The Emporer has no clothes....

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:27 am

Here's a short piece by Charles Krauthammer that really nails the stimulus bill as anything but stimulating and Obama as anything but change. Where is the outrage is all I can wonder.

The Fierce Urgency of Pork

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 6, 2009; A17

\"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.\"

-- President Obama, Feb. 4.

Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared \"we have chosen hope over fear.\" Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.

The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.

He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.

At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to upend.

And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.

It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.

It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.

Not just to abolish but to create something new -- a new politics where the moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way to a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama so dazzling and new. Turns out the \"fierce urgency of now\" includes $150 million for livestock (and honeybee and farm-raised fish) insurance.

The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting \"planted\" for \"ready to market\" would mean a windfall garnered from a new \"bonus depreciation\" incentive.

After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:44 am

Outrage? You speak of a society that no longer has a conscience. It wouldn't be politically correct.

d3jake · Post by **d3jake** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:44 am

No matter which party gets voted in, they're still elites with their own special interests in mind. There's no two ways about it.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:26 am

So we are starting to see the verdigris forming on Alfred E Obama's political skin. When did the \"Yes We Can\" get changed to \"No We Can't...Unless You Do It My Way\"?
The stimulis package is being exposed by those very news outlets that the Libs would like to muzzle via the \"Fairness Doctrine\". The more one sees what is in the package, the more one knows it is not going to stimulate much at all. Latest polls show the public is 70% against it. If so then why is Obama trying to force the bill thru? Isn't he supposed to consider what the voting public wants? Or is he determined to move his Socialist agenda forward no matter what. Perhaps he thinks Chicago style politics will work on a national level.

Here's a hint President Obama, look at where Ireland was before they passed laws reducing corporate taxes and where they are today:

\"The state known today as Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922. The state was troubled by poverty and emigration until the early 1990s. These problems virtually disappeared over the course of that decade, which saw the beginning of unprecedented economic growth, in a phenomenon known as the \"Celtic Tiger\". Over the past two decades, the Irish government has implemented a series of national economic programmes designed to curb inflation, ease tax burdens, reduce government spending as a percentage of GDP, increase labour force skills, and promote foreign investment\"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of ... of_Ireland

Japan tried govt. intervention to curb recession and their recession lasted a decade. Govt. hand outs don't work. Socialism didn't work in Japan, Russia, Britain or France so why President Obama, do you think it will work here?

Or, with the five billion earmarked for block grants, how much do you plan on putting into Acorns hands? Will this be the quid pro quo for Bill Ayers keeping his mouth shut during your campaign?

Funny how, President Barack \"Middle name Hussein\" Obama, that your first TV interview was on a Arab station and not a American one. Are you more worried what the Arabs think oy you than what your own people do? Trust me when I say those radicals who want to do us harm will still want to harm us no matter how hard you try to suck up to them.

Obama, your leadership style has fail written all over it. Continually telling us that disaster is looming is no way to get people enthused. Look at the stock market for a guide. Possible the worst January ever and Feb. is shaping up to be the same.
Doom and gloom forecasting on your part will not hasten our recovery. The question is, do you want to be another Jimmy Carter or a Ronald Reagan? Show that the empty suit we all saw during your campaign really has a Harvard educated person in it.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:48 am

He is squandering an epic opportunity here.
He should take that stimulus bill and strike through every line that isn't real stimulus as if he had the line item veto power.
Then publish his line vetoed bill in every major newspaper with the phone number for each congressman and senator listed along with the details of which piece of wasteful pork he or she tried to pass under the guise of saving the economy!

Then in plain simple terms tell the citizens you want them to call those so called representatives and tell them you will vote their sorry asses out of office if they don't retract the crap from the bill and start acting like mature responsible adults instead of spoiled hedonistic elite celebrities charging on their daddies credit cards!

It is beyond despicable they way these criminals are behaving. It like a bunch of looters when the damn power goes out across the city!

Part of me really hopes they keep it up so things will get so bad we can start shooting them on sight! We shoot looters don't we?!?
They deserve no less than a 200 grain hollow point at 900 feet per second right between the eyes!!!
Pop that watermelon!!! Reload...acquire next target..repeat....

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:34 am

I seen a show yesterday about the “Celtic Tiger” things have gotten so bad there that everyone is moving back to Poland.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:54 am

Having Nancy have that much control over the Bill was a mistake. I believe Obama really wants bipartisanship, Nancy has too many battle scars to care for it. This is reflected in the package. She views the majority as her chance, Obama views it as our chance.

Obama's problem ultimately was trying to move too fast. Dashle was clearly a mistake, Obama has admitted so much.

I give him a pass on Geithner, I've seen alot of his interviews, the guy is smart. I think he just has a case of abscent minded professor syndrom. When you deal with millions and billion doller, now trillion doller, problems daily: other things become less important. It looks rediculous, he admits that.

I do like Charles, but I thought he would hold off forming his conclusions about the president for at least six months. It took two and a half weeks.

....I suppose two and a half weeks isn't that long though, if you already had your conclusions before he started.

Sergeant Thorne · Post by **Sergeant Thorne** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 3:41 pm

I believe Obama really wants things his way, and he believes he can use bipartisanship to get it.

Liberals with good character are like unicorns: there are depictions of them all over the place, but no one that you know has ever seen one in real life.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:14 pm

Gooberman wrote:....
I do like Charles, but I thought he would hold off forming his conclusions about the president for at least six months. It took two and a half weeks.

....I suppose two and a half weeks isn't that long though, if you already had your conclusions before he started.

Regardless of whether he wears the opinion on his sleeve or if he hides them away what really matters is, is his opinion correct?!?
It really looks like the stimulus is everything but stimulus! It is business as usual...it is the epitome of Washington pork business as usual.

Change we can believe in?!?

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:48 pm

Will Robinson wrote:He is squandering an epic opportunity here.
He should take that stimulus bill and strike through every line that isn't real stimulus as if he had the line item veto power.
Then publish his line vetoed bill in every major newspaper with the phone number for each congressman and senator listed along with the details of which piece of wasteful pork he or she tried to pass under the guise of saving the economy! ...

It is beyond despicable they way these criminals are behaving. It like a bunch of looters when the damn power goes out across the city!

Amen.

The shamulus bill is putrid.

Pelosi and Reid should resign.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:05 am

The bill is passed. Now lets see how the stock market responds on Monday.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:47 am

I wonder how a bill that has only 10% of the money being spent in 2009 and a majority of the money being spent in the next 4 to 5 years is going to get us out of the current recession? this whole bill is just a Pelosi and Reid election celebration spending spree, and no one on the hill has the Balls to say so.

Socialism here we come

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:22 pm

It wasn’t going to work anyway, seeing how it does nothing to address the root problem, and simply adds more of the problem.

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:58 pm

woodchip wrote:The bill is passed. Now lets see how the stock market responds on Monday.

The bill still has to go to "conference" which is "congressional speak" for adding more ★■◆● on before final passage. The final vote will prolly be Tuesday.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:55 pm

Dow jones down 380 points on the news that the stimulus passed the Senate. I hope all those cheering Obama lovers down in Florida take note that the real confidence indicator is not what pours honey like out of the inept El Presidente's mouth, but all those people who invest in business. January was the worst the stock market has done in a long time, and it looks like February is going to give it a run for it's money.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:52 pm

I found something rather disturbing about the \"stimulus package\". I'll post it in another thread when I find a source. We will get socialized health care that will hit the elderly the hardest if it passes.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:14 pm

I heard the same thing Duper. Sounds like we will be one step closer to \"Solient Green\" syndrome

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:00 pm

Found it.

Here

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:47 pm

It's pretty hard to get excited about Obama's leadership skills when things so far have been going like this.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/10/o ... attention/

Ed Morrissey wrote:In other words, Obama gets an F in economic history despite supposedly having the best and brightest cribbers working on his staff. He gets an F for honesty as well as an D- on bipartisanship. It’s a lousy start to his four-year class on how to be an executive.

It's still pretty early in the game, but not yet much to impress.

Oh, and incidentally, an interesting discussion on the Roe Conn show tonight on WLS radio. I think he had Mark Kirk on the radio with him and they were discussing the veerrryyyyy interesting point of just how the hell does the Obama administration expect to pay for this thing. Talking about financing debt to the tune of about 150 billion a month - for many months. And just who do they think is going to buy bonds to finance this debt (i.e. loan us the money). The Chinese?? Has anyone in the administration asked them how interested they are in this long term investment? Not so much, perhaps, huh?? Anyone else, then????? Well then it's print money time (hello, inflation!!) - or - let's take another bite out our (hard working) voter's pocketbooks, shall we.

I hope I still have some change left when they're done.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:42 am

Duper wrote:I found something rather disturbing about the "stimulus package". I'll post it in another thread when I find a source. We will get socialized health care that will hit the elderly the hardest if it passes.

So McCain's little health care fix would've solved the problem instead? Not bloody likely! I've already spent ALL of his tax break on ONE broken bone! But for the record, Obama's plan is not a 'fix' either and I'm not for it. Whether people like it or not, the U.S. is going to have to dump health care for profit and create a socialized, government managed health care system that is fair to all, not Obama's mix of government insurance/private insurance for profit Frankencare plan.

You guys keep coming down on Obama all the time and seem to overlook the fact that the Republican's are actually out to hinder progress and are actively trying to get him to fail instead of putting forth viable options instead of the same old tired Republican crap to fix our problems. They're just following Rush Limbaugh's mantra.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,481484,00.html

Tax cuts are NOT going to fix this mess. Job creation and preventing our private sector jobs from being shipped overseas should be tantamount here. The Dems need to figure this out too but they also have their heads wound up in the petty spending junk we see in the stimulus package, so they also need a dose of reality. If working people don't have good paying stable jobs and our retiree nest eggs bank accounts keep going down in value, NO ONE is going to start spending any money, whether they get a tax break or not! And giving corporations more tax breaks in the U.S. will NOT bring back U.S. jobs because third-world labor is always going to be cheaper.

Democracy in the U.S. will not flourish without a large, stable middle-class. The new aristocracy ain't going to cut it. Besides, the Republicans with their 'tax cuts for the wealthy' and the 'let the free market do it's own thing without regulation' ideas have had 8 YEARS to show results, but instead we now have a coming global depression. Their ideas are the OLD Reaganomics of the past that are just not working out now.

This ought to scare people. We've already had an electronic run on the money markets to the tune of $550 billion last September. We almost had a full banking meltdown on Bush's watch.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:48 am

tunnel, read the article. It has nothing to do with McCain.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:40 pm

tunnelcat wrote:Tax cuts are NOT going to fix this mess. Job creation and preventing our private sector jobs from being shipped overseas should be tantamount here.

And just exactly how do you think you keep jobs in the country. YOU GIVE TAX BREAKS TO CORPORATIONS!!!

JFK said it best, "You cannot Tax a nation into prosperity"

The US has the second highest Corp tax code in the world. right behind Japan, and look whats happening there. they are shiiping their jobs to the US because its cheaper to manufacture them

tunnelcat wrote:Democracy in the U.S. will not flourish without a large, stable middle-class.

dont worry in 25 years if the Democrats get there way the US will be ALL middle class. since we now are officially in a socialist government.

The government now own a share of the housing market, the Auto market, the Banking market, and the Insurance Market. and they have already began its socialism by telling its CEO's how much money they can make.(which by the way I do think they make too much, but this is a free market society, or at least it was) and by telling the housing market who they should loan money to, and the Insurance market by telling them who they will cover. that is the definition of socialism

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:43 pm

tunnelcat wrote: Whether people like it or not, the U.S. is going to have to dump health care for profit and create a socialized, government managed health care system that is fair to all

This would be a first for anywhere in the world, unless by "fair to all" you mean that we all get screwed the same.

You guys keep coming down on Obama all the time and seem to overlook the fact that the Republican's are actually out to hinder progress and are actively trying to get him to fail instead of putting forth viable options instead of the same old tired Republican crap to fix our problems.

Disagreeing with Obama is not tryinjg "to get him to fail"; it's trying to get him to wake up. He's the one who said he wanted to be bipartisan - ok, so where is it?

Tax cuts are NOT going to fix this mess. Job creation and preventing our private sector jobs from being shipped overseas should be tantamount here.

No ONE thing is going to solve this economic crisis. BTW, just how would you recommend that the private sector go about creating (and keeping) jobs in the US? What does an employer need to create any job?

And giving corporations more tax breaks in the U.S. will NOT bring back U.S. jobs because third-world labor is always going to be cheaper.

Maybe, but labor isn't the only cost a company has to consider. If the workforce doesn't have the proper skills, then it doesn't matter how cheap they are.

edit - http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_1107_49.pdf

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:34 pm

tunnelcat wrote:....The Dems need to figure this out too but they also have their heads wound up in the petty spending junk we see in the stimulus package,...

Why do you call it a "stimulus package"?
Damn near a trillion dollars of spending and a fraction of it is designed to stimulate the economy and most of that fraction doesn't take effect for a few years!
Obama says we need to do it right now but if you ask him what exactly will he do he says he 'won't give us details until they figure it out'!!!

So he's able to know the problem is so bad we need to hurry up and spend a trillion dollars but he hasn't figured out what he will actually do regarding the economy!!!
And you want to criticize anyone who questions the failed logic behind that?!?!

Stimulus my ass!! It's a frickin appropriations bill that is bypassing all the usual process being rammed down our throats by a democrat congress that says 'we don't really care about the pork spending'!!
and the media is trying so hard not to call him on it,even they, who abandoned journalism to elect the guy, can't believe the ineptitude of this attempt at camouflaging this scam.

If it wasn't reality it would make a decent Saturday Night Live bit. In fact if it was republicans doing it it would be this Saturday Night right after the media tore them a new sphincter on the evening news
But they are democrats so all you faithful are expected to assume the position like a cheap hooker on demand by her pimp!

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:08 am

ok, so when is Mike Rowe gonna do a show about being a member of Congress ...

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirty ... yjobs.html
(teh flash graphics are so appropriate)

And for those of you who are mathematically inclined, there's this post from Iowahawk

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:35 am

dissent wrote:....

And for those of you who are mathematically inclined, there's this post from Iowahawk

ROFLOL!!

VonVulcan · Post by **VonVulcan** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:15 pm

Will Robinson wrote:
dissent wrote:....

And for those of you who are mathematically inclined, there's this post from Iowahawk
ROFLOL!!

X2

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:24 pm

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:03 pm

OK, I agree that corporate tax rates are high in the U.S. Low labor costs, health care costs being a large chunk, are still the major consideration for moving jobs out of the country in my opinion. But I still disagree that tax cuts will attract the large global corporations back to the U.S. Small businesses on the other hand would definitely benefit and help create private sector jobs. However, look closely at the graph that compares personal tax rates and corporate tax rates broken down by country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world

Taxes have to come from somewhere to run a government and provide social and common services. So who will provide the money, corporations or the populace or a fair contribution from both? Most countries have either a large personal tax rate or a large corporate tax rate to pay for these things, but you won't find BOTH tax rates low in most modern developed countries. The large multinational corporations are going to third-world countries to find cheap labor, no health care costs and very low taxes, not something that they will find in either Europe, Canada or the U.S. Pick your poison on who gets taxed the most and what is fair.

As for the McCain health care mention, I only brought it up since it seems that right-wingers are pushing the McCain plan as a better solution than what Obama has come up with. There's also some right-wing misinformation that's being spread around. Drudge and Besty McCaughey for example have been spreading this about the wording in the new bill:

...\"one new bureaucracy, the national Coordinator of Health Information Technology... to reduce costs and \"guide\" your doctor's decisions.\"

In reality it says in Title XXX Subtitle A Section 3001.(b)(4)

\"Provides appropriate information to HELP guide medical decisions at the time of place and care.\"

The government is NOT going to tell your doctor how he or she is supposed to treat a patient, it's just a smear. Of course, insurance HMO's already tell doctors what they can and can't do now!

The Emporer has no clothes....

The Emporer has no clothes....

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