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Obama Scrambles on Economy – Now Promises 600,000 Jobs
President Barack Obama, seen here on June 07, announced Monday a boost to economic stimulus spending over the next three months in a bid to save or create 600,000 jobs through summer youth programs, schools and public works
With the economy continuing to falter and unemployment at 25 year highs, President Obama today promises the creation of 600,000 jobs this summer.President Barack Obama promised Monday to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.
Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the spending plan will effect a continuing rise in the nation’s unemployment. (See pictures of the global financial crisis.)
Many of the stimulus plans that Obama announced Monday already were in the works, including hundreds of maintenance projects at military bases, about 1,600 state road and airport improvements, and federal money states budgeted for 135,000 teachers, principals and school support staff.
The administration had always viewed the summer as a peak for stimulus spending, as better weather permitted more public works construction and federal agencies had processed requests from states and others.
But Obama now promises an accelerated pace of federal spending over the next few months to boost the economy and produce jobs.Obama has NO clue abut the role of government and the economy. Massive government spending and deficits will NOT spur the priovate economy and will lead to inflation and slow economic growth.
American business is afraid to act or invest capital – even if they have it. They know that higher taxes are coming to pay for Obama’s massive governmental intrusion into the economy and they will have nothing of it.
The economic stimulus bill was nothing about spurring on the economy. It was all about paying off Obama’s political constituencies.
If the President had been concerned about stimulating the economy, why didn’t he adopt the GOP suggestion of suspending the payroll tax and deliver real relief for taxpayers.
Now, he hits the campaign trail to what?
Spin his failed economic policies, no doubt.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economics, Economic Stimulus Bill
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PORKULUS Watch: Early Road Aid Leaves Out High Unemployment Areas
Ridgway, the seat of Elk County, Pa., is seen nestled amid the green of the Allegheny Mountains, Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Officials and residents of the struggling manufacturing community are learning that they will receive no immediate money from the economic stimulus plan despite the 13.8 percent unemployment rate. Counties suffering the most from job losses are receiving the least help so far from President Barack Obama’s plan to spend billions of stimulus dollars on roads and bridges, an Associated Press analysis has found
Why, of course and why many said the Economic Stimulus or PORKULUS Bill was JUST government spending and really not an economic stimulus.Counties suffering the most from job losses stand to receive the least help from President Barack Obama’s plan to spend billions of stimulus dollars on roads and bridges, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Although the intent of the money is to put people back to work, AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide reveals that states are planning to spend the stimulus in communities where jobless rates are already lower.
One result among many: Elk County, Pa., isn’t receiving any road money despite its 13.8 percent unemployment rate. Yet the military and college community of Riley County, Kan., with its 3.4 percent unemployment, will benefit from about $56 million to build a highway, improve an intersection and restore a historic farmhouse.
Altogether, the government is set to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest.
The AP reviewed $18.9 billion in projects, the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. The projects account for about half of the $38 billion set aside for states and local governments to spend on roads, bridges and infrastructure in the stimulus plan.
The very promise that Obama made, to spend money quickly and create jobs, is locking out many struggling communities needing those jobs.
Flap is certainly NOT seeing any benefit of the PORKULUS Bill here in California. Taxes have gone up, as the unemployment rate soars.
Mr. President, where is the hope that is on the way?
Technorati Tags: Economic Stimulus Bill, Porkulus, Barack Obama
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The Tentative Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus Bill – What’s In It?
Doesn’t sound like too much of an immediate stimulus to Flap. Alot of deficit government spending that will raise the spectre of inflation and stifle growth, yes.Q: What are the main objectives of the package?
A: A combination of tax cuts and spending incentives totaling nearly $790 billion is aimed at putting money back in the pockets of consumers and businesses and creating millions of jobs. It also looks to accomplish some long-term goals, such as making the country more energy efficient and improving the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges.
Overall, the package breaks down to nearly two-thirds spending initiatives and just over one-third tax cuts.
Q: Does the bill include federal aid to the states?A: Yes. It includes major contributions to states to help with their budget shortfalls and assure the viability of Medicaid and education programs.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the moderate Republican who helped broker the deal, said the spending includes about $90 billion in increased federal matches to states to help pay for Medicaid, along with a $54 billion “fiscal stabilization” fund that states could use to build and repair schools and improve facilities at institutions of higher learning.
Q: What are some of the other main focuses of the bill?
A: Here are some highlights:
- Education: The package has some $11.5 billion to support the IDEA program for special education. There’s another $10 billion for a federal program to help low-income students.
- Energy: The package includes funds to modernize the electrical grid — in part by incorporating renewable energy resources — and to make federal buildings more energy efficient and help low-income households weatherize their homes.
- Health: The plan includes subsidies to allow people who are laid off to purchase health insurance through the federal COBRA plan. There is also money to support hospitals seeking to modernize health information technology.
- Infrastructure: The infrastructure section of the package includes funds for building and repairing highways and bridges, expanding transit systems, upgrading airports and rail systems and building and repairing federal buildings — with the focus on making them more energy efficient. Funds are available for clean water projects, cleanup of environmental waste areas and nuclear waste cleanups.
Money devoted solely to transportation infrastructure reaches almost $50 billion. Collins said that when all the infrastructure projects for roads, sewers, energy and electricity transmission are added up, it will reach about $150 billion.
The package includes money to bring broadband Internet service to underserved areas.
Other highlights: The plan also supports National Institutes of Health research and contributes to programs in the departments of defense, homeland security, veterans affairs and state.
Q: What are some of the tax breaks in the bill?A: It includes Obama’s signature “Making Work Pay” tax credit for 95 percent of workers, though negotiators agreed to trim the credit to $400 a year instead of $500 — or $800 for married couples, cut from Obama’s original proposal of $1,000. It would begin showing up in most workers’ paychecks in June as an extra $13 a week in take-home pay, falling to about $8 a week next January.
There is also a $70 billion, one-year fix for the alternative minimum tax. The fix would save some 20 million mainly upper-middle-income taxpayers about $2,000 in taxes for 2009.
Q: How will infrastructure spending affect jobs?
A: The Federal Highway Administration has estimated that every $1 billion the federal government spends on infrastructure projects translates to 35,000 jobs. Collins put the total infrastructure spending — including highways, mass transit, environmental cleanups and broadband facilities — at $150 billion. Do the math and that translates into more than 5 million jobs, based on the highway administration’s assumptions.
Senate leaders have offered their own estimate — they said Wednesday that the total stimulus package will sustain some 3.5 million jobs.
Q: How long would it take for highway projects to begin?
A: Lawmakers say most of the projects could be up and running within 90 days, although it could take somewhat more time in northern states with longer winters. Highway construction groups have estimated that there are thousands of projects that could be started within that 90 days.
Q: Do economists feel the stimulus package is big enough to actually stimulate the economy?A: Many leading economists have concluded that the stimulus alone may be insufficient to bring a quick turnaround for the economy.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, called for a larger package of spending and tax breaks and predicted that unemployment could top 9 percent next year, up from the current 7.6 percent, even if an $800 billion package is enacted. Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman also contends that $800 billion will fall short of filling the gap left by projected reductions in consumer and business spending.
Obama has also acknowledged that the stimulus measures are only “one leg of the stool” needed to stabilize the economy. Spending initiatives and tax cuts, he has said, must be combined with the ongoing massive effort to restore confidence and integrity to financial markets, get credit flowing again and right the collapsed housing market.
Flap bets that this bill will NOT spur much immediate economic recovery and that Congressional Democrats and President Obama will turn to MORE government spending to bailout the automotive and financial sectors.When may America feel the effects of the government spending? Immediately?
Probably not.
The Democrats and President hope before the 2010 campaign season.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill
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Poll Watch: 59 Per Cent Now Favor Economic Stimulus Bill – Support Edges Higher
Well, at least Democrat support is higher as President Obama makes his case with his homeys.Obama’s salesmanship appears to have been effective in recent days, helping to build public support for the economic stimulus package, and thus push Congress to pass a final version by his desired Presidents Day deadline. At the least, he has stemmed any erosion of support in the face of some spirited conservative opposition. While most of the increase in support is among Democrats, the plan retains solid support from independents and has not lost any ground recently among Republicans.
Although the stimulus plan is purportedly being passed to address the nation’s economic problems, Americans’ perceptions of the economy — and of their own personal financial situations — have little bearing on their support for it. Political orientation is the overriding factor.
Here is the graphic showing the increase in Democrat support:
Since an apparent deal is in the works to move this bill out of the House-Senate Conference Committee and for final approval in the Congress, American voters will see this partisan law become a reality -probably by Friday.
The Democrats in Congress and President Obama OWN the law. To the victors go the SPOILS and the REPERCUSSIONS.
Remember, American voter public opinion is fickle and performance related.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus bill
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Poll Watch: 67 Per Cent Say They Could Do a Better Job on the Economy Than Congress
Political Cartoon by Michael Ramirez
There has been a “Deal” in the Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus bill in the House Senate-Conference Committee and the bill with ONLY three Republican Senators supporting it is scheduled to clear the Senate Thursday with the President signing it into law on Friday.But, that is contrary to the latest polling that says Americans are more confident in their own ability to affect the economy.
When it comes to the nation’s economic issues, 67% of U.S. voters have more confidence in their own judgment than they do in the average member of Congress.
Nineteen percent (19%) trust members of Congress more, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fourteen percent (14%) aren’t sure.
Republicans and unaffiliated voters by double digits have more confidence in themselves than Democrats do, but even a majority of the party that controls Congress trust themselves more than the average legislator.
Forty-four percent (44%) voters also think a group of people selected at random from the phone book would do a better job addressing the nation’s problems than the current Congress, but 37% disagree. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided.
The new Congress fares worse on this question that the previous Congress. Last October, just 33% said a randomly selected group of Americans would do a better job than the Congress then in session.
Although an $800-billion-plus economic rescue plan has now passed both the House and Senate, the overwhelming majority of voters are not confident that Congress knows what it’s doing with regards to the economy. Fifty-eight percent (58%) agree, too, that “no matter how bad things are, Congress can always find a way to make them worse.â€
Well, the American voting public has what Congress wanted for them – all $789 Billion worth. And, will have the pleasure of paying it back.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, predicted the bill “will be the beginning of the turnaround for the American economy.”
Reid said the legislation would create 3.5 million jobs.
The Democrats and President Obama OWN this STIMULUS law because it is their creation. When the economy does not rapidly improve and 1970’s style inflation/stagflation reappears.
Don’t say the GOP didn’t tell you so.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill, PORKULUS, HR. 1, S.1
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Day By Day by Chris Muir February 11, 2009 – President Clouseau
The Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus Bill, HR.1 or S.1., now in a joint House-Senate Conference Committee will forever be known as the Generational Theft Act as it will encumber future generations with its over $1.2 Trillion in government spending.Plus, its health care stealth provisions will lead to rationing of Medicare for Seniors.
The GOP will be smart to stay far away from this pork-laden (excessive and wasteful government spending) PORKULUS and communicate this is “OWNED” by the Congressional Democrats and President Obama. Since it is doubtful, PORKULUS will have any stimulative effect on the economy, Flap wonders who will Pelosi, Reid and Obama blame?
Previous:
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill, S.1, HR.1
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Jeb Bush on the Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus Bill
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush answers questions at the Excellence in Action conference, a national summit on education reform, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., June 19, 2008
Former Florida GOP Governor, Jeb Bush was in the Capitol today while Governor Charlie Crist was sucking up to President Obama in Southwestern Florida.Why was the former Florida Governor AWOL from the Presidential visit?
Bush does not support the Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus Bill or PORKULUS.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush is wandering the halls of the state Capitol today, advocating for his Foundation for Florida’s Future education package because Gov. Charlie Crist canceled a lunch with Bush and other former governors so that he could introduce President Barack Obama in Fort Myers. Crist wants the stimulus package. Bush thinks it’s bad news, as evidenced by this brief interview as he hustled away and drove off in a family wagon driven by Foundation chief Pat Levesque along with lobbyist John Thrasher.
Q: Why not go to Fort Myers?
Bush: “It wouldn’t be right. I don’t support the bill. It’s a whole lot of spending and it’s not very stimulative. You know, $800 billion used to mean something.”
Q: What would you do to stimulate the economy?
Bush: “Broad-based tax cuts for individuals and business and spending on truly shovel-ready infrastructure.
Q: What’s wrong with the package in your view.
Bush: “Gigantic amount of money being spent that is not stimulative. There’s enough history to suggest something like that at best won’t have the desired effect. Worse: it could prolong the economic downturn. So I think it’s bad policy. Plus, it will create more inflation down the road you can’t sustain. We’re talking 9-10 percent GDP for the budget deficit. That’s a lot. These guys (Legislature) are struggling to balance the budget because they have a constitutional requirement to do so. To their credit, they’re doing the best they can under extraordinary circumstances. In Washington, they just crank up the printing press.”
Although Jeb has taken himself out of a 2010 race for a Florida open seat in the U.S. Senate, Flap thinks that Jeb will be back – and back soon into the political arena.
Technorati Tags: Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist, Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill
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Poll Watch: 58 Per Cent Say Congress Will NOT Understand Obama Economic Stimulus Bill BEFORE They Vote
Political Cartoon from Michael Ramirez
The latest Rasmussen poll says that a majority of members of congress will not understand what is in the Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus Bill before they vote on it.The Senate is scheduled to vote today on an $838-billion economic stimulus plan, but 58% of U.S. voters say most members of Congress will not understand what is in the plan before they vote on it.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 24% believe most of Congress will understand the contents of the 700-page-plus plan before they vote. Nineteen percent (19%) are not sure.
Two-thirds of the nation’s voters (69%) lack confidence that Congress knows what it is doing when it comes to addressing the country’s current economic problems. Just 29% are even somewhat confident in the legislators.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats have at least some confidence, a view shared by just 16% of unaffiliated voters and 12% of Republicans.
Some of the provisions of the bill include the imposition of UK type Cost-Effectiveness Standards for Medicare which could lead to rationing of American health care.
When questioned about these provisions on Fox News Channel this morning, GOP Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) looked like a deer caught in a car’s headlights. He was DUMB-STRUCK.
Senator Specter, who sold-out the Republican Party and was one of three Republicans that allowed the bill avoid a Senate filibuster had absolutely NO IDEA what was in the bill.
Flap suspects there will be more “stealth” surprises as the bill emerges from the House-Senate Conference Committee. And, no, most members of Congress will NOT know what is in the $1.2 Trillion bill.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill, Arlen Specter
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Obama Economic Stimulus Bill Health Care Scare – Stealth Provisions Will Ration Senior Care Applying a Cost-Effectiveness Standard for Medicare
Flap doubts the three GOP Senators (Specter, Collins and Snowe) that signed off on this “COMPROMISE” even realized these health care provisions were in the bill.
Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.
Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.
Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States†(445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide†your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.†According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.â€
Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.
Read the entire piece and pay particular attention to the cost-effectiveness standard for senior’s Medicare.
Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).
The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision.
Hidden Provisions
If the Obama administration’s economic stimulus bill passes the Senate in its current form, seniors in the U.S. will face similar rationing. Defenders of the system say that individuals benefit in younger years and sacrifice later.
The Democrats slipped into the Democrat/Obama Stimuls Bill a path to UK type socialized medicine standards.
Surprise.
Great transparency from the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats – NOT.
The House and Senate GOP Caucus should insist that these provisions be stricken from the final bill in Conference Committee. If the provisions are NOT removed, the GOP should expel Susan Collins, Olympia Snow and Arlen Specter from the Republican Party IMMEDIATELY.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill, S.1, HR.1, PORKULUS
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Is Obama Having HIS Way Over Economic Stimulus Fight?
Well, it certainly looks that way in this Gallup Poll, nothwithstanding the Rasmussen and CBS News polls that say otherwise. Mark Blumenthal over at Pollster has an explanation of the poll disparities.Flap agrees with Allahpundit that the American public wants to see the government DO SOMETHING and will give President Obama (who, after all, has only been in office a few weeks) the benefit of the doubt.
However, the GOP has positioned itself well on the fight. Obama, Reid and Pelosi OWN this bill and if the economy does not rapidly improve they will pay the political price.
Of course, Senator Susan Collins, when the bill returns from a House Conference could vote the behemoth down if there is too much pork.
But, don’t count on it.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus Bill, S.1.