U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes

I would never be so bold as to attempt to guess the intentions of our legislators. (The prospect might just be very depressing).

However, I agree with you that the stimulus will do damn little to resolve the banking liquidity and confidence crisis now facing us. It is instead the funding of longstanding Democrat social programs under the guise of dealing with a crisis. It is also a somewhat cynical attempt on the part of career legislators to be seen to be doing SOMETHING about a crisis that frightens many people. Unfortunately they are playing with our money.

The last administration did nothing to constrain Federal spending and the new one appears even worse in this respect. There is very little prospect that this surge in Federal spending will end in two years - much more will follow, and it will suck the potential investment capital out of our economy for a long time to come.


Indeed the stimulus package doesn't come very close to meeting the ratio of tax cuts and real infrastructure investment to other spending that President Obama himself outlined in his campaign (and subsequent) rhetoric on the matter. The unwillingness he has exhibited so far to take on (and lead) the Democrat establishment, both inside and beyond the Congress, is both worrisome (to me) and not a particularly encouraging indicator of his ultimate potential for success.

That's funny george.


I guess it's true, you don't want to guess about the intentions of the GOP controlled Congress of 1999. You would much rather play the game of blaming the party not in power.

You do realize it was the GOP that passed the legislation that allowed bundling and it was the GOP that refused to bring legislation reining in Fannie and Freddie to a vote in the Senate. Or do you confine your guessing to which party to blame for all our troubles.

It is amazing to me that all those who gripe now about spending money to try and help the economy of the country have not blinked at the total waste of cost of the Iraq war. As a reminder



Graph shows budget authority for Iraq war in each fiscal year (ending Sept. 30).
http://zfacts.com/p/447.html

It is amazing to me how those who advocate wastefull spending, justify it by pointing to a president they hated who also spent wastefully...

That's an interesting observation, TexN.

Come on people! Bush spent money on an unnecessary war and cut taxes on the rich and allowed the finiancial institutions to rape the middle class and the poor. Obama is trying to create jobes for the people who lost them due to the screwed up policies of Bushes government. Give him the same 8 years and maby he might get us back to where we were in the year 2000. We need jobs and the only to create them is to spend money which the rich and the finicial institutions are not going to do. The government is the only organization capable of spending the kind of money its going to take to turn the economy around, in the next 7 or 8 years. Obama needs to git over this consensis thing because the republicans, being the good citizens they all are, are doing everything they can to torpedo him. The repbs told the dems to get screwed during the eight years they controlled the government now its Obamas time to tell them to get screwed.