Comments on: Modified Version of Stimulus Bill Passes House

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:37:22 +0000

Disabled folks are included in the final version:

By: julie

julie — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:42:12 +0000

I believe that tax payers deserve another rebate check this year . When a middle class person pays in 8,000 in federal taxes & only gets back 1,000 ,they deserve something in return!!!!!

By: pmac

pmac — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:56:04 +0000

I think our biggest problem in solving any problem is getting Congress up off thier individual behinds and doing their job.

By: Skip McQuaid

Skip McQuaid — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:17:10 +0000

A lot of years ago, if you wanted to cross a particular river, there was usually a barge that would take you across the river for a fee. The current term for that is “toll road”. There is absolutely no possible way that we can keep our roads and bridges up to date now or in the future – so why not toll roads, toll bridges, etc.? Folks pay for the use of the roads that they travel on. Don’t want to pay the toll? Use the back roads.

Government cannot bail us out, folks. Only the consumer can do that. And the consumer isn’t going to do it with an extra $9 a week. They didn’t do it with the 300,600,900 or whatever they got last year – most of our clients so far this year cannot remember how much they got which shows how much it affected their lives.

Tax cuts won’t do it, you say? Well I know of at least one case where it helped. I am one of those really terrible rotten people who benefited from President Bush’s tax cuts. And what did I do with those tax savings? I added a little money of my own and hired two more people. And because those two people have increased my production ability we are actively seeking another employee. And a few of my clients who also benefited from President Bush’s tax cuts invested a little more in the market which is a good thing also.

But the problem lies with the attitude of folks like those who work here – I’m not buying anything and I mean “ANYTHING” until the market place comes back to earth is what I hear – unfortunately the market place cannot come back to earth until we start buying things…..Econ 101. General Motors (or somebody) decided not to take delivery of their new plane and everyone was happy about the money saved – everyone, that is, except the airplane builder and their employees, that is. They should have bought the stupid plane.

I am not sure what the answer is – bail outs are not, of that I am absolutely positive, and whatever it will take to get the consumer active again simply ain’t happening – but I believe it is something that will happen when the leadership in this country starts exhibiting a little leadership instead of running around like Chicken Little

By: G. Cass

G. Cass — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:03:51 +0000

Its all based on smoke and mirrors any way. Our money is not backed up by anything,so print what we need, lets get out of our hole. No one wants to say that, but this is where we are. As long as we all agree to accept US currency as legal tender. We just have to hope the rest of the world goes along with our little game.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:28:33 +0000

Half of that is tax cuts/breaks for individuals and businesses – hardly job creation, as I mentioned above.
Other is made up of unemployment benefits, Medicaid, COBRA, aid to governors, etc. Not spending on projects or jobs. There’s a decent breakdown from CNN here (it’s been since modified but this is pretty close).

By: A Stone

A Stone — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:22:55 +0000

Kelly, if only $322 billion is to create the 4 million jobs, what is the other $500 billion supposed to do?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:06:24 +0000

A Stone, interesting stat. The makeup of the bill makes things complicated, though. You can’t do a straight division of jobs and spending because the bill includes tax cuts, unemployment benefits, Medicaid benefits, tax credits for businesses, etc. The actual infrastructure spending, as proposed, is $322 billion.

By: A Stone

A Stone — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:42:32 +0000

Here is some more quick math for you – $1 trillion (the real cost of the bill according the Congressional Budget Office) and 4 million jobs created equals a cost to taxpayers of $250,000 per job.

By: Bruce Ahrendt

Bruce Ahrendt — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:11:09 +0000

I’m not a supporter of big government… but money spent on infrastructure almost always has a strong positive, long term benefit for the economy… and if spending that money now helps with the immediate economic problems… it seems to be the soundest course of action to me.

BHA