That has been the cry of the GOP in Washington….they keep saying that the deficit will go up by trillions if the stimulus plan is continued….and that is only the short version of the misinformation spread like manure on a field by Repubs and its supporters.
Shall we look at what is happening with the stimulus?
Stimulus Committed Spent
TARP (Bush Admin) $700 billion $367 billion
New Initiatives (Obama) $124 billion $0
Fed Reserve programs $6.2 trillion $1.4 trillion
Federal Stim of 2008 $1.1 trillion $234 billion
These are the big ticket programs that have been used to help stabilize the economy through this rough stretch.
If one takes a good look at the info above one will see that the money has NOT been spent yet….so of course it is not working…YET. You will see the cash by the Bush admin has been spent and that part o0f the recovery is not working yet.
My point is that to say that the efforts are not working is just plain silly…..of course it is not….one reason is that the stim money has not been spent….as usual the Repubs are lying, if you do not like that word, then they are misleading the people.
The Republican’s are saying the “stimulus package isn’t working”, in order to capitulate the administration and the Domocrat party.
The stimulus package was sold to the US population as an “emergency fix”. As the majority of infrastructure expenditures and theorized Keyesian invesment does not take place until, just prior to the 2010 election cycle. As politicians of the left and right do, Republicans are “making hay while the sun shines.”
While this most certainly does not make it right, we all know that politicians all sit somewhere within the bell-curve, evenly split in honesty and dishonesty – to ingnore human nature, psychological, sociological sciences, and accurate statistical data is dishonest to ourselves and simply makes us part of the problem.
Politicians are not neccessarily good people – either the right or left, it’s as simple as that.
Bravo! It’s about time soemone told the truth. People are people!
Thanx William and I appreciate the visit and the comment..please stop by as often as you can…it is always good to have the participation.
Hello Josh and thanx for stopping by….you are right…..all this is just for political posturing and political advantage. The thing is that the Repubs are much better at it than the Dems. Onre of my pages is “rational ignorance effect” please read it….I think it explains a lot of what goes on.
Bell curve dude!
Do you really believe that one side is different or worse than the other?
If so maybe you should have been in Nazi Germany so Hitler’s media could convince you to write a column about the fact that the Jews were people, just a little more communist than the standard German, or maybe Marx’s media could have convinced you that killing those millions of people was indeed justified because they were just a little more evil than the remainder of your comrades.
You sir, whether through ideological ignorance or worse political agenda are part of the problem.
Use your brain man! – Demonization of a group only illustrates an inability to intellectually face an issue presented by that group.
Hiya Josh….sorry, it is early…but what has Jews got to with the Stim plan? “Use your brain man! – Demonization of a group only illustrates an inability to intellectually face an issue presented by that group.” Do you use this same line when Repubs spout crap?
If I had to guess I would say that you are a good Repub…..because someone does not agree with the way the opposition is handling their attacks does not mean that we are communists or socialists…..I will give any plan a good look and will endorse it no matter who brings it up…the problem is that the GOP has NO plan….saying no and finding fault is NOT a plan.
If I am reading this correctly…you are “demonizing” me because you do not agree with something I have written…..thinking…..is that not what you have accused me of? I have called the Repubs misleading…and you have called me, basically, a Nazi or a Communist……I have been called worse, but if you will read some other stuff I am just as critical of Obama as I am the GOP…..I believe that your comment is misleading…there is that word again.
Good morning, sorry for such an early comment yesterday. Sincerely, was not my intention to beg a response prior to morning tea.
Sorry for misleading you with the facts – there’s that word again, darn those facts.
To answer your question; “What has Jews got to with the Stim plan? “ Simple, nothing. They’ve got to do with the subject of your article – repubs lying about the stimulus plan – nice piece BTW. Jews being demonized/repubs/dems or muslims being demonized it’s all the same thing– Just a simple common sense analogy.
In my opinion – “opinion only” – I believe the only error is the suggestion that politicians are not homogeneous in honesty respective to either party. Being black doesn’t make me a thief, just as if I were a Dem I wouldn’t be anymore likely to want to protect children than anyone else, that is, unless empirical evidence provides that to be true, which it does not in the case of your article’s presupposition.
To your question; “Do you use this same line when Repubs spout crap?” Yes – 100 percent of the time. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be; a.) Honest with myself. b.) Using a reasonable level of intelligence, and c.) Refusing to allow emotion of public sway (peer pressure) affect my judgment. Carp is crap, doesn’t matter who says it.
BTW, not a republican. That assumption evidences a discontinuity in what appears to be use of Pythagorean logic based on a belief that if I disagree with you, I must be in opposition to you and therefore bias. I am not, in any way, affiliated or supportive of, the republican party.
To your statement;”because someone does not agree with the way the opposition is handling their attacks does not mean that we are communists or socialists” I don’t think you’re a communist, but perhaps are like most of us today (myself included) a socialist simply due to the governments/political systems we live under, i.e US – socialist/capitalist hybrid, China – Communist/capitalist hybrid, etc. I haven’t cast you in any lot – those who would, those who say the repubs or dems are better liars than one another however are part of the problem – I mean, seriously… that’s just common sense.
Agreement: “…..I will give any plan a good look and will endorse it no matter who brings it up…the problem is that the GOP has NO plan….saying no and finding fault is NOT a plan.” You have no argument from me there. Neither side should fault the other, offer positive suggestion.
Today’s repubs are idiots when it comes to functioning econ theory, unfortunately at this time the other dominant party uses the same econ theories based only on ideas which have shown in all instances not to work in every prior implementation throughout history – both sides are indeed in sorry, sorry shape.
In my opinion (again – opinion) we should use a capitalist system to generate wealth, hybridized with very progressive social, health and human rights policies regulated, but not managed or owned by the state – lots of economists, colleagues and friends would rip me for with that line of thinking.
The issue at hand isn’t who offers which plan (I wish it were), the moderates generally see through the bull to figure out what’s best. It’s the “this side did that or that side did this” muddying of the waters that obfuscates clear assessment; people calling one another names, slinging dirt and such.
“If I am reading this correctly…you are “demonizing” me because you do not agree with something I have written…..thinking…..is that not what you have accused me of?” Not demonizing, please don’t think that, because I agree in that the repubs lied. I am only “disagreeing” with the notion that one side is better at posturing, cares more for the people, better at lying etc. – that is demonization and intellectually dishonest to one’s self.
I truly believe that we are on the same page regarding how happy we are with either party and I laud your article calling out the liars. Keep up the great work.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Morning again Josh….I believe we may have misunderstood each other…if so I also apologize. I left Daily Kos because they did not want people on there criticizing Obama…..something I have been doing from the start of his run…….but IMO, the Repubs are better at spin than the Dems….they can take an issue and spin it to death…..Dems, if they want to be more successful need to learn that technique, noe I do NOT like, but it is politics after all…lies and misinformation flies on ALL sides of the spectrum.
What I try to do is give people the whole story as I can without spin.,..yes I am a liberal…and that will come thru at times….it is a weakness….but people need both sides and not find the world view that fits their own…there is always more to the story than we get.
Thanx for the visit and the comments…please visit often it is always good to hear opinions from my readers….
REPOSTED FROM ABOVE: Good morning, sorry for such an early comment yesterday. Sincerely, was not my intention to beg a response prior to morning tea.
To answer your question; “What has Jews got to with the Stim plan? “ Simple, nothing. They’ve got to do with the subject of your article – repubs lying about the stimulus plan – nice piece BTW. Jews being demonized/repubs/dems or muslims being demonized it’s all the same thing– Just a simple common sense analogy.
In my opinion – “opinion only” – I believe the only error is the suggestion that politicians are not homogeneous in honesty respective to either party. Being black doesn’t make me a thief, just as if I were a Dem I wouldn’t be anymore likely to want to protect children than anyone else, that is, unless empirical evidence provides that to be true, which it does not in the case of your article’s presupposition.
To your question; “Do you use this same line when Repubs spout crap?” Yes – 100 percent of the time. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be; a.) Honest with myself. b.) Using a reasonable level of intelligence, and c.) Refusing to allow emotion of public sway (peer pressure) affect my judgment. Crap is crap, doesn’t matter who says it.
BTW, not a republican. That assumption evidences a discontinuity in what appears to be use of Pythagorean logic based on a belief that if I disagree with you, I must be in opposition to you and therefore bias. I am not, in any way, affiliated or supportive of, the republican party.
To your statement;”because someone does not agree with the way the opposition is handling their attacks does not mean that we are communists or socialists” I don’t think you’re a communist, but perhaps are like most of us today (myself included) a socialist simply due to the governments/political systems we live under, i.e US – socialist/capitalist hybrid, China – Communist/capitalist hybrid, etc. I haven’t cast you in any lot – those who would, those who say the repubs or dems are better liars than one another however are part of the problem – I mean, seriously… that’s just common sense.
Agreement: “…..I will give any plan a good look and will endorse it no matter who brings it up…the problem is that the GOP has NO plan….saying no and finding fault is NOT a plan.” You have no argument from me there. Neither side should fault the other, offer positive suggestion.
Today’s repubs are idiots when it comes to functioning econ theory, unfortunately at this time the other dominant party uses the same econ theories based only on ideas which have shown in all instances not to work in every prior implementation throughout history – both sides are indeed in sorry, sorry shape.
In my opinion (again – opinion) we should use a capitalist system to generate wealth, hybridized with very progressive social, health and human rights policies regulated, but not managed or owned by the state – A Third Way type variant. Nothing can generate capital like capitalism, which needs government regulation for stability and protection of the workforce. Nothing can ensure social equality and fairness like government. Lots of fellow economists, colleagues and friends would rip me for with that line of thinking, but hey that’s what makes sense to me.
The issue at hand isn’t who offers which plan, the moderates generally see through the bull to figure out what’s best. It’s the “this side did that or that side did this” muddying of the waters that obfuscates clear assessment; people calling one another names, slinging dirt and such.
“If I am reading this correctly…you are “demonizing” me because you do not agree with something I have written…..thinking…..is that not what you have accused me of?” Not demonizing, please don’t think that, because I agree in that the repubs lied. I am only “disagreeing” with the notion that one side is better at posturing, cares more for the people, better at lying etc. – that is demonization and intellectually dishonest to one’s self.
I truly believe that we are on the same page regarding how happy we are with either party and I laud your article calling out the liars. Keep up the great work.
Sincerely and Respectfully, Josh