The Stimulus Bill Is Posted Online

James: I would suggest that you haven’t read HR-1 from your comment’s. To start with, money has to be allocated to administrative uses, or you don’t have the infrastructure to enact the programs. I’m only down through page 44 and what I’ve read to this point indicate to me that a myriad of small business stand to benefit. First of all, the “MADE IN AMERICA” specification is pretty clearly noted in the first few pages. From American steel to American Technology. It is also fairly clear that only those of American citizenship will benefit from any work created. All contract’s to be let will be posted to Recovery.gov immediately for public scrutiny with weekly oversight. Why even Joe the Plumber might want to return to the business and get off his speaking tour, and resurrect his non-existent plumbing company. Read some more beyond the first line, I think you’ve been too hasty with your Rush Limbaugh like remarks. I am curious about the following cut and paste however: “3 None of the funds provided by this Act may be made
4 available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the
5 State, unless (1) the use of such funds by the State is
6 approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date
7 of the enactment of this Act, or (2) Rod R. Blagojevich
8 no longer holds the office of Governor of the State of Illi9
nois”.

Jake, thank you for the link to text of HR1 which I was curious to read yesterday. I hope you will leave this comment section open long enough for us to read and digest, then comment, maybe for a couple of days??

This is a hard winter for many – the faster both Democrats and Republicans move to pass this bill the better for all.

I also predict that this bill will get the vote of almost every Republican up for reelection and then some. What Republican in his right mind would go back to his constituents and tell them he just voted against this bill! LOL

@Tom “I also predict that this bill will get the vote of almost every Republican up for reelection and then some. What Republican in his right mind would go back to his constituents and tell them he just voted against this bill! LOL”
Every Republican that will run in a district where children and responsible parents reside should oppose this monstrosity. Why would we saddle our children with nearly a trillion dollars of debt for a plan that will bring no improvement in our economy? I predict that most Republican will oppose this bill because of the pork that has been added to it. If they do, the voters will reward them for being responsible.
The congressmen that vote for this will have to defend the results in 2010 and 2012. The Republicans are in a no lose position on this. The Democrats will pass it with or withour their votes anyway. Why should Republicans vote for it in this case? They can’t be blamed for stopping it since it will pass anyway. If they oppose it they can tie the failure of the plan to revive our economy around the Democrat party.
Republicans have everything to gain by opposing this plan and nothing to gain by supporting it. Republicans have become spineless but they will ultiately see that opposing this extravagant waste is in their best interst.

James you make some very good points. However, there is one thing you are overlooking, and it’s a simple economic fact. Clinton understood that people who are working are paying taxes. When people work and pay taxes, the coffers grow. I think we’re about to go back to that concept :)

I have to laugh at the ridiculous notion that we can spend trillions to go to war to protect the interests of executives, and give them trillions more to bail them out of the mess they and their republican puppets created, but as soon as we talk about money for real people there isnt any left.

Tom, if the job is a government job (as this stimulus is geared toward)then it does not add anything to our economic health. With a government job we the taxpayers have to put up the money, reducing the money we could have spent on our own. The government job does not produce wealth; it only moves money from one pile to another, but with less ending up in the second pile because the government takes their cut. Now, you can give a temporary appearance that you have created wealth. Our government has been doing this for 79 years. If you spend more than you take in you can artificially inflate your economy but at some point you will need to pay for that borrowed money. You can pay for it in money developed from real wealth producing goods and services. You can also pay for that borrowed money through inflation, which decreases the real value of the money we are paying back. So, here we sit in 2009. We have an 11 trillion dollar debt that we have run up to artificially inflate our economy. To put it simply, the goods and services we have in our economy today are simply not enough to cover our money supply. Yet, Mr. Obama is proposing that we do what we have been doing for these last 79 years; borrow more money, delay our day of reckoning, and digging an even deeper hole. We cannot afford it. We have already mortgaged our children’s future and their children’s future. It is time we, those of us who have benefitted from the borrowed wealth from those future generations, act responsibly.
There is simply no way that we can spend our way out of this problem. Our economy is telling us this very loud and clear. If we act irresponsibly, the people who hold bonds are likely to lose confidence and withdraw their money. If that happens, our economy will collapse. This is not a maybe, it is a certainty; Mr. Obama is playing with fire with this huge addition to our debt in this respect.
Mr. Obama promised change but has instead decided to kick the can down the road to avoid making tough decisions. We deserve better.

Obama has said his administration is wiling to be held fully accountable. That is a huge departure from ALL of Presidential history. Let him pass his proposal. If he succeeds we will re-elect him, if he fails we will replace him. Why would any American not want him to succeed? Beats me.
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GOBama, GOBama, GOBama, GOBama, GOBama…

Since Obamacrat for Palin has introduced the lobbyists issue here, I will say I find it odd not many people have covered the following angle on the Lynn waiver.
Defense Secretary Gates is a Republican appointee. He was appointed by George Bush.
President Obama stuck his neck out for Gates – the Bush appointee – in order to support Gate’s desire to have Lynn as his Deputy Secretary of Defense.
“I asked that an exception be made because I felt that he (Lynn) could play the role of a deputy in a better manner than anybody else that I saw,” Gates said.
So, Obama stuck his neck out for Gates – the Bush appointee – even though he knew he would draw A LOT of political heat for doing so. There is something quite strong about this. It may turn out he has to reverse his decision, but he was willing to take the heat to support Gates’ choice. That is what a Commander in Chief might be expected to do for the man he entrusts as Secretary of Defense – even if that man is a Bush appointee.
I can only guess Obama felt national defense (and Gate’s recommendation) was important enough to stick his neck out and take the heat.

pefros, if you go back and look at the index on ABC I’m sure there is a story that your post would make sense. Here we’re talking about the Democratic stimulus plan
I understand you feel you just need to get that off your chest.
James, you still don’t get it. When people are working, they pay taxes. When working people pay taxes the money rolls in. When the money rolls in, you wind up with a surplus. Bill Clinton understood it, and so does Barack Obama

“Well . . . if you think that he can turn things around in a month or three months or six months and there’s going to be some magical transformation since he took office on the 20th – that can’t happen and wouldn’t happen. So you don’t want to get into Superman-type expectations. On the other hand, I don’t think there’s anybody better that you could have in the presidency than Barack Obama at this time. He understands economics. He’s a very smart guy. He’s a cool rational-type thinker. He will work with the right kind of people. So you’ve got the right person in the operating room, but it doesn’t mean the patient is going to leave the hospital tomorrow.”
WARREN BUFFETT, CHAIRMAN, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY

Obamacrat for Palin,
Why did you choose the hot-button word cronies? I could do the same thing. You and your cronies are not giving Obama a chance. Why won’t you and your cronies support change? You and your cronies want the wild west to return. See how it works.

I meant did it TELL THE TRUTH that the money is going to come from other peoples money but not Obama’s. How much did Obama donate to charity while preaching spread your wealth around…???>>
Meaning the money will come from people who work for a living and small companies alas driving them out of business.

There seems to be lots of blame to go around regarding the financial crisis. We know when the Republicans controlled the Presidency and the Congress they went HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS over budget EACH YEAR for 6 years straight, and it got no better with Democrats in Congress.
At least this money will be used largely in the United States to upgrade infrastructure, modernize communications and electrical systems and help a crashing economy.

Interesting how Rangel and Frank are right there in the mix. BOTH should be excluded from having anything to do with this bill other than a YEA or NAY vote.

If our elected officials can subrogate the U.S. Constitution to bail out the banks, they should stop bailing them out and simple remove the protection they were granted by incorporating.
By recinding corporate protections they are hiding behind, the government bail out will not be necessary.
Everyone that has suffered financial loss ( financial community and individuals) will be able to recover their losses in court. No bailout required, and the crooks will be exposed to loose what they have .
Treat them just as the courts do with illicit drug traffickers. Sieze everything!