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Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 11987
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:10 am Post subject: Obama's Weak Stimulus |
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George Mason economist Richard Wagner:
"Any so-called stimulus program is a ruse. The government can increase its spending only by reducing private spending equivalently. Whether government finances its added spending by increasing taxes, by borrowing, or by inflating the currency, the added spending will be offset by reduced private spending.
Furthermore, private spending is generally more efficient than the government spending that would replace it because people act more carefully when they spend their own money than when they spend other people's money."
Jan 28, 2009
The House is expected to approve Barack Obama's now nearly $900 billion stimulus bill today after the President yielded some points to the minority after a meeting with Congressional Republicans yesterday, including:
$69 billion to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from hitting middle-class families.
Removed $200 million to update the National Mall.
Removed Medicaid coverage for family planning.
Still, many Republicans are unlikely to support the bill, which includes:
$356.6 billion for infrastructure.
$180 billion for jobless benefits and Medicaid.
$275 billion in tax relief, including a $500 payroll tax holiday
Critics say the plan won't really stimulate the economy and amounts to a Democratic attempt to rewrite the social contract with low-income workers and the poor.
Supporters say the plan will create millions of jobs and seeks to reverse 25 years of GOP-led efforts to tilt the playing field in favor of the wealthy, and against low-income workers and the working poor.
After declaring "I won," President Obama reportedly said he "would not compromise...on his campaign promise for a middle-class tax credit that would also go to low-wage workers who earn too little to pay income taxes but are subject to payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare," The NY Times reports. |
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