Our current economic crisis

[bw1]

Just wanted to get your thoughts on the stimulus bill that is going
through Congress right now. I'm hearing some very disturbing things
on the news. Our new President has pushed for big spending and that's
what he's getting, but some are saying both the House and the Senate
versions of the near Trillion dollar bill are full of wasteful
spending and that it won't stimulate the economy. Those in favor of
the bill seem to be saying "well, we have to do SOMETHING." So, why
not a trillion dollars in wasteful spending that is predicted to fail
to do the job of getting the economy moving? The sane people in
Washington are unfortunately in the minority right now apparently,
though many Congressmen have spoken out against it the opposition may
not be enough to slow down the gravy train that Obama and his closest
friends are shoving down our throats. The latest poll figures I saw
say that 45% of US voters are opposed to this bill. If this bill
passes under these circumstances that means almost half of the US is
being robbed and shackled with this monstrous debt against their will!

[tsteele93]

Well, to those who say "we have to do something" I'd refer them to the
physicians motto, which is "first do no harm." You don't always have
to do SOMETHING especially if what you are going to do will harm the
patient more than doing nothing. This bill is exactly that. I'm
astonished at the Democrats. I understand they are thinking, "we've
been out of power for 8 years and we are finally going to get to do
our stuff." But right now isn't the time to push a trillion dollars
worth of pork onto the nation's tab.

I liked Jon Stewarts suggestion, instead of bailing out banks - give
distressed homeowner's the checks to pay their off their houses. As
it is now, we save the bank but the homeowner still goes into
foreclosure and bankruptcy while the bank does not. Why not save both
of them at the same cost?

But if I really had my way, I'd prefer the government stay out of
everything but what they are supposed to do - which is insure our
deposits with the FDIC and otherwise let the chips fall where they
may.

The sooner we get done with the failing, the sooner we can get on with
the recovering. Right now we are just dragging out the tough times
and making it take that much longer before we move on and start
recovering.

-TS

[bw1]

On Feb 10, 1:19 pm, tsteele93 <tsteel...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, to those who say "we have to do something" I'd refer them to the
> physicians motto, which is "first do no harm."  You don't always have
> to do SOMETHING especially if what you are going to do will harm the
> patient more than doing nothing.  This bill is exactly that.  I'm
> astonished at the Democrats.  I understand they are thinking, "we've
> been out of power for 8 years and we are finally going to get to do
> our stuff."  But right now isn't the time to push a trillion dollars
> worth of pork onto the nation's tab.
>
> I liked Jon Stewarts suggestion, instead of bailing out banks - give
> distressed homeowner's the checks to pay their off their houses.  As
> it is now, we save the bank but the homeowner still goes into
> foreclosure and bankruptcy while the bank does not.  Why not save both
> of them at the same cost?
>

That sounds like a great plan, Tom. It's a wonder they didn't think
of that before the first bailout. That kind of action is clear
thinking is what we need in Washington. Ever think of running for
office? I think they seriously could use some help.

> But if I really had my way, I'd prefer the government stay out of
> everything but what they are supposed to do - which is insure our
> deposits with the FDIC and otherwise let the chips fall where they
> may.
>
> The sooner we get done with the failing, the sooner we can get on with
> the recovering.  Right now we are just dragging out the tough times
> and making it take that much longer before we move on and start
> recovering.
>
> -TS

I'm personally not at all opposed to the government doing something to
help. I just wish they would be more careful and thoughtful about
what they're doing. The way this is playing out this one bill could
end up being the biggest debacle in the history of modern government.
Congress obviously isn't disciplined enough to be entrusted with
creating something this monumental. Yet the President doesn't seem to
bat an eye about wasting a TRILLION dollars! Yes, WASTING it! If
you're going to spend a trillion it better be on something that will
work. A trillion is a thousand billion. That's a lot of dough. The
US is already in serious debt and running a budget deficit. The time
to play is over. Does anybody even know what will happen if we rack
up a debt so big we can never pay it? As I recall Obama promised
fiscal responsibility as a part of his campaign. This is as far from
that as it gets. What needs to happen from here is that Congress
needs to clear their thinking on this, put the good of the country
ahead of partisan pork-barrel politics, take a step back and fix this
enormously flawed bill before it goes to the President. I'm not sure
if it's too late, hopefully not. The biggest things we ought to be
doing are creating jobs and fixing the mortgage crisis. Anything
other than that shouldn't be in this bill. Cut the fat, end of
story. Spend a few hundred billion less on frivolities and focus on
what we really need. Otherwise we could be in much worse trouble a
year from now with no bailout possible!