WANT TO KNOW WHAT AMERICANS THINK ABOUT THE STIMULUS PLAN?

MyHotComments


I was wondering how Americans felt about the trillion-dollar so-called economic stimulus plan now that it has passed Congress and is headed for President Obama's signature. Remember that just a couple of weeks ago, a little over half of us, around 52-3% and according to the latest GALLUP poll published on February 11, 2009, public support had risen to 59%, mainly among Democrats,, were in favor of it. I checked out RASMUSSEN, and the results were surprising. The people Rasmussen contacted for the poll were voters. Here it is:

38% believe it will help the economy, 29% believe it will hurt it, and 24% believe it will have little impact. I couldn't find anything more current on the Gallup poll site than what I cited above.

AND . . . consumer confidence, which has been declining since early 2008, CONTINUED to fall to a record low AFTER passage of the plan. Apparently, John Q. Consumer isn't buying into the hype.

At any rate, that is a HUGE drop in very short period of time. It appears that voters looked at it and saw all the pork in for themselves. The major news sources have been detailing the pet projects that don't have anything to with the economy, and one broadcast I heard told about STIMULUSWATCH.ORG. Personally, I'm very surprised. Americans have traditionally not bothered to research things out, even with the ease at which it's available now. That's how Washington has "traditionally" gotten away with any and everything.

I'm sure President Obama, the Democrats in Congress, and the RINO's in Congress that voted for it are very well aware of these figures. They should be. Get this: 32% of the voters polled said they were more likely to vote for someone who supported the plan in Congress, and 35% said they were less likely to vote for someone who supported the plan in Congress. 35% is A LOT of votes. That can seriously cost some Congressmen and women their seats.

It seems that more and more voters are becoming disenchanted with the Obama administration's supposed remedy for our economy. There's no doubt that these voters included those who voted for Obama. I think there a lot of people who voted for Obama, but did not vote for the things he's doing. If that's the case, people should have paid more attention to Obama's campaign. Even though he's broken a number of promises already, he was quite clear about what he would do as President on many things. I think it just didn't register with a lot people, and now it may be.

I agree with the 29% and 24%. I think at the very least it won't make much difference. After having reviewed a lot of the plan myself, and watching newscasts on it, it's easy to see that it's mostly a huge spending bill except for about 7% of it. If this "plan" makes the economy worse, the Democrats (and the three RINOs) will totally own it. There won't be anyone else to blame since they have the majority in Congress and the White House. But, of course, the mainstream media will help the Obama administration spin it as a result of (here's that famous overworked phrase) "the last eight years."

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH . . . THEN RECESS!

I'm sure that most of you have been following the so-called economic stimulus legislation news over the past weeks. Yes, I'm still calling it "so-called" because not even ten percent of it has anything at all to do with strengthening the economy. Can you say OINK? That's not the point, though.

Care to know what Congressional Democrats have been doing this weekend? While we've been listening to company CEO's being lambasted by members of Congress for their "excesses" (which by the way, salary and benefits are not set by the CEO's, but by the company boards), on and on ad nauseum, Democrats spent the weekend at KINGSMILL RESORT AND SPA, in Williamsburg, Virginia for their annual retreat according to a February 6, 2009 Associated Press article by Laurie Kellman. Now I know that the Republicans did the same thing earlier this year at the HOMESTEAD RESORT in Hot Springs, Virginia. But with one "small" difference. The Republicans paid for their retreat out of their own pockets. The Democrats on the other hand, spent $100,000 of YOUR tax money for the three-day weekend. The first thing that should be understood is that all of these people in Congress are all wealthy people. They can well afford to pay for such things themselves. I know that $100,000 to the Federal budget is dipping the ocean with a teaspoon. But if $100,000 of taxpayers' money is spent on "excesses" to use their phraseology, then there will be no more conviction about spending $1,000,000, or $1,000,000,000, and so on.

This is also another indication that they have no intention of living by the same rules as they want us to. Cutbacks? Will we live long enough to actually see it in Washington?

A SIDE NOTE ON THE ECONOMY WITH A LOOK BACK

We've seen on the news recently that we now have a national unemployment rate of about 8%. That's all we've heard. What we haven't heard is that 92% of America's work force is still employed. During the Carter administration? Unemployment was 11%.

Inflation rate for 2008, despite the brief dramatic spike in oil prices, considerable price increases of most grocery items due to ethanol and increased transportation costs, 3.85% (INFLATIONDATA.COM). During the Carter Administration, say 1980, 13.58% (INFLATIONDATA.COM).

According to the Wall Street Journal's PRIME RATE HISTORY, the prme lending rate now is 3.25%. During the Carter administration, 1980, 20.0% (yes, you read that right, 20.0%).

And also according to INFLATIONDATA.COM, gasoline prices broke $1.00 per gallon for the first time ever 1980. The reason this was so extremely hard was that in 1976, just four years earlier, the price was around $0.60 per gallon. By the end of 1981, the average price was $1.35 per gallon. The price more than doubled in five years, but wages did not, not to mention waiting in lines for an hour or more to get gas, the fights and some shootings in the gas lines. Adjusting for inflation, this would translate to about $3.17 per gallon or so - and staying there.

Worst economy since the Great Depression? Don't think so. While I'm in no way minimizing those suffering because of the Democrats' mishandling of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and their blocking every attempt several years ago to prevent this from happening, it could be a whole lot worse. It has been. In way less than a lifetime. But since many Americans' memories are short, I thought I would put a little reminder out there so we could remember how it was, and how it could be right now.

THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN - A SQUEAL OF A DEAL . . . NOT!

More Cool New Pig Animations Graphics at NewGraphicMyspace.Com

There have been many others here that have given their take on the so-called Economic Stimulus package. I say so-called because literally 93% has absolutely nothing to do with the economy. This legislation is loaded with pork-barrel spending, also known as earmarks. Remember earmarks during the President Obama's campaign? Here's a video of one of the debates between Senator McCain and President Obama, where Obama is highly critical of out-of-control spending.



Now, President Obama has done a complete turnaround. Kevin, who writes THE BLACK SPHERE, has done several posts on the economic stimulus plan. Please visit Kevin. His journal is an excellent read. The first I would like to reference is a post entitled OBAMA'S BAILOUT PLAN: PORK A PALOOZA. Kevin shows only a partial list of the pork barrel spending that comprises the majority of this bill. There's much, much, more. The small part that is actually going to infrastructure, which again IS ONLY ABOUT 7% OF THE TOTAL PACKAGE, will be doled out on a highly discriminatory basis if President Obama's Economic Advisor, Robert Reich, has his way. Here is another video clip, where Mr. Reich says it himself:



For those who need a transcript of this video, Tom, who writes TOMS JOURNAL, posted what Mr. Reich said. Click HERE. Be sure and visit Tom's journal, too. He's a Christian and war veteran and writes on a variety of subjects.

Every economist I've seen or heard so far has said they do not think Obama's plan will do anything to improve the economy. What's more, even CNN is questioning it. I saw a newscast this week that pointed out some of the pork in this plan. The news anchor raised some eyebrows. It's apparent that many Americans are doing more than raising their eyebrows. On January 8, 2009, a Gallup Poll showed that 53% of Americans favored the $775 billion plan with 36% opposing it. (MAJORITY OF AMERICANS FAVOR $775 BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS). As of January 28, 2009, the approval of the now $800 billion plan has slipped to 52% of Americans favoring it with 37% now opposing it (IN U.S., SLIM MAJORITY SUPPORTS ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN). Not a huge percentage, but one percent is a significant number of people. Another way of looking at it is that just barely over half of us favor it. Not exactly overwhelming support. I think the approval numbers will slip even more as the news gets out that so little of this massive spending plan has almost nothing to do with jump starting the economy.

There's another thing to remember here. Remember those promised middle class tax cuts? Hard to remember, isn't it? Wonder where THAT promise went? I think here's a good place to start:

Even though we've seen time and again that reducing taxes pumps more money into the economy and recovery is much faster, it won't happen with the Democrats in power. If you check out my series last year, IT'S NOT NECESSARILY WHO YOU VOTE FOR, BUT WHAT, the Democratic Party platform does not support tax cuts. Obama's campaign promise to cut taxes for the middle class was merely to gain votes. Just a reminder: any candidate, Democrat or Republican, can say anything they want to in order to get elected, but once elected, they must follow their party's platform. President Obama is following his party's platform.

Now, how do Americans feel about tax cuts? Going again to the Gallup poll posted January 8, 2009, SPECIFICS OF STIMULUS APPEAL TO AMERICANS, 72% favored income tax cuts, and 75% favored tax cuts for businesses. Obviously, the mis-named economic stimulus package as it has gone through the House and is now in the Senate is another result of the Washington politicians NOT listening to us. With an exception. FINALLY, the Republicans in the House found some backbone that's been missing for a long time, and all voted against this disaster. Now, even some Democrats in the Senate are having misgivings about it. Could it be that they're afraid of being voted out if they go for it? I don't know, but it could be. Any of them that vote to put us $800 billion more in debt need to be voted out. E-mail your Senators and let them know we won't tolerate flushing billions more in the middle of a recession on pet projects. Instead, let's have a real economic recovery plan starting with tax cuts, and keeping the pork with the slop where it belongs.