Stimulate This

Okay, so the title of this post sounds kind of dirty, but I was referring to the newly proposed >$825 billion economic stimulus package.

There is a searchable pdf of the proposal here.

Some things in this package include:

- $75 million for smoking cessation
- $4 billion for "neighborhood stabilization" (hello, ACORN)
- $246 in targeted tax breaks for Hollywood
- $600 million to universal health care promotion
- $24 billion to "green job" projects
- $335 million for STD education and prevention.
- $572 million to create 1,235 Coast Guard jobs (this = $460,000+ in spending per job) (pg. 41)
- $200 million for alternative energy vehicles for the Dept. of Defense (p. 23)
- $1.5 billion for a "carbon-capturing contest" (p. 32)
- $3.5 billion for higher education facilities - does this mean that those increased tuition rates due to "the economic times" will be reimbursed? (p. 64)
- $45 million for All Terrain Vehicles - $25mil for ATV restoration and $20mil for trail maintenance/restoration (p. 45)
- $60 million for HIV and chlamydia testing (p. 60)
- $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax
- $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts
- $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years (pg. 42, 83, 84)
- $2 billion for child-care subsidies
- There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons (pg. 13)
- the list just keeps going... see for yourself.

You can't make this stuff up!!

Stripped from the bill include Nancy Pelosi's proposed federal funding for birth control handouts, and $200 million to give the National Mall in Washington, D.C. a facelift (which included 21 million for sod!!). What the heck does this have to do with the economy?!

"The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government." (John Brodigan)

This is just the initial cost if it were to be paid out immediately. With interest over the proposed spending period, the bill will top $1.1 trillion!!!!

Michell Malkin writes, "...the vaunted infrastructure spending will take years and years and years to kick in. Just 7 percent of the total $800 billion-plus stimulus funding would enter the economy by the end of this year...President Obama asserted that there is no disagreement on the need to Do Something. He's wrong. Two hundred economists spoke up this week in an open letter disseminated by the libertarian Cato Institute: 'More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s,' they said. 'More government spending did not solve Japan's 'lost decade' in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today.' "

The Wall Street Journal notes, "This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years...by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus."

John Lott, Jr. notes that the economy isn't actually as bad as some in politics and the media would lead you to believe and that some politicians may actually be making things worse on purpose.

We've already heard how recipients of the last "economic stimulus bill" (TARP) have squandered millions of dollars. $50 million for a private jet, $1 million to remodel an executive's office, hundreds of thousands of dollars on spa days and golf outings.... the list goes on. We don't have to worry about the current proposed bill actually being spent on economic growth - we'll know beforehand that most of it is guaranteed to not be spent on growth.

This is a great example of how you can scare people during a crisis into action - even if that action will most likely make the crisis even bigger.

Note: The bill passed the House vote last night. Our local congressman (D) voted against it. It's going to the Senate soon.