Strange that in not one of the many threads discussing the stimulus have I found (though I admit I could have missed it) any reference to what is almost certainly going on.

Simply put, the GOP is being dishonest and recalcitrant about the stimulus because THEY WANT OBAMA TO FAIL.  Period.  They know that if Obama fails in this most critical of circumstances, his first term is likely to be his only one, and the GOP will have been re-energized for 2012.

And don’t think for a moment that the GOP - who are, we assume, actual living, breathing human beings who (at least claim to) care about people - would be so venal and mean-spirited (and hurt so many people) simply in order to damage Obama and the Dems chances in 2012.  We have seen the GOPs venality and mean-spiritedness for eight years: what makes anyone think it is going to be change?  Particularly when the GOP was handed such a devastating loss in the elections?  This is payback, pure and simple.

There is not, as the GOP would have it, “too much spending” and “not enough tax cuts.”  Every major economist from Joseph Stiglitz to recent Nobel winner Paul Krugman says there is too LITTLE spending and too MUCH tax cuts.  The only reason the GOP is trying to “spin” it the way they are is to completely destroy ANY hope that the bill (which, according to Stiglitz, Krugman and others is not only not too large, but not NEARLY large enough in total) will actually help the economy.  Because if the economy continues to fail (and if the bill does little or nothing to help it), it all gets blamed on Obama - even though it will have been the GOP that caused the problem.

Politics as usual.

Peace.

you wrote let’s help each other.  i agree.  but our problem is how we get our help done.  we have to go thru government.  that’s a losing game, no matter whose in power.

The Democratic plan is give money to their class of the rich. Period. Because our role is to help THEM succeed.

i’m not a gop’er, anything bad you say about the republicans is probably true.  but i also believe that democrats are doing the same things for the same monies.

I can’t speak for the Democratic party, but I can say that, as a liberal, the “common man/woman” isn’t it either.

See? There isn’t any “common man/woman”. We declare that all persons are created equal and are endowed by their creator with the same rights. That’s Americanism, though conservatives prefer to call it socialism because conservatives prefer aristocracy.

We do not believe the boats on the Titanic are first for the wealthy. We do not offer up our hopes and dreams (and money) that Rupert Murdock is able to struggle through these challenging times (please God help him), because he (only he) holds my hopes. How high I’m able to help him soar proves to me my worth to “our” society.

Baloney.

The Republican plan is give money to the rich. Period. Because our role is to help THEM succeed.

Here’s a new idea.

Let’s help each other.

when i came across this site, and the saying “drilling beneath the headlines”, i was elated.  because i like that, drilling beneath the headlines.  and then i got to reading. the saying “drilling beneath the headlines” ought read “drilling beneath the Democratic headlines”.

you talk bad about the republicans calling them “short on new ideas”.  Well, what new ideas have the democrats come up with?  If you’re saying the stimulus bill, that’s not new.

I expected to read about what you didn’t agree with the gop’s plan.  But it didn’t take me long to see whatever the democratic plan were, it was good enough.

We’re the democratic party! 
We care for the common man/woman!

The common man needs the stimulus bill.  He needs :

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service
• $850 million for Amtrak

it goes on and on.  that’s why people don’t like the stimulus bill.  it was supposed to an EMERGENCY bill.  for the people.  remember?

you democrats surely like the poor people.  like the unemployed.  i’m sure you helped them more than anybody. 

you can see it here.
http://www.cbpp.org/1-22-09bud-ui.pdf

you gave them a $100.00 a month for the rest of the year. 
golly. that’s a bunch of money. i want to thank you all, for them.

the next time i hear that the democratic party is the one who cares about the common man/woman, i may hurl.
if you wanna to see a differt take go here.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-stimulus2-2009feb02,0,7159754.story

‘Blue Dogs’ proving they have always been nothing more than covert Repugs.
When will we finally rid our party of the rats that jumped ship in the ‘80s during the hostile takeover of the GOP by the Religious Right?
Anyone who has been able to remove their rose colored glasses about Clintons part in this 30 yrs attempt to revert back to a Feuadlistic caste system, Knows we have not had a real Dem Pres since Carter.NAFTA, Wall street’s ‘Modernization Acts’, Saudi & Isreali influence in our Foreign policy. Hillary made such realization undeniable even to those of US who missed it during Bills Reign.
Now we have the ‘Dogs’ performing once agian for their Repug and Corp masters by refusing to sign on to a stimulus package which will help average Americans out of this Well planned Economic Treason.
The Repug demands for more ‘Tax cuts’ and their BS claims to be concerned about the Deficit, is never a surprise. But the fact that these ‘Blue Dogs’ have decided it is time to throw off their facade is baffling- pure desperation to finally go for the Kill? King Georges Admin got them so close they can no longer contain themeselves, maintain their undercover Identities?
Heres a hint for anyone who wants to pretend they are a Dem. Never put the concerns of brick & Mortar over the Rights and freedoms of Citizens- aka Labor over Corps, Personal Rights over Religious dogma.
Our Founders rejected the concerns and constraints of Religious Doctrines. and Refused to allow any entity or institution to oppress the masses- No difference between a Family Crest and a Logo when it comes to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
So if these ‘Blue Dogs’ perform for their Royalist Repugs and block this Rescue of the American Way of life, they better realize we have a 6’ x 8’ cage for them Too!

Quotes are a common tactic among kindergarteners and conservatives to imply “astuteness”. Quotes suggest serious debate while leaving a nice “vagueness”.

Better yet, make the whole thing a real hoot by employing some scientific metaphor in the argument. (Conservatives know how much liberals enjoy science.)

The bottom-line is this: Republican conservatives never tell you how to prevent forest fires. They just “know” that whatever method you suggest is probably making things worse.

They “know” that much. Which is reason enough to elect them, they argue. They won’t do anything about fires. Our forests will be in good hands, managed by conservatives who will use our tax dollars to buy sexual favors and drugs.

Try it yourself. Take any conservative action. Now turn upside-down. “Conservatives say tax cuts help the economy but really they do terrible damage to it.”

Fun, huh.

The GOP is the group who’s policies of the past 30 years have bought us to economic ruin, destroyed the middle class, and literally pored money by the “ton” into Iraq.  Now they are going to get cheep when it comes to saving our own economy.  The delusion of the GOP and the complicity by corporate media are unreal.

Cornerstoned

You’re tripping over you’re ‘Ts’ and landing on your ‘Bs’.

A thousand billion conservative minds could fit on the head of a pin anyway.  So WTF.

And pinned just for you…

troll, troll mucking up our scroll
if you had a point i’d be a hole
for much you say and little you matter
you’re just a mindless, repeating prattler

The Tao of Fire and the Logic of Monetary Policy Part 1 of 2

For the past 100 years the US Forest Service has maintained a policy of “fire suppression” to “protect human life, property, and at risk land and resources.”

The unintended consequence of this interdiction policy has been to deprive forests and wild-lands of the beneficial role that fire provides in maintaining the long-term health and integrity of ecological systems. This beneficial role, simply put, is the elimination of weak, superfluous and undesirable elements accumulated within the system as a natural product of growth and competition.

The suppression of fire, eventually, not only compromises the vitality of the forest’s natural immune system, it also produces the conditions most amiable to absolute catastrophe.

Generally speaking, a wild-fire “sweeps through” an area eliminating debris collected on the forest floor and the less-healthy constituents of the ecological system that lack the necessary vitality to survive a vigorous challenge to their integrity, but leaves healthy, mature trees standing. In turn, the healthy trees thrive, produce quality offspring, and the cycle repeats itself.

Historically, as a general rule, wild fires rarely achieved the intensity required to produce “crowning fires.” A crowning fire is characterized by an intensity of heat sufficient to destroy everything in its path.

Crowning fires occur in areas that either have an inordinate amount of debris (fuel) accumulated on the forest floor to feed the fire once started or an unusually high proportion of unhealthy trees in a given stand. An active crowning fire sounds like a war zone. As mature trees are completely engulfed in flames, they literally erupt into a blaze of fire, thus contributing even more heat to the raging inferno. Rather than “sweeping through” an area on the forest floor, the fire becomes utterly destructive of everything in its path.

The unintended consequence of the US Forest Service policy of fire suppression is a dramatic increase in the number and intensity of fires, resulting in unprecedented levels of resource destruction, deteriorating forests, and exasperating the conditions that ensure this trend will continue well into the foreseeable future.  We are presently in a cycle where each successive year sets new records for resource destruction, with no end in sight.

The Tao of Fire and the Logic of Monetary Policy Part 2 of 2

For the past 30 years the US Federal Reserve has utilized “monetary policy” to “manage” the “corrections” that are an integral part of the economic cycle. An economy is a complex system just as wild-lands are complex ecological systems. The unintended consequence of the Federal Reserve’s interdiction in the economic cycle in the form of monetary policy is evidenced by the deterioration of the integrity and vitality of the constituents of the economic system; producers and consumers alike.

Our government may continue its policy of “stimulating the economy” through tax cuts and spending, or trying to “help” home owners, and “preserve” jobs, and “rescuing” institutions that are “too big to fail” and buying “toxic” assets, but none of this will produce a healthy economy, nor will it eliminate the requirement of dealing with the eventual consequences of such policy.

Like it or not, the big burn is coming, and if we hope to survive it intact, we had better deal with it now rather than later.

Related Reading

The Origin of Financial Crises: Central Banks, Credit Bubbles, and the Efficient Market Fallacy

Agenda for a New Economy

The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community

When Corporations Rule the World

Cornerstone

The odd thing is, you hear about everyone bitching about the high pay of the CEO’s etc that they should be taxed higher or not be allowed to make that amount of money, but I have seen nothing about anyone complaining about the amount of money the liberals in Hollywood make as being unjust.  Maybe that is because since they have the dems point of view on politics it’s OK to make that money.

Is the US taxpayer bailing out the “liberals in Hollywood”?

Gee!  All those Hollywood Liberals .... like Tom Selleck and Steve Baldwin.  Don’t forget Arnold Schwarzeneger either…..and as memory serves, Ronald Reagan.  There are surely as many conservatives as liberals in Hollywood.  In fact, if you count the highly-compensated movie execs and CEOs in Hollywood, the numbers really tilt toward the conservative side.  Seems that they flip sides as their income goes up (Reagan was a former union supporter and SAG president .... until his income hit the big numbers.)  Must be that “Hollywood mythology” at work.

Even if the spending is only 1% of the entire bill, at 900 trillion dollars, that one percent is 90 trillion in waste.

However, there is much more than 1% in waste.  President Obama preaches bipartansinship, but it appears that its only if the Repubs agree with his plan that it’s bipartisan.  If they disagree, then it’s politics as usual. 

The Repubs are not going to agree with everything in the Dems plan and vice versa.  However, neither side appears to be willing to work out a compromise.  I think President Obama is trying to do what he conveives as the right things, but he’s finding politics as usual in Washington.  It’s not helping him that he wants change, but he puts the same old washington people in his cabinet.  Where are the new ideas supposed to come from?  The tenured washington elite are supposed to have an epiphany and change their ways?

Everyone is looking for an instant fix and there is none.  Giving $500 to everyone will not help.  If you reduce the taxes the working man is paying each week and they know they will have that extra money each week, they will increase their spending because they know that extra money will be there. 

The dems are going overboard with the spending and looking at the stimilus package as an open check book and the repubs are are being too critical of the package and not allowing any spending unless it benefits their cronies and the elite.

The odd thing is, you hear about everyone bitching about the high pay of the CEO’s etc that they should be taxed higher or not be allowed to make that amount of money, but I have seen nothing about anyone complaining about the amount of money the liberals in Hollywood make as being unjust.  Maybe that is because since they have the dems point of view on politics it’s OK to make that money.