No Quick Fix

By Scott Feldman

Word came out this weekend that President Obama is going to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill on Tuesday in Denver.  But don't think for a minute that it is going to help turn the economy around any time soon.

In fact, David Axelrod, the White House senior adviser, is saying, "there will be signs of activity very quickly, but it's going to take time for that to show up in the statistics.  And from President Obama, the economy is "likely to get worse before it gets better." From the Republicans, namely Senator John McCain, we are hearing the stimulus bill being labeled, "generational theft." In the end, only three moderate Republican senators voted for it. Not a single Republican in the House voted yes.

Later this week, the White House is going to unveil a new mortgage reversal proposal in Phoenix. There is now considerable debate in Washington about the so-called "nationalization of the banking industry."

And with trouble still brewing in Detroit, struggling automakers will be submitting plans this week on how they intend to try to turn their financial fortunes around. But as they lay out those plans, both General Motors and Chrylser are going to have their hands out for billions more than they have already received. Will the administration okay more bailout money, or are they willing to let the automakers go into bankruptcy? We'll soon found out. The economy continues to dominate the news. And this week will be no different.  

Comments

[John]

Funny how this idiotic bailout bill is "generational theft," but the last one was a stroke of genius that everybody had to get behind or face the end of the world as we know it. Is this the "change we can believe in? Republican dolts speaking their minds, whereas last year it was the Democrat dolts?

Let failing companies die. Tax the living daylights out of companies that export jobs. Cut taxes for the rest of us. Enforce or reinstitute the trading rules that keep speculators out of the market. People will immediately have money to invest in business ventures and buy things. The economy will be running fine by March, guaranteed.

That Congress isn't suggesting anything like this should tell us all that they're working for someone other than We the People.

Instead of fixing the causes of the problems, they're busy (in this very bill) mandating a national medical database with no privacy constraints and the ability to mandate cheaper treatments, regardless of what your doctor thinks is best. They're busy keeping failing businesses and banks afloat, raising taxes, and throwing money at other government departments without regard for anybody besides themselves and whoever's pulling their strings.

And if it's not going to have an immediate effect, why was it so important that it be passed immediately, before anybody had time to read it? Surely, if the benefits won't show up for a few months, they could afford to hang back for a few days.