Posted on 02/01/2009 8:28:45 PM PST by jessduntno
Ben Stein: Half of Stimulus Goes to Unions
Columnist Ben Stein has taken a close look at President Barack Obama's proposed $820 billion stimulus package, and made some eye-opening discoveries.
Writing for Spectator.com and NYPost.com, Stein calculates that:
The House of Representatives debated the bill for eight hours, or roughly $102 billion per hour.
Only 10 percent of the stimulus funds would be spent in 2009.
Almost half of the $820 billion would end up in the pockets of Democratic-controlled unions, such as the Service Employees International Union, and federal, state, and municipal employee unions.
At 680 pages long, neither Obama nor any member of the House had enough time to read the entire bill before the House voted.
The $820 billion would be enough to give every unemployed American $75,000.
Says Stein: "There has been pork-barrel politics since there has been politics, but the scale of this pork is beyond what had ever been imagined before -- and no one can be sure it will actually do much stimulation. ... This has been a punch in the solar plexus to the kind of responsible, far-seeing, mature government processes that are needed to protect America."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Punch in the stomach? I say it was a kick further south...
Ben needs to pick a team. He donated to Al Franken’s campaign.
No credibility.
The unions spent a huge fortune getting jackasses “elected” in November. I imagine the treasuries took an enormous hit. They need to be replenished for the 2010 “elections.”
Ben Stein backed Al Franken over Norm Coleman, and put his money where his mouth was.
Only half ???
I read somewhere that Ben Stein voted for BO, but can’t find the cite.
Is this true?
“The $820 billion would be enough to give every unemployed American $75,000.”
Preposterous...
$820 billion of mostly PORK. This isn’t the kind of change ANYONE should believe in.
Sure is.
Still can’t believe he backed Franken, who is the total opposite of what Stein is in his political leanings and beliefs.(or so I thought)
Perhaps there is a Hollywood friendship type of connection.
“Ben Stein backed Al Franken over Norm Coleman”
Are you serious? Can you cite a source for this?
I don’t care who Stein backed. He’s probably numerically right. I wonder if he included ACORN under the union umbrella for some reason or if ACORN handouts are
in addition to unions.
In any case, no doubt if you are not a liberal in a liberal (non-productive) “business”, you ain’t gettin’ a damn thing.
It doesn’t really matter how much credibility that you give Ben Stein because he isn’t the first person to say this. I’ve been saying it all day, because I’ve been reading it in the WSJ and other places. Ben Stein happens to be right on this one.
The union motto - Aim for mediocrity, it’s only fair.
Don’t bother, someone else provided the link. They’re pals. But I don’t think as much of Ben Stein as I did a few minutes ago.
I didn’t realize this. Yukes!
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