Well, time will tell if Obama’s $900 billion stimulus package will pass. The hopeful deadline was for today. Many people are criticizing this bill because it is so pork laden (in other words, stuffed with unnecessary money for unnecessary things). I’m nearly certain that the bill was not written by Obama, but by his staff.
The staff has to bargain with opposing staff members in order to come to a happy agreement about certain pork that they want stuffed into the bill. For instance, a republican staff member may want $20 million to go to a region in Texas to step up security along the border. A democratic staff member may want $30 million to go to another specific cause. The two will wager and bicker in order to get the best deal that he or she can for his cause. Then that staff member will report to his/her boss and everyone is happy. After all, it’s called politics.
One thing that bothered me about the fallout from this proposed bill is that while Obama set forth requirements of US steel and iron to be used for infrastructure projects (i.e. bridges, construction, etc.) many people bawled about that saying it would piss off China (because they and other countries have supplied us with steel and iron based on past areements). Well, my view is — who cares? We need to find a solution to bring back the US economy. Once we get that up and running, the rest will follow. Our hard earned money will, once again, go to buy mediocre products made in China.
I’m a steadfast Democrat and find the Republican insults on this bill, well, insulting. (That being said, however, I do not always vote party lines. I vote based on the issues and my conscience.) Not one other person can or will come up with a better plan to bail us out. heck, not one person can offer a plan PERIOD other than to suggest utilizing tax cuts ONLY, while providing no actual cash to spend. Yes I know that we’re currently in over our heads as far as the national debt is concerned. Yes I know we’re losing thousands of jobs to overseas companies. Yes I know that illegal immigrants are doing the work that certain US citizens will not do for a cheap price. I know all that. However, I still do not know what other method can be implemented to keep us afloat. Perhaps we should have stopped pumping billions every month into Iraq? Perhaps we shouldn’t have bailed out the banks and wall street? Perhaps we should have made each and every person who received a portion of that money accountable for where it went. No bonuses. No extra curricular activities.
Hindsight is 20/20, however we need to come up with a plan to keep our economy afloat, otherwise we could find ourselves in serious financial trouble.
