I disagree. I think we need to grit our teeth and get through a handful of painful years. Let these places go bankrupt. People will survive. We'll eventually change our economic philosphies and our country will regrow.
>I keep going over this with Bill K. Government spending it's way out of debt is not the same as you or me trying to spend our way out of debt. Keynes had a phrase for it, which unfortunately I don't recall. The gist of it is that if everyone saves the whole atrophies.
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>These are terrible economic times, unprecedented in our lifetimes. Maybe the stimulus proposal won't work but it really is a move in the right direction.
>
>>The president keeps reminding us that even with his stimulus plan it will take several years to recover from this recession. It may take several years to recover without the trillion dollar stimulus plan anyway. Think of all the money we could have saved.
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>>>I'm not sure anything could be worse than the disease our economy has now. We have to do something. The Senate is still tweaking the stimulus package, then if they pass it the House and Senate bills will have to be reconciled. It won't surprise me if parts of this bill go away.
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>>>>But the cure looks worse than the disease.
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>>>>>It probably won't surprise you that I disagree. Whether the economy is worse off than it was in the Depression or the early 80s, I don't know, but it's plenty bad. Seemingly every day there is new news about corporate losses, layoffs, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and dismal projections for this year. I am definitely feeling it. The FoxPro market is all but dead (at least around here) and I am retraining in .NET. It's a heck of a time to be trying to make a career change when the market is awash in unemployed developers who already have experience.
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>>>>>Why don't you give Obama a bit of a chance? He's been in office two weeks and this is his first big proposal. He has to do something. I don't think a modest bill will pull the economy out of the doldrums. I think a better bill is possible, and that the Senate will modify it. A lot of the pork will be gone.
>>>>>
>>>>>BTW, I read about an earlier occasion where he said "I won so I can do what I want," or words to that effect. According to everyone there he was clearly joking. He knows even a president can't do whatever he wants.
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>>>>>>Mike, buddy, it's getting close to the "I told you so" moment. The stimulus bill is pork in a new and improved packaging and now twice when questioned by GOP officials his response was in effect, "I won so I do what I want". Can you imagine what you Dems would have done if Bush had been that nakedly imperial?
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>>>>>>As of today he's trying scare tactics - "the economy is worse than the Great Depression". No, it's not. Look at the 1980 unemplyment rates and economy.
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>>>>>>And many of his appointees seem to have a problem interpreting tax laws. Yeah, there's change we can believe in.
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>>>>>>This guy is going to make all previous levels of deficit spending look like pennies in a jar. He is going to hamstring our economy with horrific losses on debt interest since we are now farming out a lot of our debt to other nations who will hold us hostage to the interest on the debt.
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>>>>>>Bush had his flaws but Obama is looking more and more like an epic fail and one that will change this country for the worse for a long time to go.
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>>>>>>Way to go, guys! Hope you like "America Lite"
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/01/stimulus.next/index.html>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Despite what some of you may think, I am not an intense partisan. I don't think the first version of President Obama's first major proposal is perfect. It is larded with riders and agendas. He can do better than this and I believe he ran with the intention of doing better than this. If he lets himself be steamrolled by special interest groups we are no better off than we were before.
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>>>>>>>The Senate is putting out strong signals that the bill will not be approved in its proposed form; Republicans voted against it 200 whatever to nothing in the house. And they're right. This is not a good bill. Our economy and our country are in a tailspin and we deserve better than this.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I have not given up on Barack Obama. I believe he will grow into his role, as Roosevelt did, as Lincoln did. I believe without reservation he is a transformational president. I just want a better bill than this. The Senate is sending signals it will play the role our founders intended. They are not supposed to be swayed by money or celebrity.
