McCain stated what he would do and it was nothing at all like Porkulus.

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Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand

As a centrist, I have to say that I agree with both sides in this thread. I think however that support is down because this thing is much bigger than any idea by any one president. I think that by July we're going to see some more of this. This iceberg is huge and we have nothing to back up the spending or the debts. I can see why the stimulous package was aimed at the corporate and the banks to hold off a complete crash and to encourage confidence, but the money is producing very little for those who live in what's left of the middle class and actually have to work for their money.

There is an ethic missing I think. A work ethic that carried us through hard times before. It's all still a market philosophy that is in control rather than an "American standard of living" that's in control: when the ethic was strongest the standard was highest. We need that ethic back, that's what will work.

Well god damn, I think this is the first time I've ever agreed with anything you've said.

Jobs and employment in the free market is a good thing because it indicates a healthy economy where there is a natural demand for labor/products that leads people to give and get in a manner that results in an economy that is something more than the sum of its parts. If you're taking money by force and creating jobs just to get the unemployment number to drop, well, that's like making the arrow on your scale drop to your preferred weight by breaking the glass and forcing it into position with your finger. Not surprising, since Obama has always been about show and deception.

I think the support is down because people are realizing what a crock the stimulus bill was. It was sold as an infrustructure development stimulus, you know, building roads, schools, sewer lines, etc. Instead it amounts to a giant payoff to big stock investors, and people are finally waking up to this fact. I didn't vote for Obama so that he could continue with the same corporatist policies of Reagan and Bush, but look at his economic team, it's all financial sector investor types

Look at it this way. If the government had taken that money and just put the failed financial institutions into government recievership like is supposed to be done for big banks (whiping out the shareholders and creditors, cleaning the books and then reprivatizing a trimmed down company), and expanded Unemployement to match wages earned prior to being layed off (up to $200K) and garuntee benifits for a year, and spent the remainder on infrustructure development, I think everyone would agree we'd have seen far more of a stimulus. Instead we're supposed to believe that bailing out shareholders and proping up an overinflated housing market, and tying up taxpayer money on toxic assets (related to 1 & 2) was a better way to spend the money we are borrowing. The average American is starting to realize this and is none too happy about seeing their tax money spent bailing out massive share holder fat cats.

If that's the case--where do I apply for one of these 1.3 million dollar jobs--LOL?

Stunning--isn't it?

Why do you think it was rushed through so fast? So fast that no one even read it before they signed it. This was Obama doing this & no one else. He stated that he needed this stimulus bill YESTERDAY. Only 3 republicans signed off on this bill.

Then we all found out what was in it. Nothing more than political pay-offs, pork & earmarks. In fact, the only people happy about this bill are road & bridge construction workers. No doubt--we're going to have a lot of bridges built to nowhere. But the irony of the speed in getting this bill passed--versus the 5 to 7 years it takes for engineering, planning & permits before the first shovel hits the dirt is astounding.

There was absolutely NO NEED to rush this bill through--not unless someone was trying to hide something.

To add--these road & bridge projects that won't be happening for 5 to 7 years are "temporary jobs". Once the project is complete there go the jobs.

If Obama is going to pull 600,000 jobs out of his ass, he had better stand up.

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January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

OBAMA REPACKAGES STIMULUS BILL WITH OLD PROMISES:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090608/...obama_stimulus

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama assured the nation his recovery plan was on track Monday, scrambling to calm Americans unnerved by unemployment rates still persistently rising nearly four months after he signed the biggest economic stimulus in history.

Obama admitted his own dissatisfaction with the progress but said his administration would ramp up stimulus spending in the coming months. The White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus, but that total has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.

"Now we're in a position to really accelerate," Obama said.

He also repeated an earlier promise to create or save 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer. "What in the hell does this mean." It's CYA time with this comment.

Neither the acceleration nor the jobs goal are new. Both represent a White House repackaging of promises and projects to blunt criticism that the effects haven't been worth the historic price tag. And the job estimate is so murky, it can never be verified.

The economy has shed 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus measure was signed in February, far overshadowing White House announcements estimating the effort has saved 150,000 jobs. Public opinion of Obama's handling of the economy has declined along with the jobs data.

yes, you are missing a lot. namely, the fact that only 5% of the stimulus money has been spent.

if you don't remember correctly, this is more like a 1-2 year plan, rather than the 5 month plan your partisan puppet masters are telling you about.

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I'm inclined to agree with you. I think that what was found when the money became available was a black hole. In a simpler fix, the feds could have given each taxpayer nationwide a million dollars and still stimulated the economy and come out cheaper. That all being said - and thought of though, I think we're way in over our heads and that Obama is finding this out too.

Our manufacturing and trade base is too gutted to recover anytime soon with any amount of money in my view. (The is a sailing nightmare wherein a ship gets caught with no wind and can run out of supplys before they get a good wind and I think that's where we're at right now). I can very much appreciate Obam's idea of the stimulous however I think those with the real financial expertise will agree with my view that rubber really hasn't hit the road yet and we're in for more - it's just too deep. This business of deficit spending might have worked when we had fewer people in this country and less debt, but today I'm having a bit of trouble seeing how it's going to work: my state, California, is really broke.

We're all borrowed out - cashed out and over spent. We saw this happen here with dotcom: a gyroscope will only spin so fast before it breaks. This country has been supporting ridiculous economic policies and runaway pricing for too long. The only thing that's going to create a long term solution in my view is to close the gap between the American dream and the average American's ability to achieve it. A control that is lateral instead of top-down.

Much of this lack of lateral control is covered in Michael Foucault's work with respect to each of us having enough control over our own lives to see and observe our realtionships between those in control and how it effects those next to us - we have been made blind and therefore, only 'they' have the answers.

Obama rammed this stimulus bill down our throats--with the "promise" that it would save unemployment from going past 8.2%. It's now at 9.4%. This is 100 days AFTER the stimulus bill passed.

Dick Morris--former Clinton advisor just stated that this bill was never an economic stimulus bill--it's a government spending bill that they rushed through--& used the recession as an excuse to do it.

Cite the promise that unemployment would never go past 8.2.


and bobby two shoes says that the sun emits rays of happiness.

whoopty effin doo.

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The thing is ...the Democrats fuck it up on purpose.

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