Posted on 02/09/2009 3:22:06 AM PST by Jim Robinson
There are many reasons to oppose the so-called stimulus bill and none of them are partisan. An obvious one is the haste with which Congress is acting on a bill that is in excess of 700 pages and spends hundreds of billions of dollars. It is being rushed through both the legislative process with little or no input from the minority party legislators, much less the general public. The so-called Senate compromise was not available to most Senators until past 11 pm on Saturday night and yet a vote is expected by Tuesday at the latest.
Even if the Keynesian theory behind the bill -- the recession is being fed by lack of consumer spending and this can be rectified by government spending -- is correct, the lack of analysis of such a major piece of legislation is dangerous. To put this in perspective the compromise Senate amendment, at $827 billion, is about the amount of U.S. currency in circulation. The entire federal budget did not reach $827 billion until 1984. We may remember that the last time Congress rushed through a massive spending bill, the TARP legislation, the result was not what Congress had intended.
While we have had record layoffs in recent weeks, and most of us have been touched with the travail of a relative, friend, or neighbor having lost their job, the unemployment rate is at 7.6%. When Reagan was President in the last major recession, 1981-82, the unemployment rate was 10.8%. Reagan spearheaded a major tax reduction, but not with the threat to Congress that if it didn’t pass the bill in two weeks every member would be held responsible for sending us into the next Great Depression. The tax cut was passed after due deliberation and it played a large part in moving the...
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
Thanks Jim...you in DC now?
Yup.
Hope to meet up with you folks tomorrow.
..others that WE will be with you
(that happens when I meet greatness)
Great! See you tomorrow!
the recession is being fed by lack of consumer spending and this can be rectified by government spending
An obvious one is the haste with which Congress is acting on a bill that is in excess of 700 pages and spends hundreds of billions of dollars. It is being rushed through both the legislative process with little or no input from the minority party legislators, much less the general public.
All the Phone numbers for Senators Spector, Collins and Snowe:
Please copy, distribute, and call ——all of them.
Senator Arlen Spector, Pennsylvania
(202) 224-4254 -Washington Office
(215) 597-7200 -Philadelphia
(412) 644-3400 -Pittsburgh
(570) 346-2006 –Scranton
(610) 434-1444 –Allentown
(814) 453-3010 –Erie
(570) 826-6265 –Wilkes-Barre
Senator Susan Collins, Maine
(202) 224-2523 –Washington Office
(207) 622-8414 –Augusta
(207) 945-0417 –Bangor
(207) 283-1101
(207) 493-7873
(207) 784-6969
(207) 780-3575
Senator Olympia Snowe, Maine
(202) 224-5344 –Washington Office
(207) 786-2451 –Auburn
(207) 622-8292 –Augusta
(207) 945-0432 –Bangor
(207) 282-4144 –Biddeford
(207) 874-0883 –Portland
(207) 764-5124 –Presque Isle
I just called all 14 numbers for collins and snowe - ALL BUSY SIGNALS
Really? I got through easily on most of them earlier. Either people are melting the phone lines, or they took the phones off the hook. They don’t want to hear from the people they supposedly represent!
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