Comments on: American Bailout: $1 Million A Day For 2,260 Years

By: Max

Max — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:26:16 +0000

“Fiscal restraint” is the last thing to call for in an economic downturn, unless you’re a fan of Herbert Hoover. The whole point of a stimulus is to stimulate, and the bigger it is, the more it stimulates. If you don’t believe in counter-cyclical spending, that’s another issue.

You throw around a lot of big numbers in this post. Without anything to compare it to, this doesn’t mean anything for the average person. Worse is to make a comparison that has no bearing on the topic at hand, but makes the amount seem so large that it’s even harder to wrap one’s head around.

Instead, why not compare the stimulus to the country’s economic output (between 13 and 14 trillion)? How about the 2007 U.S. federal budget (2.73 trillion)? How about the war in Iraq (almost $600 billion to date, with estimates projecting a total of $1 or even $2 trillion by the time all operations cease)?

All I’m saying is, it helps to put these numbers in a useful context.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:12:33 +0000

And now that the total of the ‘bailout’ has increased, PLUS adding the ‘interest’ which will compile on such a debt (thus making the total debt more like $1.2 TRILLION dollars), that means that EACH income-tax-paying American will owe $10,025.64.

More like a ‘burial’ than a ‘bailout.’

By: Headless Mom

Headless Mom — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:55:25 +0000

I find it pretty hilarious that your Google Ads are pushing “Free Government Grants for 2008 Billions Available. Never Repay!”

Now there’s something to get your blood boiling!

By: the weakonomist

the weakonomist — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:41:44 +0000

The cuts in costs are healthcare costs. The harvard guy NPR interviewed said 15% of all healthcare expenses are redundant. “lost those lab results, better order another one.” You and your insurance company pay for that. By digitizing the records there won’t be any waste. The process of digitizing records will add new jobs to the economy, because it would be an enormous undertaking. The reduction in cost is the savings on healthcare.

By: kt

kt — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:55:51 +0000

I was a fool to vote for Obama and so were so many of my friends. We were all stupid to have listened to the smooth talking guy who promised us change. He wants to push this package on through to the DC clowns and destroy the financial freedom of our children and their grandchildren. I wanted change, but this bill is a joke. I would never make up my budget like this. Obama needs to lead the politicians to cut the pork and keep the focus of economic recovery and job creation instead of saving the honeybees and reseeding the DC lawns. Can I take my vote back?

By: Appy

Appy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:56:14 +0000

Just sad.

As said multiple times now, where was this level of outrage last year? Two years ago? EIGHT YEARS ago? Why aren’t any of you outraged that even as of late last year, the government was printing more money to put into circulation?

I hope that each of you that are ranting at your monitors, are sending your state reps emails or letters with well planned out suggestions and telling them exactly why they’re ‘wrong’ in the current plan.

Leave out the fuzzy math and mis-used statistics if you want to be taken seriously. Pretending that exactly 1/3rd of Americans pay taxes equally across the board is ridiculous. Statistically, most of you stand to gain from the plans, unless everyone of you is making above 250k net and you have no concept of tax sheltering.

For the life of me, I wish there was no need for the stimulus plan, but the president that came before, and his angry henchmen, set this country on a dangerous path and now we have to work hard to get off of it.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:28:05 +0000

I agree with Joe. We have pressing issues to deal with NOW! This bill seems to be looking to the future where everything thing will be sunshine and rainbows and we will be able to pay this debt off without any problem. What if this bill does not create this fairy tail future? Where will that put our country and our children? In debt without a pot to pee in is where. I was reading articles over on http://www.americanboom.com, and they have brought be to the realization that we need to be investing in business that invest and operate here in the US of A, and each individual American needs to support these business ourselves. Stop buying stuff from China, stop outsourcing your employees to India, stop relying on Washington to fix your problems. All Washington can do is create short term jobs to repair everything. After everything is fixed where are all those people going to work? We need to revitalize the entrepreneur who will invest in America!

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:49:42 +0000

This is just more of the same. It’s everything that’s wrong with Washington, kicked up several notches. This bill does nothing to address what we’ve been told the problems are.

How does this bill solve the toxic asset problem and get banks to loan money again?

How does this bill fix the housing slump and foreclosure problem?

How does this bill provide incentives for the private sector to create jobs?

The answer to each of those is the same : it doesn’t.

It’s just more pork and ear marks for special interest groups, and it will move the country much closer to bankruptcy over night.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:31:30 +0000

@Weakonomist, cut costs by the billions and also add 200,000 jobs permanently? I think you mean that 200,000 jobs are being added in one area and more than 200,000 are being taken away somewhere else. Or else where do the savings come from?

By: Kristy @ Master Your Card

Kristy @ Master Your Card — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:39:48 +0000

This is a lot of money and I’m not really comfortable with the amount as we’re going to have to borrow extensively to cover it with no guarantee that it is going to actually stimulate the economy. That said, there are certain parts of this package that I think are important – improving infrastructure, going green, and focusing on education are things I can see them spending money on. These three things have the potential to expand and create jobs, which we are in desperate need of right now.

However, like Frugal Dad, I don’t think it is the federal government’s responsibility to feed kids dinner. That is pork, plain and simple. There are any number of social welfare programs specifically designed to help feed kids – WIC and food stamps come to mind. I see no reason to expand these programs to after-school dinners. That does nothing to help stimulate our economy, but it does put us in significant debt. It might give the middle- to low-income families warm and fuzzies, but it’s not actually helping anyone.

I think they need to focus specifically on the issues that will fix our current problems and leave the rest for another time. I’m guessing that Obama is trying to make good on his promises of helping the middle-class and that’s why some of the pork has found it’s way into the package. In any event, I’ve written to my Congressmen about the ridiculous debt they are subjecting us to, after already having spent $700 billion for what amounted to a big joke. I hope everyone here does the same.