Obama is Bush part 3

The Obama Stimulus Plan: Why I'm Concerned

Morph366--

It is always the "worst possible time" to live within our means. Americans need to stop the short term thinking that has dominated our lives for decades.

What Congress is proposing is $900 billion in future taxes. This is a bill that will have to be paid. This is not free money falling from the sky. Calling it a "stimulus package" is just slick marketing ploy on a slow witted public.

If we are going to saddle ourselves -- we should be more honest: future generations -- with $900 billion in taxes, we should be thinking about creating jobs and a tax base with which to pay those taxes.

We can spend $900 billion now and get back $1800 billion later -- or -- we could spend $900 billion now and get some trolley museums and bridges that no one uses. If we allow our corrupt public servants to spend hundreds of billions based on maybe one week's consideration, we are pretty much guaranteed to get the latter. We will have to pay the $900 billion in extra taxes either way.

It took many years of planning to coordinate the "big dig" in Boston, and that was "only" about $15 billion (out of an original cost estimate of $2.6 billion). If it took many years of planning to spend $15 billion poorly -- what can we expect from the rocket scientists in Congress spending $900 billion based on less than 3 months planning? (and one of those months was the Christmas season, so it arguably doesnt count)

We spent $700 billion only four months ago on TARP -- that was done under the same foolish pretense that something had to be done NOW and there was no time to think it through at all. Absolutely no one has any idea where the first $350 billion went, and banks are still teetering on the brink of collapse.

Everyone is in such a hurry do "something" ... anything.

Sometimes, you have to have patient. Sometimes, the best thing to do is nothing. Take a few deep breaths. Think the problem through. Is there really a monster under our bed? Do we really need to build a $900 billion monster containment unit?

If we thought about it carefully, could we build some high speed trains to reduce car usage and reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Could we fund some research into alternative energy sources? Could we research new technologies to reduce our impact on the environment? Could we encourage the creation of new industries with advanced technologies that will provide future jobs (and future tax base) when the auto industry meets what is now an inevitable fate? Might some (not all) of these things prove economically viable (ie they create more wealth than they use?). Yes, yes, yes and yes – but it will require more than a few weeks thought and planning.

America needs to stop reacting to crisis – and start planning a few moves ahead