It's the far left's 40-year wish list:
"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."
So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.
...We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.
There's also $2.3 billion to various slush funds at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with $335 million for contraceptives and sexually transmitted disease prevention.
What does this have to do with helping the economy? Nothing.
Why is adding another $825 BILLION to the budget -- all of which will have to be collected from you and me as taxpayers -- an economic "stimulus"?
From an analysis of the bill by House Republicans:
Supporters of H.R. 1 have described this legislation as a transportation and infrastructure investment package. However, the bill only includes $30 billion – a mere 3 percent of the funding – toward “shovel ready” road and highway spending. Similarly, only $4.5 billion is allocated for the Corps of Engineers for improved flood protection and navigation.
Instead, H.R. 1 provides funding for 32 new programs totaling $137 billion or 38 percent of all discretionary spending in the bill. Seventeen of these new programs have never been considered by Congress and account for $123 billion or 34 percent of all discretionary spending in the bill.
CBO estimates that the government’s interest costs for H.R. 1 would amount to $347 billion over the 2009-2019 period. This means that the total cost of the bill over the next ten years exceeds $1.1 trillion. The excessive burden will be placed squarely on the backs of our children and grandchildren and will have lasting economic consequences.
. . . . H.R. 1 increases the federal share of the Medicaid program by $100 billion over the next two years, but does not hold the states accountable for their performance. Unfortunately, this is in direct contrast to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report stating that the Medicaid program remained on its list of “high-risk” programs due to “growing concerns about the quality of fiscal oversight, which is necessary to prevent inappropriate program spending.” While many states claim to be struggling to meet their current financial obligations with the Medicaid program, additional federal funding will not resolve the “significant challenges to address the program’s vulnerabilities” which GAO identified and may provide a perverse disincentive for states not to recoup Medicaid dollars by pursuing anti-fraud cases vigorously.
And here are 10 more reasons to whack the "stimulus" plan. And let's not forget the billions of "stimulus" to be provided for groups including ACORN, famed for enabling voter registration fraud.
It's not a stimulus bill. It's the opposite.
It's a drag on the already-overburdened budget and economy.
That's why it's gradually beginning to dawn even on the left that, rather than sign onto this multi-hundred-billion-dollar boondoggle masquerading as a "stimulus," America would be better off to do nothing.
From Don Surber:
56% of the money will be spent on government and on education and health — industries that have unemployment rates of [only] 2.3% and 3.8%. In other words, full employment.
Alan Reynolds of Cato said the cost will be $646,214 Per Government Job.
This is nuts.
The free market economy is amazingly self-healing -- IF it is LEFT ALONE long enough to have a chance to heal. It was government mandates that led to the crisis in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the crisis in the entire banking industry. It is government mandates and taxes that are weighing down both American businesses and American consumers.
The Democrat "stimulus bill" would multiply government spending, taxes, and regulation, to no productive purpose. It is like taking a large mallet to the economy to destroy what's left of it.
Update: Obama: "We don't have a moment to spare."
That's right -- America, this is SERIOUS. Unless we push through billions of new spending for Amtrak and digital TV converter box coupons and ACORN and sexually transmitted disease prevention, "something bad" will happen!
SOMETHING BAD!
DO YOU HEAR ME, people?
PEOPLE NEED FREE CONDOMS! Act NOW before it's too late!
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