Pigs in the Blanket

President Barack Obama stated that he was signing an “imperfect bill”. This imperfect bill was loaded with ‘earmarks’, a practice that President Obama was indubitably against during his campaign for the President of the United States. Just two months ago President Obama said, "We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review," after a meeting with his economic advisers (1). Obviously the President either didn’t care about the ‘pet projects’ that were being inserted or felt that the major economic deficiencies we were facing needed to be acted upon instantly, and overshadowed the massive amounts of ‘earmarks’. The American economy is most certainly in a horrendous condition, and the reasoning behind President Obama allowing this imperfect bill to be instituted. However, some of these pet projects are outlandish and highly detrimental to a bill that should help and not hinder the American economy. Our debt is increasing to the tune of $3.27 billion a day since September 28th 2008, and as of March 15th 2009 we have a national debt of $10.99 Trillion (2). These ‘earmarks’ only add to the debt of our nation, they include “a $200,000 allocated to the task of tattoo removal as Representative Howard Berman of California wanted. Not to forget the stimulus bill pork spending - almost $2 million for swine odor and manure management for Tom Harkin because it is highly urgent to treat the stink of pigs and their manure.” (3). In addition to these other ‘projects’ “$1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research; Another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.” (4). As you can see there is an immense amount of pork spending within this bill. All in all the ‘earmarks’ out weigh what this stimulus package will do for our economy.

Source 1
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/06/obama.stimulus/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Source 2
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
Source 3
http://www.8000credit.org/150/
Source 4
http://www.erollover.com/blog/2009-economy/2009-economic-stimulus-bill

Chris Cacio
Period 6
L4 Civics

Impossible to Escape

The stimulus package originally was made to support or rebuild the economy in recession by the revenue created from taxes of income, back to the tax payer in hopes that the tax payer would spend it, so that it would stimulate the economy out of the "recession." The United States' national debt is rising and it was last recorded on March 15, 2009 a national debt of 10.99 trillion dollars. Ever since September 28, 2008, our national debt continues to increase at an average of 3.72 billion dollars per day. How will the U.S. ever pay back the debt if it continues to rise and if our per day collected taxes can not even match up the the national debt per day? On March 12, 2009, as President Obama stated at the Recovery Act Implementation Conference, "money is being spent as it needs to be spent -- to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our schools, and making sure that we are putting in place the kinds of infrastructure foundations that are necessary for economic growth over the long term" if President Obama is going to spend it on that, when will we ever pay back the national debt? Generation after generation, the United States will be in the same situation; the national debt is going to rise and the people of the United States will still be paying large amount taxes. In my point of view, as President Obama worded, the "recovery" package isn't going to do any good because all President Obama gave us it the hope and his saying at the Recovery Act Implementation Conference, "I think you're up to the task; I think you guys will do extraordinary work with using these precious tax dollars that the American people have given up in order to deliver on the kind of economic growth" but no action has been taken.

Source 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/us/politics/12obama-text.html?_r=1

Source 2: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/united_states_economy/economic_stimulus/index.html

Source 3: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Needs Some Adjustments

The stimulus package proposed by our newest president, Barack Obama, has extremely good intentions and logic behind it. It’s modeled after FDR’s New Deal which proved to be extremely effective in helping the United States climb out of the Great Depression. "Fiscal stimulus aims to boost economic activity during periods of economic weakness by increasing short-term aggregate demand.” [1] This means that the package is trying to increase the purchases of goods and services during a time where people are cutting back. If people begin to spend their money again, local and national businesses and industries can thrive, allowing for more jobs and a more stable economy. The economy will certainly benefit from the passing of the stimulus package; however, the package would be more effective if the extensive amount of earmarks that have been slipped in were to be removed. The bill as currently written “contains dozens of narrowly defined programs that send money to specific areas or cater to special interests…” [2] The earmarks found in this bill are of good intention and for good causes, but in this state of such severe economic recession, they need to take a back seat and wait for a more appropriate circumstance. Moreover, the stimulus package is a good idea, but it requires some changes before it can be an effective solution to the economic depression occurring in the United States.

Sources:

[1]http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/united_states_economy/economic_stimulus/index.html

[2]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29025047/

Better than nothing

As far as I know, no bill passed has ever been perfect. Ever since the beginning of President Obama's term, expectations have been high, with promises of a bright future ahead for (at least)America's middle class. Its not surprise that the $410 billion stimulus package meant to ameliorate the recent economic recession is somewhat flawed; Pres. Obama even stated that he was signing an imperfect bill. Over 9000 earmarks have been pushed in as 'pet projects' (ironic, as most of the earmark money is going towards animals), but this only amounts to around $8 billion dollars, less than 2 percent of the total package - if you want to get particular, its 1.9% . I am not an advocate for earmarks in any way, shape, or form (especially pork barreling), but I would classify this bill as absolutely necessary in order for the government to be able to get back on its feet hopefully as Obama put it, to "mark (get it?) an end to the old way of doing business, and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability." Although it is hypocritical, the unethical behaviour of senators/Reps is nothing new ($200,000 there, $2 million here, etc.), and there is not much we as citizens can do about it ; the economic recession is the presidents first big hurdle, and this bill will (hopefully) be the panacea to one of the biggest of our nation's many problems. Of course this is a short-term solution, but with our economy in the ditch, I don't think we can complain about the size of the tow truck.

Sources:

(1) http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre52a4h0-us-obama-spending/
(2)http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220522 (4 minutes in, its amusing)
(3)http://www.8000credit.org/150/

Not too thrilled

President Obama promised America he would avoid all ear marks and improve the economy. He's only shooting for one now that he's a few months into the White House. A $410 Billion bill was passed in the name of helping America out of an economic crisis. However, this bill was chock full of a total 9,000 'pet projects' a euphemism for earmarks. Obama's bill is ridiculously hypocritical and there's not a lot he can do to redeem himself. Half of these bills aren't even needed for the economy, $200,000 dollars for tattoo removal because Representative Berman suggested it? And another $2 million for swine and odor management? What do we need those things for? Those are not going to immediately improve the economy and bring us out of a possible recession. In fasct they're almost never going to be actually needed. They were just put on the bill to get a vote to make it happen. It's not worth it. It's impossible to improve the economy if we're spending more and more of the tax payers dollars on little things to get different represenatives on board. Represenatives should want to fix the economy without getting their silly little ear marks in. Shouldn't they? Obama should have stuck to his guns and done what he said he was going to do. Then maybe this economic stimulus package would have gone over smoother.

As a Vegetarian, I’ll Pass on This Slice of Pork

Although the intentions of the Stimulus package sound ideal on paper, I am not convinced about the plan as a whole. Part of this stimulus package irks me in the worst way possible. I am utterly appalled at the earmarks that Senators are tacking onto the stimulus package. According to Obama, this “massive stimulus package could ultimately exceed $1 trillion” (1). If there weren’t so many earmarks on this bill, the monetary amount of this package would surely be lower. It is absolutely despicable what these Senators are doing. While part of our country is unemployed or in debt, some senators are proposing earmarks so they can have the funding for their special projects. These earmarks are not only increasing the cost of the stimulus package, but they are selfish as well. Senators propose earmarks for the good of their state, and many times, for the good of certain individuals or specific companies. In my eyes, the economy will not improve until we focus on the bigger problem at hand instead of projects for special interests.
Furthermore, it is clear that the United States government is in a substantial amount of debt and our economy is experiencing a recession. Presently, the stimulus package seems like an unreachable solution, but President Obama is trying to convince people that immediate action is required and a stimulus-spending package is the only apparent solution to address the financial crisis. President Obama said more than once that, “things are going to get worse before they get better”(1). I would like to believe that, but is that a good enough reason to push this bill through that is laden with pork barrel spending? Would it really impact the crisis that much more to spend another week cleaning up the bill? I feel uncomfortable about pushing the bill through under panicked and such emotional condition.
Moreover, there are ways for the United States government to borrow money from various sources to help pay for the stimulus package. For instance, treasury bonds can be issued to foreign governments, businesses, banks, and/or other wealthy individuals. However, issuing more of these bonds will put the United States government into even more debt that could have drastic, long-term effects on future generations of America.


Source 1
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5303652.ece


Source 2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-progress-report/obamas-stimulus-package_b_155279.html


Claire Fichtel
Civics L4 Period 6
3/13/09

Stimulus Package-Pork, or Real Beef for America?

Due march 16,2009 8am
www.american issuesproject.org/enough
www.8000credit.org/150/
What is your view on the stimulus package?


Assignment#2-due march 17, 2009 8am

Read the two websites listed above along with pages 123-139 of The Enduring Debate.
Find two items in the stimulus package that go along with the view propounded in chapter 21. Find two items that go along with the perspective in chapter 22. Explain your reasoning.