$7.7 Billion of Putrid Pork

In February, 851,000 more Americans lost their jobs, swelling the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent (1), its highest level in over 25 years (2). The number of jobless Americans has escalated by approximately 5 million in the past 12 months. Clearly, something needs to be done to reinvigorate the American economy, but the stimulus package that was just passed by president Barack Obama is not it. When Taxpayers for Common Sense reviewed the bill, they found about 8,500 “pet projects” that cost a total of $7.7 billion. The legislation even included “almost $2 million for swine odor and manure management” (3), taking “pork-barrel" spending to a new, even more ridiculous level. The fact that this earmark-filled bill was passed just shows how many of the Congressional representatives have lost touch with the wants and needs of their constituents. Instead, they have fallen into the hands of lobbyists and special-interest groups. America is deep into an economic recession, and all they care about is serving their own selfish agendas. They are kicking American taxpayers while they are down and wasting their hard-earned money. They should be ashamed of themselves for practicing such petty politics when their nation is in crisis. They should remember that what Americans need now is a stable economy, not putrid pork.

1. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

2. http://www.miseryindex.us/urbymonth.asp

3. http://www.8000credit.org/150/

It's Doing its Job

Drastic measures need to be taken to improve the United States economy. The stimulus package is the first radical step in attempting to recuperate it. This fix cannot be done with just one bill or portion of money, but this package approved by President Obama is a good place to begin. This is not our saving grace and it is not perfect, and the American people should know that before they criticize it.
If it does its job it will put money in the peoples pockets who need it most, get more money to state governments, and provide jobs through construction projects. It is very important that each state gets some portion of the money, “to make sure that they don't have to either have big tax increases or lay a million people off. Either one, in this economy, would be bad.”1 It has already been shown that the stimulus package will do its job. The saving of 25 jobs in Ohio has been traced directly back to the spending of the stimulus money. If this is true then they are the first of the “3.5 million jobs [the stimulus will save or create] within the next two years.”2
The stimulus is just a quick fix, but I believe it is necessary. It will keep the fire from getting worse, and once it stops calming flames, we will have to come up with something new to fix our problems.


Sources:
1. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/18/king.clinton.transcript/#cnnSTCText

2. http://www.cnsnews.com/public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=44618

"Mystery Meat" of Stimulus Bill May be the Right Food for Economic Growth

Compromise has been part of American government since the time of the writing of the Constitution, and can not be eliminated now. When making a Constitution, the Founding Fathers knew that there was no way to create a document that would suit everyone perfectly; however, they understood the importance of having even an imperfect government over no government at all. In today’s society, making a stable American government is no longer the greatest concern, but compromise is still just as necessary. In times of economic crisis, it is necessary to pass some form of stimulus, even if it must include some earmarks. The greatest concern was ensuring that the $787 billion dollar stimulus bill made it through Congress, and in order for this to have happened, it required an enormous amount of cooperation that could only have been achieved with the additions of “pork spending.” Perhaps it is best to look at the original guidelines for stimulus, laid out by “the intellectual godfather of all economic-stimulus plans, economist John Maynard Keynes.” (1) In dealing with the greatest economic crisis of all time, the Great Depression, he understood the foremost issue was ensuring that government money was given back to the people, no matter how it was spent. In fact, he believed that the government could simply “fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coal mines, which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again." (1) While this is one extreme, it is evident that America needs whatever it can get for help right now. Besides, with the abundant criticism for the “pet projects,” many citizens fail to realize that these additions to the original bill may be just as useful as the original bill itself. For instance, the “almost $2 million for swine odor and manure management for Tom Harkin” (2) will surely provide an increase in labor need in his area, helping to diminish the rapidly growing unemployment statistics. While the stimulus bill is meant to assist the nation as a whole, many of the earmarks proposed are more specific and therefore can be more efficient for jumpstarting the economy. In North Carolina, Rep. Larry Kissell argues for the manufacturing of TSA uniforms in his own state, instead of in foreign countries including Honduras and Mexico. He states that, “The immediate impact would be to bring the assembly work to the U.S., which would create jobs," (3) and the economic boost that his state would receive could eventually spread around the nation. At least this gives the U.S. a sense of hope that there is a rebound in the economy, and may lead to higher levels of spending. Furthermore, some of the so-called pork spending is only meant to fix past legislations’ mistakes. For instance, one part of the bill is meant to give Medicare funding to three hospitals that did not receive it under a former bill. Rep. Larson’s spokeswoman, Emily Barocas, made it clear that “the measure fixes a mistake in a previous law that unintentionally excluded the three hospitals.” (3) Clearly, this is not a selfish act being made on the part of Congressman Larson. Instead of looking so scrupulously at the pet projects included in the stimulus bill, perhaps it is best to look at the scope of the bill as a whole. There is no hiding the fact that the U.S. is in a crisis of great magnitude, and it is probably best to have projects that reach out to every aspect of the economy so that everyone can get their share of the “pork.”
1- Justin Fox, Will Obama's Stimulus Package Work?, 9 January 2009, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1870575,00.html


2- 8000 Credit.org, Stimulus Package Pork Spending, 1 March 2009, http://www.8000credit.org/150/


3- ProPublica.org, In the Stimulus Bill: An Earmark by Any Other Name, 5 February 2009, http://www.propublica.org/feature/welcome-in-the-stimulus-bill-an-earmark-by-any-other-name

A Rush at Imperfection

Haste makes waste as it is commonly known, yet will the current economic stimulus be simply that; waste? The debate is common whether the stimulus will have the desired affect that Obama said it would. It targets nearly every sector of the economy, and reaches out at nearly every individual across the United States. Could it be trying to do too much? That is a question that I believe is true since the current stimulus is simply handing out billions of dollars for the main causes of Tax Cuts, Healthcare, Education, Aid to low income workers, unemployed and retirees, Infrastructure Investment, Energy, Housing, Scientific Research, and even more areas not mentioned. It seems that this immense list may have money put into places that are not even significant to rebuilding the broken economy of America. The three main alterations that need to be made to the current economy, in my opinion, are a change in the banking structure and a clearing of toxic assets, fixing of the housing crisis that originally started this mess, and a creation of jobs to offset the side-effects of the first two and allow the economy to get back on its feet. I feel that much of the money is simply being wasted and spent on programs that have no relevance to fixing the economy. There were also a multitude of earmarks in this bill that illustrates a hypocritical side of Obama. Last Wednesday he spoke these words, "This piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability that the American people have every right to expect and demand." If the American people deserve a new beginning and knowledge that their tax money and investments are not being wasted, then why would he let all this money simply slip by with these earmarks? Yes, some of these earmarks are going to be spent on worthy causes, yet there is a great percentage of it that will simply be misused, misspent, and simply wasted. The last important point with the stimulus bill was that it was rushed. It was not too long ago when Obama was sworn in, yet he seems to have thrown this stimulus package together in only a few months. This is the package that is expected to have an effect for years to come, yet was definitely pushed out far too soon in my opinion. The majority of the money will not be used until later this year, or even in later years, so why would Obama not spend more time on perfecting the deficiencies rather than sending it out before almost anyone could make sense of it? He easily could have taken a few more months where him and his advisors could have stitched out the problems and saved the money that the government needs so desperately at the moment. Therefore this stimulus was a rush at perfection that will have an end result that nearly no one will be able to predict.

Sources-http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/14/hope-fear-obama-walks-fine-line-recession-talk/
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1477075,CST-EDT-simon15.article

A Challenger Approaches: The Bright Side of the Stimulus Package

The criticism concerning Barack Obama's Stimulus Package is valid to some extent, but perhaps too harsh. Yes it is true that this bill has been loaded with earmarks, a practice which Obama himself stated to be against, but perhaps they were necessary. Earmarks are assurances that the bill won't be accepted unless certain things are done to specific areas in the country and, if they were not included, this plan may still be collecting dust. Action absolutely must be taken right away in order to help boost the economy, and that is what President Obama has begun doing by creating this package. Especially after "The unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent from 7.6 percent in January, the highest reading since December 1983"(1), the worry level of US Citizens is going through the roof. Thankfully, the Stimulus Package is designed to help these every day people by providing them with jobs. For example, the plan gives "$28 billion -- $6.9 billion in discretionary funds and $21 billion in mandatory funds to go for specific programs"(2) to the agricultural industry, which will create jobs for many suffering farmers, "$730 million to make changes [...] to the agency's lending and investment programs"(2) to the Small Businesses Association to assist those with small businesses, and even the Department of Energy is getting aided by funds that will "create or protect nearly 3.5 million jobs over the next two years"(2). These are just a few associations that have been funded by this package in order to create much-needed jobs, and so it would seem that the package is putting the US on the right track. Unfortunately, however optimistic the bill may seem, not everyone is happy. The critics for the high spending that this bill requires are hypocritical Conservatives. These Republicans "draw the line at a stimulus bill that funnels $135 billion directly to the bankrupted state governments to help pay for Medicaid, education and infrastructure"(3) are the same ones who backed "the far larger sums wasted in their support of the terminally corrupt governments of Iraq and Afghanistan."(3) It is as if far-right Conservatives are turning a blind eye to the mess that was created by the Bush Administration, and turn right around to criticize Obama for spending a lesser amount. This is absurd, and the reason these people are even being listened to and supported is beyond comprehension. Though not 100% ideal for all Americans, at least having this plan is better than not having any at all. Obama cannot make all people happy, but he surely is taking a step in the right direction to please the struggling ones. Lighten up, critics.

Sources:

(1) http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/06/obama.stimulus/index.html?iref=newssearch

(2)http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/03/stimulus.money/index.html?iref=newssearch

(3) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090302/scheer

Not the Quick Fix Americans Were Looking For

The stimulus plan that was recently signed by President Barak Obama is supposed to boost the income of the people of the United States and in turn boost the United States’ economy. This plan is supposed to create 3.5 million jobs for the American public. This should severely help the economy considering the unemployment rate has sky-rocketed because of the failing economy and the growing national debt. It also includes “$281 billion in tax cuts with $308 billion in outlays funded by the appropriations committees and about $198 billion in spending for benefit programs such as unemployment assistance, $250 payments or millions of people receiving Social Security benefits, and extra money for states to help with the Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled” (1) This money seems like it is going to be used in a way that will actually benefit the economy and the people, but there is A LOT of money in this bill that is not necessary and is not going to benefit the economy. These are the 9000 earmarks that are tacked on to the end of the stimulus plan by the representatives of the people. This extra money is only going to hurt the people more. As Senator John McCain said, “It contains much that is not stimulative, and is nothing short -- nothing short -- of generational theft.” (1) The people of today AND the people of tomorrow are going to be paying for this stimulus plans and the billions of dollars that have been tacked on to the plan because of the earmarks. Although some Americans believe that this plan will be a quick fix to all of our economic problems, they are wrong. The economy is going to take year and maybe even decades to return to the way that it was. As President Barak Obama said, “This historic step won't be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but rather the beginning. The problems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread, and our response must be equal to the task” (1)
Source 1: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/13/congress-readies-final-vote-b-stimulus/

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