Thursday, January 29, 2009

Porkulus Teary Eyed Thought of the Day

The PORKULUS Bill passed the house. ;^)
I have not said this in a pretty long time... I am proud of the House Republicans. Every single Republican House Member voted AGAINST the bill.

So here are some thoughts and some fast facts on the Stimulus package. I got the fast facts from a conservative group on the Hill. Concise Conservatives.

As it has been told to me, rather than working with Republicans on a proposal that lets families, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed keep more of what they earn to create jobs and help fix our economy, it seems congressional Democrats are prepared to barrel ahead with the same-old, same-old –with more and more aimless spending – at a time when the We the people expect more out of our elected officials in Washington. For a taste of just how badly Capitol Hill Democrats have strayed from the vision of a bipartisan plan to get our economy moving again, take a look at these 20 fast facts about their bloated plan:

1. The $825 billion package slated for a House vote later this week will exceed more than $1.1 trillion when adding in the interest ($300 plus billion) between 2009-2019 to pay for it.

2. The Capitol Hill Democrats’ plan includes funding for contraceptives; regardless of where anyone stands on taxpayer funded contraception, there is no question that it has NOTHING to do with the economy.

3. The legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which has been accused of voter fraud, is underFederal Investigation; and played a key role in the housing meltdown.

4. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats’ proposal:
• $650 million for digital TV coupons.
• $600 million for new cars for the federal government.How about you and I , do we get a new car?
• $6 billion for colleges/universities – many which have billion dollar endowments.
• $50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
• $44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
• $200 million for the National Mall, including $21 million for sod.

5. The plan establishes at least 32 new government programs at a cost of over $136 billion. That means more than a third of this plan’s spending provisions are dedicated to creating new government programs.

6. The plan provides spending in at least 150 different federal programs, ranging from Amtrak to the Transportation Security Administration. Is this the “targeted” plan Democratic leaders promised?

7. Even though the legislation contains at least 152 separate spending proposals, the authors of the plan can only say that 34 have any chance at keeping or growing jobs.

8. Just one in seven dollars of an $18.5 billion expenditure on “energy efficiency” and “renewable energy programs” would be spent within the next 18 months.

9. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

10. The House Democrats’ bill will cost each and every household $6,700 in additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.

11. The bill provides enough spending – $825 billion – to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.

12. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the United States $22,000.

13. Although the House Democrats’ proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill – or three percent – is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion.

14. Much of the funding within the House Democrats’ proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) – a program that already has $16 billion on hand. States also are sitting on some $9 billion in unused highway funds – funds that Congress is prepared to rescind later this year.

15. All board members of the “Accountability and Transparency Board” created by this legislation are appointees of the President; none will be appointed by Congress.

16. A scant 2.7 percent, or $22.3 billion of the overall package, is dedicated to small business tax relief.

17. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation increases by seven million the number of people who get a check back from the IRS that exceeds what they paid in payroll and income taxes.

18. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit at the center of the plan amounts to $1.37 a day, or about the price of a cup of coffee.

19. Almost one-third of the so-called “tax relief” in the House Democrats’ bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package – not the 40 percent that President Obama had requested.

20. $825 billion is just the beginning – many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their “stimulus” plan. In fact, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), told Roll Call earlier this month, “I would not be surprised to see us go further on some of these programs down the line.”



Spending like this is not going to Save this Country, it is creating Bigger Government.

Exactly what we don't need.

2 comments:

Chessie (Chesshirecat) said...

Your right Pappy. Yes this has pissed me off. That's an awful lot of money...and it's not going where it needs to go. Well who the hell is surprised? Not me. I don't care if it's republican or Democrat, pork is gonna go in with any stimulus plan. It's unreal...how can these guys and gals think that the government has an inexhaustible supply of fricken money? I have seen ten year olds playing Monopoly who are more responsible for money then our elected officials. I am sick to death of all this crap. Just give the country away...bankrupt the country and then what the hell...who will we be following blindly then? I'm waiting...cuz I really do think if Russia hangs in there long enough...we the people of the United States will be handing over Democracy to them and picking up the banner of socialism.

"Joker" said...

I agree with both you and Chessie. When he said "Change you can Believe In," he wasn't kidding. People will believe it alright - when they see the results of it. As a lifetime resident of the People's Republic of Massachusetts, I know all too well the effects of one-party rule. Nope, it ain't gonna be pretty.

As for the nation's bankruptcy and the rise of socialism, I fear that now than I ever have before. I am preparing as best I can just in case the shit really hits the fan.
The following book is highly recommended:

http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=35549

This is where I bought my copy from. You may find a used copy cheaper at Amazon.com. It will scare the crap out of you, especially since it was written well before our current economic crisis.