent financial system. The government is trying to find a comprehensive way to save it. They can’t afford to just throw money at it. That’s what they tried to do in the fall and that clearly did not work.”

Did you catch the FACTS in this analysis Bazooka-lama-ding-dong?? The market saw nothing in the supposed stimulus bill that gave them any hope for improvement.

And poll results? Which poll? What day? How about this latest from Rasmussen:

62% Want Stimulus Plan to Have More Tax Cuts, Less Spending – Monday, February 09, 2009

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/february_2009/62_want_stimulus_plan_to_have_more_tax_cuts_less_spending

With the Senate poised to vote Tuesday on an $827-billion version of the economic recovery plan, 62% of U.S. voters want the plan to include more tax cuts and less government spending.

Just 14% would like to move in the opposite direction with more government spending and fewer tax cuts, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty percent (20%) would be happy to pass it pretty much as is, and five percent (5%) are not sure.

Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly want to see more tax cuts and less government spending. Democrats are more evenly divided: 42% agree with the Republicans, 32% want to pass the plan as is, and 22% would like to see more government spending and fewer tax cuts.

Most conservative and moderate voters want to see more tax cuts. A plurality of liberals say the plan should be passed pretty much as it is.

An analysis by Scott Rasmussen notes that the stimulus debate is now driven by a tug-of-war between the popularity of President Obama and the nation’s deeply ingrained reluctance to increase government spending. Forty-eight percent (48%) of voters believe that increased spending is generally bad for the economy. On the other hand, 57% say tax cuts are generally good for the economy.

Overall, 37% of voters favor the stimulus plan and 43% are opposed. Most of those who are undecided have a favorable opinion of the new president and are likely to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And frankly, I don’t give a damn about the ratings Obama is getting on “cooperating with Repubs” because if you will remember from your high school Social Studies class last year, it is Congress who drafts legislation, and Pelosi and Reid have shown little true effort to cooperate in a bipartisan fashion.

And before you go telling me how the Repubs were invited to meetings, save us all the effort to read more of that blather. They wanted Repub input just as much as I want them spending my hard earned tax dollars with their favorite kickback programs.

Pick a fact, any fact … just put some in your next post or go to bed already. It’s a school day tomorrow and you should get some rest.

Duh.

There are also a lot of Nobel-winning economists who think your Nobel-winning economists are complete idiots.

So ‘appeal to authority’ doesn’t win any arguments here. Can you maybe think for yourself and tell us why throwing money at a bunch of government employees is going to turn the economy around or keep people in their homes, or any of the other promises that were made??????????????????

Anything?

Stop the lovefest!

if you can change from being a democrat to being a republican because your hillary lost that is very sad.

democrats are about reaching out and helping your fellow man and republicans are all about the individual. if you can change your sole that quickly, then you never were a democrat.

I don’t want to hear a single Obamabot defend this garbage after they very rightly bitched and moaned about Bush’s tactics. No. This legislation does NOT need to be passed TOMORROW. The American people deserve hearings. They deserve to hear exactly what is in this crap sandwhich and how exactly it’ll stimulate the economy. This is truly shameful.

I feel like we’ve traded in one group group of corrupt, partisan, hacks (Bush and DeLay’s GOP) for another group of corrupt, partisan hacks (Obama and Pelosi/Reid’s Dems.) This is an absolute outrage.