Mentality of Our Leaders (Vanity)

Thank you for contacting my office and letting me know of your concerns regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I appreciate hearing your views on this important matter. I apologize for the length of this response, but the issues before us are complex, and I hope that you'll take a few minutes to read my response.

Let me begin by saying that I have heard from hundreds of Delawareans who, like yourself, expressed to me their opposition to this legislation, known to most as the stimulus package. Many people conveyed their concern with the overall size of the economic recovery proposal and contended that some of the spending provisions would not create jobs in the near-term. I share many of those same views, and agree with you that the bill that came to the Senate floor was far from perfect. Its cost was approaching a trillion dollars, and a number of its provisions did not directly stimulate the economy, create jobs, or start us on the long road to economic recovery. They shouldn't have been included in this proposal in the first place. But rather than accepting the bill as it was, I went to work with a bipartisan group of a dozen or so senators in an effort to bring common sense and purpose to the debate and to make the proposal - not a perfect one - but a better one.

As I'm sure you know, the challenges facing our economy are like nothing that our nation - and other nations -- have seen since the Great Depression. In the last year, Americans have lost over 3 million jobs including 1.8 million in the last three months alone, bringing our national unemployment rate to 7.6 percent with the worst still to come. The ongoing downturn in the housing market has resulted in a tidal wave of foreclosures and delinquencies, flooding our communities with thousands of blighted, boarded up homes. Moreover, as millions of Americans have witnessed the value of their homes, stocks, and pensions drop, consumers have hunkered down and largely stopped spending, making it

even more difficult to lift our economy out of its deep recession. In response, leading economists from all sides of the political spectrum, from Alan Blinder to Martin Feldstein to Mark Zandi, have made it clear that our federal government has to act and act now.

During most recessions since World War II, the efforts by the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates were generally far more effective in encouraging economic recovery than most actions taken by Congress. In fact, the Fed's ability to cut interest rates, often referred to as monetary policy, has helped to end every post-WWII recession within less than a year. The current recession, however, just entered its 15th month, and the Federal Reserve has exhausted its primary tool by lowering interest rates to essentially zero. Unfortunately, that has not done the job, and it has become necessary for Congress and the President to act. A wide cross-section of economists argue that sound, targeted fiscal policy from our executive and legislative branches can help complement the efforts of the Federal Reserve in order to reverse this economic downturn and eventually restore growth to avoid a prolonged recession.

In response, several weeks ago, the Obama administration and the 111th Congress began crafting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to provide a combination of federal spending, tax cuts, and tax incentives to create jobs, promote investment, and help states like Delaware address their budget shortfalls and meet the growing needs of their citizens. At the same time, the legislation was intended to advance vital public policy goals like reducing harmful emissions, promoting energy independence, rebuilding our nation's decaying infrastructure and schools, and overhauling our inefficient health care system.

Many constituents, like you, have flooded my office with phone calls, emails and letters to say that they believed the measure was flawed and misguided. I listened carefully to these concerns, and want to let you know that I agreed with many of them. The legislation passed by the House of Representatives on January 29th along with the initial bill that emerged from the Senate Appropriations Committee was less than perfect. I have long believed that if something isn't perfect, we should try to make it better, and that's exactly what I set out to do.

For the better part of a week, I worked with a bipartisan group, led by Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), to pare back a very substantial amount of money-$110 billion- in provisions that, while meritorious, did not belong in a bill whose main goals are economic recovery and job creation. We sought to make sure that more of the stimulus package was timely, targeted, and temporary, and that more of its spending provisions, as well as its tax cuts and tax incentives were better focused on creating jobs now and on producing real economic improvement soon. Our compromise agreement trimmed the bloated legislation from the House and Senate Committees to under $800 billion in targeted federal assistance over the next two years - roughly 60 percent spending and 40 percent tax cuts. While the Senate adopted the Nelson-Collins compromise on February 10th, that compromise was still far from perfect, and a House-Senate conference was formed to make further improvements.

The final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that emerged from the conference committee includes tax cuts for more than 95 percent of American working families: up to $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples. The bill is expected to create an estimated 3.5 million jobs -- including 11,000 in Delaware -- by putting Americans to work to begin rebuilding our nation's crumbling infrastructure, including roads, bridges, ports, railways, waterways, mass transit, and water and sewer systems. The bill invests in clean energy, energy efficiencies, and electric grid upgrades - which will not only reduce our energy costs and clean our nation's air, but will also make America more energy independent. This legislation provides energy tax incentives for the manufacturing and production of wind, biofuels and other renewable sources of energy that are crucial to creating green jobs and making Delaware's offshore wind farm competitive. The bill also includes the critical extension of emergency unemployment benefits in areas of high unemployment, while increasing food stamps benefits -- two temporary measures that most economists agree are both highly effective as stimulus.

Moreover, the legislation targets relief to recently unemployed workers to continue receiving affordable health insurance through COBRA, providing much needed assistance to some of the most vulnerable individuals and families affected by the economic crisis. The bill also makes possible important investments in health information technology in doctors' offices and hospitals across America - much like we've done in our V.A. system - saving lives and money while enhancing the productivity of health care providers in our country. In addition, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helps states that are being crushed under the cost of their Medicaid health care systems for low-income families without health care coverage. And, it also provides almost $54 billion for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to the 46 states, like Delaware, that are facing enormous budget deficits this year and next. These vital funds will help keep the size of classes from growing even larger, make much-needed repairs in many of our schools, and continue to provide essential community services like law enforcement and fire protection.

Finally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act attempts to address the root cause of the current economic downturn -- the housing crisis - by overhauling an ineffective homeowner refinancing program adopted last year, so that distressed Americans facing the prospect of foreclosure can have a more realistic and viable option to avoid foreclosure. In addition, the final version of the bill provides for a first-time homebuyer tax credit of $8,000 through December 31, 2009 that - coupled with 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rates approaching 5 percent and much lower home prices -should help to jumpstart the housing market this year.

The American people have entrusted the Congress and the President with the responsibility to set aside politics and do what we believe is needed to strengthen the pillars of our nation's economy. Americans don't care if our ideas are liberal or conservative. Rather, they want us to work together to figure out what will work to pull us back from the precipice that we face and put our nation back on the path to recovery.

No one is pretending that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is perfect. No piece of legislation whose scope is that large will be. There are provisions I would like to add, and - frankly -some that I would like to remove; however, I do believe that our bipartisan efforts succeeded in making the bill better by reducing its overall cost and by focusing on putting Americans back to work on projects and initiatives that are worth doing. Ultimately, I believe in the resiliency of the American people and in our small state. I remain confident that as we now turn our attention to fixing our banking system, our economy eventually will emerge from this recession stronger, more competitive, and ready to continue leading the global economy in the 21st century.

Again, I apologize for the length of this response, and I do thank you for sharing your thoughts with me on this critical issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions or comments about this or any other matter of importance to you and to our nation.

Sincerely,

Tom Carper United States Senator

Blah, blah, blah.

Finally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act attempts to address the root cause of the current economic downturn -- the housing crisis - by overhauling an ineffective homeowner refinancing program adopted last year

Translation: Bush's fault

Please note: This bill is not perfect (five mentions); I did (four mentions) and people flooded office (twice).

Fire away, I sere as Hades are going to give him an earful; starting with “we are in this mess because Congress failed to do its duty to protect, preserve and defend” the people.

REALLY NICE SNOW JOB. MY EYES USED TO BE BLUE ARE NOW GREY FROM THE SMOKE ENEMA. I GOT THE SAME BS FROM BOTH OF MINE.

“I worked with a bipartisan group, led by Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME),” - I wonder if he was laughing so hard that he spit coffee on his computer while typing that one.

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, March 6, 2009; With our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will be the transformation of health care, education and energy. Four months after winning the election, six weeks after his swearing in, Obama has yet to unveil a plan to deal with the banking crisis.

What’s going on? “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” said Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. “This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.” Things. Now we know what they are. The markets’ recent precipitous decline is a reaction not just to the absence of any plausible bank rescue plan, but also to the suspicion that Obama sees the continuing financial crisis as usefully creating the psychological conditions — the sense of crisis bordering on fear-itself panic — for enacting his “Big Bang” agenda to federalize and/or socialize health care, education and energy, the commanding heights of post-industrial society.

Clever politics, but intellectually dishonest to the core. Health, education and energy — worthy and weighty as they may be — are not the cause of our financial collapse. And they are not the cure. The fraudulent claim that they are both cause and cure is the rhetorical device by which an ambitious president intends to enact the most radical agenda of social transformation seen in our lifetime.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/05/AR2009030502951.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

“No one is pretending that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is perfect...”

Should read: “No one is pretending that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is perfect, but we tried to cram as much pork into it for our supporters that we could and camouglage it with “stimulus” rhetoric. We hope that the next “Recovery Act” will be strictly composed of support for our constituencies and not burdened with any “stimulus” for the capitalist economy. Further, we will continue to remain true to Mr. Imanuel’s strategy that
‘no crisis should be wasted’.”

IMHO

My elected leader sent the same canned response. There is no free minded thinkers anymore, just a bunch of sheep or should I say lemmings following the leader of the cliff to ruin.

This response went to Carper today:

Today I received your e-mail that tried to explain your position on the $787,000,000,000 in purported “stimulus”. First of all, no one expects nor is criticizing whether this legislation is “perfect”. The complaints from others and myself are twofold: 1) spending money we don’t have is ridiculous, NO MATTER THE SITUATION; and 2) the spending in this legislation will do NOTHING for the average American. A $600 check won’t undo the damages created by this bill. I REFUSE!

We are in this financial situation because Congress has failed to act responsibly for over twenty years, with both Democrat and Republicans responsible. “The President proposes and Congress disposes” is an old saying; no truer than when one looks at the budgets. Every single budget proposed by Presidents of both parties has been increased by the Congress. I would call that spending like a drunken sailor; but I don’t want to offend drunken sailors. Government spending is not the answer to this crisis; more tax cuts are. Why, even John Kennedy saw that.

You speak of lost jobs and tougher times ahead. Do you have any idea what you are talking about? Do you know what a real budget is? Do you pay ALL your taxes? Why did you accept a pay raise, if we are in such troubled times? I REFUSE!

I should be retired by now; but thanks to the mindless spending sprees, I not only can’t sell my house but I am now one of the newly unemployed. My bills don’t go away and I can’t spend what I don’t have. The millions spent on pet projects – like $3,000,000,000 to ACORN, which is under Federal investigation OR the millions to study pig odor ($1,800,000) OR tax cuts for Hollywood millionaires ($500,000,000 over five years) – do not stimulate the economy. It is my money down a rat hole to satisfy the lobby groups that control our government. And now, you want me to pay somebody else’s mortgage? I REFUSE!

If you had read this bill, as I have, you should have been more than a little troubled at the bills unconstitutional aspects. The First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yet the bill states that no monies can be spent if the primary purpose is religious. Or that the Act permits the state legislatures to override the Governor, if the Governor doesn’t accede to federal control.

People have lost confidence that Congress can do anything, except seek and obtain vast amounts of “reelection money”. This feeling will grow as more and more people say, as I do: ”I REFUSE”.