No

by Fleurdelis

Created on: March 02, 2009

This isn't a Democrat v. Republican or a Blue v. Red or a Donkey v. Elephant issue, this is an American issue.

There are plenty of Republicans who are in support of the stimulus bill, so don't get flustered drawing dividing lines between which party is doing what. Economists on both sides of the fence have offered their pros and cons for this measure, as drastic as it may seem. Here's what they're all (all sides in agreement) really trying to accomplish:

1. $634Bn down payment on fixing health care so that there will be a more affordable health care system that covers all Americans. Unless you like getting stiffed by insurance company premiums that you can't use because the out-of-pocket costs are too high, there shouldn't be a problem here.

2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans; with no tax increases for those whose incomes are less than $250,000 year. That represents about 80-85% of Americans overall.

3. $100Bn for clean energy technology, creating millions of in-sourced green jobs.

4. Closes out the Iraq debacle on a firm timetable, finally bringing the troops home and freeing up close to ten billion dollars per month to take care of priorities on American soil.

5. Lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class. Per John McCain, you have to make more than $5Mn a year and own innumerable houses, anyway...to be considered "rich." If that's not you, you're on the upside of the debate already.

6. No more multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil.

7. Helps families pay for college.

8. Cuts the trillion-dollar deficit that is currently off the counting charts by Year 2013. The economy is in a shambles, and President Obama didn't inherit it, we all did. The deficit and current recession is threatening to be something our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will pay for thousands of times over if left unchecked.

9. Increases funding for the SEC and other agencies that police Wall Street. The last thing Wall Street needs right now is de-regulation.

10. No more "creative accounting" in the federal budget so the real numbers can be fudged to present a false picture of the cost of unnecessary wars, tax cuts for the rich only, and other needless programs that waste taxpayer money. Of course, some Republicans say that any effort to help Americans with health care costs, produce better public schools, more college graduates and better ways of producing energy without destroying the environment is a "waste," but before Pres. Obama took office, the Republicans had run a plan through Congress to build a 12-pack of multi-million dollar state of the art, space-age helicopters when the President only needs one. Whose Bushites own the companies that pushed those through Senate appropriations? How many of us even have jobs that are paying our bills by working on those bloated copter rides?

Add to that the fact that this plan will end unnecessary government subsidies to big agribusiness, big banks, and health insurance companies; expand access to early childhood education and improve schools by upping the ante to recruit better-qualified and stronger teachers; leverage Medicaid to negotiate better prescription drug prices; and put a cap in the kind of pollution that causes global warming while making certain that polluters who break the law financially support clean energy innovation.

What else is there to say?

While you will get dissenters who say that this economic "crash" is due to the takeover of Democrats who gained numbers on Capitol Hill in the last two years, the only reason the deficit really ditched is because too much got overlooked for eight years while unnecessary money was spent during the Bush administration padding the pockets of special interests and create war hysteria over invisible WMDs. Money America needed went down the drain by the gob-fulls for six years prior to that. Everyone except Republicans and their own kind were overlooked. Cash-starved programs to benefit all Americans were left sitting on the tables; but the only thing the "democrats" are guilty of is trying to push that which had lingered for too long through too fast.

It wasn't the money, it was the timing. The money was going to get spent regardless, but on what? By Republican (McCain) estimation, more throwing under the bus anyone whose income was less than $5mn a year.

For the negative on the Dems, I'm with the lady who said that anything that waited for six-eight years could have waited another 12-18 months. It would have helped Pres. Obama out a lot.

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