Take a moment to read about the WPA.
I shall now get mean. Be warned.
Before I start, let’s get a few things out of the way.
Republicans love their talking points. “Wasteful Spending” is one of them. It’s cute coming from a party that spent EIGHT YEARS driving up the deficit with nothing to show for it. Thanks, fat, white jerks.
Regarding spending, Robert Reich has this to say: “Consumers are pulling way back; investors are pulling back because, why invest if consumers are pulling back; exports can’t possibly make up the slack because the recession is worldwide, so the government is the spender of last resort.”
If Reich is too cheeky for you, here’s Zandi. Read it, please.
The bottom line, more than anything, is SPEED. Apparently Republicans didn’t get the memo. Obama wanted this damned thing on his desk on day one because he GETS it. People are losing jobs every day. And quick stimulus is the difference between a recession and a depression.
Republicans want to stall the bill because, apart from being heartless swine who don’t care about poor people, they want to drag out details like this and call it wasteful. And people who haven’t been paying attention to the TRUE waste flung around by their dear Republicans (in the form of war, corporate welfare, bailouts to billionaires, bridges to nowheres) come out of the woodwork when we’re talking about spending on infrastructure, jobs, health and human services, science and, yes, arts.
This is the talking points memo being circulated amongst the Republican flock (in quotes—my notes follow each) detailing what they believe constitutes waste (I’ll withhold the irony of the inherent waste that was the last 8 years of failed Republican policy):
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
May not be the greenest energy spending, but it is spending, jobs, and infrastructure.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
Republicans think they’ve struck gold with their catch-all “Hollywood” key word. You Republican lapdogs are supposed to automatically shriek, “Hollywood! Those Communists don’t represent my family values!” and, well, you get the talking points from your prayer books.
The fact is, film is one of America’s great economic and cultural exports, and with lenders not, um, lending; it follows that filmers won’t be filming…
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
You may be able to afford a converter box. But some people can’t. And they won’t have a television signal. And if you think that serves them right, then I say WWJD?
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
Why do you have a problem with military spending all-of-a-sudden?
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
Construction=jobs. Homeland security was Republican’s baby.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
New buildings usually require new furniture. New furniture needs to be built. Building furniture=jobs.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
This is worded to make you think they’re getting new car’s ala Oprah’s “you get a new car, you get a new car, you get a new car…” The federal government has cars that it’s employees use. It is thus converting its fleet to hybrid. Spending, check. Environment, check.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD’s.
Do you like STDs? You can keep your STDs if you likey.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
You may think rural is some key word for “the other”, but these people grow your damned food. And they’re among some of the most depressed demographics in the United States. Do you mind if we use some of this government spending to give them garbage cans?
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
Infrastructure. Or would you rather have leaky sewage systems?
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
Spending, jobs, investment in the humanities. If you don’t like it, go hang out at WalMart full-time and think about what America would look like without humanities spending.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
You’re right. Who needs a Census?
• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”
Health and human services. Oh, I forgot. Republicans hate human services.
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
Education spending=investment in career-track job futures.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
Fine. Whatever. Take that $75 million and throw it from a plane over Iraq.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
Fine. Whatever. Let them drink themselves to death. We’ll tell them it was a Republican prescription.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
INFRASTRUCTURE. Um, remember Katrina?
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
Inspect for potential Katrinas
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.
Got a problem with that? It’s jobs AND energy savings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
I’ll make sure and let the firefighters know the Republicans only like them for photo-ops.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
You’re right. Fire management is SO unnecessary.
• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.
Why do you hate youth?
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
Renovation=jobs. Public health benefits everyone.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
building=jobs
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
infrastructure, jobs, health…
• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
jobs + community service= double-up goodness!
• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
What’s with the quotes on this one? Do you hate energy efficiency?
• $850 million for Amtrak.
Infrastructure + jobs
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
Do you enjoy lead paint?
• $75 million to construct a “security training” facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
Construction = jobs
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
Computers, in case you haven’t noticed, are a good thing. They make stuff more efficient and all.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.
Again. Republicans don’t like military spending? When did that happen?
But go ahead and let the wingnuts drag our feet into a depression, because when the spender of last resort (the government) can’t spend, that’s what we’ll get. Enjoy.
6 Responses
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Tracy,
Since this is directed at my post on Facebook I should disclose that I am not a Republican. I’m an independent, or if stuffed into a pigeonhole you could call me a Libertarian, which is great because instead of poking fun at the other side I can make fun of everybody! The fact is that both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of partisan bickering and irresponsible decision making based on party vitriol, there is no “one side” who is holding up any process. It happens in any important legislative action on the part of one side or the other. Supporters of our legislative system say it provides “balance”, I say it provides a smoke screen.
In regards to the WPA, it would be great if that was what this plan is doing but it’s not. This is not another WPA. It doesn’t pretend to be a WPA.
Do the spending items you listed above support worthy causes? Sure. We won’t debate that — I don’t disagree that youth sports is something that should be supported, or substance abuse programs, or energy efficiency, or any number of things in the list. Should these items be funded through charity rather than taxes? Some of them yes, but that’s another argument that is irrelevant in the context of the issue at hand. The issue I hold is that this is *not* the time nor the mechanism to provide funding for those things.
This plan is designed and intended to provide a quick boost to our economy — and it’s coming at a *huge* cost. We do not currently have the money to fund this, and it has to come from somewhere. Where will it come from? There are three possible sources — tax income, additional debt or creation of currency. The tax liability that it would present would be huge, over $9,000 PER TAXPAYER. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have $9,000 to throw into youth sports or substance abuse programs right now. Or as I mentioned, we could basically print the money through Fed purchase of bonds, but this introduces an even more diabolical proposition — inflation. Or we could just borrow the money, but we would just be passing our financial problems on to our children. And I’m sure in 20 years if they were given the choice of financial stability or having had enough bats to go around in youth baseball way back when, they’d choose financial stability.
My point in saying that is that there is a tremendous cost to the plan, and any pork in this bill is one pound of bacon too much. Contrary to popular belief, Republicans aren’t delaying things just to piss off the Democrats. They are fighting for revision of a bill that is stuffed with earmarks for projects that essentially compose a laundry list of the Democratic parties “wants”. The Democrats are using Obama’s appeal and the urgency of the situation to get funding for their pet projects under the door before it closes. It’s a perversion of the legislative system and it’s shameful.
Remember the last time that we all had the “just get this thing passed quickly” mindset? $700 billion dollars later we are having to babysit the recipients because there was no oversight included. That’s what happens when you rush something through legislature in order to make a quick fix. The current plan needs to be revised (or in my opinion rewritten from scratch), and the extra week or two that it will take to revise will harm us less than the extra year it would take for it to make any difference at all as it stands.
As I mentioned in my Facebook post, this bill should be short and sweet. Immediate tax rebate, moratorium on capital gains, and creation of a national “bad bank”. This puts more money in the hands of the “poor people” that you say the Republicans are trying to hurt, and stimulates the economy from the bottom up while cleaning up lender portfolios to allow for more lending. It also maximizes the ratio of effective cost to noneffective cost. It also encourages real estate investor activity which will bump up rental markets for those who can’t afford to buy.
The current plan is like fixing a flat tire by installing leather upholstery. It doesn’t truly address the problem at hand and it’s a waste of money in such dire times. For any legislator, liberal or conservative, to approve of it in its current form is irresponsible. Strip the fat and address the legitimate government funding requests at a more appropriate time and in a more place and you’ll have my support.
– Brandon
P.S. – I appreciate the opportunity for healthy debate.
Clarification (since I can’t figure out how to edit my comments) — $9,000 per taxpayer cost is a figure that I saw somewhere else yesterday, by my rough calculations the cost is approximately $6,000 per taxpayer. Still not a nominal cost, but slightly different nonetheless.
Hi Dear Brandon,
You’re not going to convince me of some imaginary good intentions on the part of Republicans. Ever heard of Dick Armey? The name says it all.
My HOPE since the election has been that someone like Obama could reach out to both sides, as he has, and it’s gotten him nowhere. This prospect of the Third Way is what got me off meds, alcohol, and general despair.
But the latest attempt to drag out Obama’s efforts makes my blood boil and are enough that I might hurt someone, preferably Mitch McConnell. Where was he the last 8 YEARS when TRILLIONS were spent on an unnecessary war (that our children and children’s children will pay for)?
The President won. And he wants Recovery and Reinvestment. He’s included “pet projects” from the Republicans in his version. And he IS including a 0% capital gains rate. What Republicans don’t like is tax relief for the poor because “they don’t pay taxes”. Bullshit. They pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. “They don’t pay taxes” is the Republican equivalent of “poor people aren’t people”.
The point is, Obama really is trying to be centrist, but everyone else is acting like children. He wanted a bill and he wanted it fast. And his spending figures are right in line with Keynesian theory. We’ve tried monetarist theory and it failed us.
The longer this drags out the more Americans will tune out. That is my fear. Americans already distrust their elected leaders. How much worse could it get?
With all due respect, you are claiming that the Republican party is “holding things up” like children just to spite the Democrats. The insinuation in this is that the Rebublicans are playing petty partisan games but the Democrats are not? Keep in mind that alternative stimulus plans consisting primarily of tax cuts with a much lower TCO and quicker effect on the bottom line were presented to the House and defeated by the Democrats, in fact nearly inversely proportionate to the vote on Obama’s plan (nearly all Democrats voting against, Republicans voting for). And I’m not sure what Dick Armey has to do with anything. There are hard line zealots in both parties.
Obama claims to be centrist, but his actions with this particular piece of legislation show otherwise. That’s the equivalent of saying “We can all get along, as long as we all do what I want to do”. This is disappointing to me, because I had high hopes after his first couple of weeks in office that he would end up being more of a moderate once in office. His intentions may be good, but his actions on this particular piece of legislation are dividing in nature.
I am all in favor of a “bipartisan spirit”, to be honest I’d be happier if political parties did not exist, but electing a president who wants to bring both sides together is not going to change the nitwits on either side.
You mention that there is a 0% capital gains rate included in the bill, but I have read through Title I of the bill and can find no reference to that. (I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, just saying that if it does I can not find it.) If you a reference it would be greatly appreciated. The closest I have found is a blurb on the White House website that Obama plans to give capital gains exemptions to small businesses and startups, which is good but is not necessary what is needed to stimulate investors who are just “inactive” due to the present situation. And it does not state that this is part of the Stimulus Act.
And although I’m not sure which pet projects of the Republicans you are referring to, NO pet projects are appropriate for this bill. Pork is pork no matter which slaughterhouse it comes from.
The question regarding whether policy follows Keynesian economic theory or more of a monetarist philosophy is a moot point — any government initiated action to stimulate the economy through expenditures or tax reductions is Keynesian in nature. Comparing Keynesian theory to a monetarist philosophy is a little like comparing apples and oranges in my limited understanding of economic principles — the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. My objection to the way that this bill affects us is related to the speed with which funds diverted to public programs will filter through to the bottom level (the consumer) and how much of its potential effect will be lost in the process. The Keynesian multiplier presents an argument that the most effective way of stimulating an economy is by starting at the bottom.
Really what it boils down to is that you and I are arguing different points — I am focusing on the content and mechanism of the bill and you are focusing on the politics of the situation. I can’t deny that politicians are politicians regardless of party affiliation — even finding a decent one is a little bit like polishing a turd, but frankly I couldn’t care less about who is motivated to do what, as long as they make responsible decisions and get the job done, which is not happening on either side.
Unfortunately, in the end you and I will probably both be screwed, Washington will remain a playground for the cliques and we’ll all be eating peanut butter for another year or two at a minimum. Care for another sandwich?
– B
P.S. – Preferably in another discussion, I’m curious to hear your opinion on the debate regarding salary controls for Wall Street, I am still trying to figure out if Obama is referring to controls only for companies who have received TARP funds or if he is referring to all financial corporations. The scope of the controls in my opinion heavily determines the appropriateness of the action. Any insight?
You’re making me mad. But thanks for being the only person who reads my blog
Obama referenced salary caps today of $500,000 for any executives receiving bail-out funds.
and he DID make appeasements. A LOT MORE than the Republicans could EVER have expected from another Democrat.
Unless you’ve been watching C-Span as much as I do (every day, including weekends), I suggest you stop trying to tell me what Obama is or isn’t doing. I’ve been following his every move. Catch up with me and then we’ll talk.
I don’t like to be told that what I’ve been observing is ignorant. I’ve been obsessing about nothing but this stimulus package since before the election. So, when I get the impression I’m being talked down to, I get angry… I shake. So, I’m sorry.
Barack H. Obama was the one mentioning the 0% capital gains rate. It may not be in the language circulating through congress. And alas, though I just found it earlier today, I cannot find that reference, and I assume you’ll just take it as some evidence that I don’t know WTF. Anyhoo. You’ve caught me at a bad time. I have very little hope left. And all this Obama bashing (the only politician left who seems to GIVE A SHIT), really breaks my heart. Call me weak. And keep pushing.
I’m done.