Anyone who thinks they have all the Answers before they've even heard the Question - is Dangerously Deluded! Real Truth Requires Vigilance, Perseverance and Courage, regardless of Party and who wields Power. Left, Right, Center, Corporations, Government, Unions, Criminals or the Indifferent.
Obama: Don't let the Perfect be the enemy of the absolutely neccesary. I found this debt when I showed up - wrapped in a great big bow waiting or me...
It's. About. Fracking. TIME!
For the last two week Republicans have been hammering Obama's Stimulus Plan as being nothing but a pork-barrel spending bill with an average of amount of 2 to 1 in comparitive airtime across nearly all cable networks.
Well, Obama says That's the Point!.
So then you get the argument, 'well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill.' What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point," Obama said to laughter.
By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.
What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.
This is our ECONOMIC 9-11 - the time for talk is over - it's time to Git 'er Done!!
Like a jealous ex-girlfriend that you just dumped who won't go away, the Senate Republicans are lining up to make sure our initial date with the Obama Administration goes down in flames, by hook or by crook - and the economy and country be damned.
I mean, I can understand a reasonable difference of opinion, and balancing divergent ideas - but when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel says that the Obama Plan is too expensive at $816 Billion and that the Repubs have a cheaper more effective plan, they either stupid or lying, and I don't think they're stupid.
McConnel: A trillion dollars is a LOT of money!
No Shit! It's amazing how Money Conscious Republicans have become after blowing the Clinton Surplus with six years of record deficits, isn't it?
Hey Mitch, Y'know what else cost us a Trillion Dollars?
The Iraq War.
Barney Frank: There are pub needs that we have in this society that can not be accomplished by a tax cut. No tax cuts builds a road, no tax cut puts a cop on the street, No tax cut educates a child.
Dmint: This is the largest spending bill in history and we're trying to call it a stimulus...
Frank: Spending can be a stimulus... and the largest spending bill in history is going to be the Iraq War... I don't understand (the view) from my conservative friends that building a road, building a school, helping someone get healthcare is "wasteful" spending - when will have spent Over a $Trillion In Iraq
SCARBOROUGH: You’re not going to get Republicans to line up and support tax cuts for people who don’t pay taxes. That’s taking you to a position now where you have the federal government — and this is very dangerous — just writing checks to people for doing nothing. It’s not even welfare. ... If you want pure straight socialism, if you want to buy off people, do that.
Buy Off? Is that what the Republican s are doing whenever they suggest a tax cut for their buddies on Wall Street? Obama's cut for the working class will put money in people hands, money that people can pay their bills with, that they can pay off their credit cards and loans with, money they can buy things with - y'know all the stuff that keeps those Wall Streeters in business?
Oh, and buy the way - Obama's refundable tax credit gets far more bang for the buck according to economists.
A $1 reduction in refundable tax credit creates a $1.26 increase in GDP by stimulating the economy, whereas the same cut to corporate taxes only stimulates the GDP by 30 cents.
Last week House Republicans, after lying about a CBO report on Obama's plan that didn't exist, claimed that their plan would create 6.2 Million Jobs (twice as much as Obama's) except that Christine Romer, the person that wrote the report they were quoting, says They're Full Of IT!
Question: The House claims that based on the research of CEA Chair Christy Romer, their plan would create 6.2 million jobs. Isn’t that a more effective way of jumpstarting the economy?
Answer: The Republican House analysis is flat wrong in its claim that the House Republican stimulus is more effective. No matter what your analytical assumptions, as long as they are consistent the plan the President supports would result in substantially greater job creation than the House Republican plan.
The bottom line is this, Republicans can't afford for Obama's plan to pass - or for it to work, because if it does it will completely invalidate all the rhetoric they've been using to justify Reagan/Bush-Onomics which we've been suffering under for the past 30 years and have so hollowed out the working class that we're losing jobs the way that Niagra Falls loses water, bringing our entire country is on the edge of financial collapse.
Certainly, there are things that you can criticize about the current plan, not enough infrustructure spending on shovel-ready projects, nothing to address the problem of so many people losing their homes with either a credit amnesty or ability to renegotiate your primary residence payment as an alternative to foreclosure - but the Repubs aren't being honest brokers here.
They've already sunk their party, now they're trying to sink the rest of the country with yet another 60-vote ghost filibuster simply to be a bunch of - well - Dick Heads.
I have a strong feeling Obama is NOT gonna let that happen. We can't afford to let him.
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
