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While the Senate voted to give Timothy Geithner the top job at the Treasury, 60-34, despite his failure to pay taxes for four years, 55000 employees lost their jobs in a two hour period. Those announcing job cuts today included Caterpiller, Sprint, Pfizer, and Home Depot. These follow Bank of America’s layoff announcement last week and the closing of Circuit City.
Caterpiller’s layoffs follow this past summer’s credit problems where despite their perfect credit rating they could not get the renewal of the regular credit line.
Rush Limbaugh, sitting in the ominous position of being a United States citizen who is under verbal attack from the President of the United States, has issued a positive challenge to President Barack Obama. Based on the 52-54% of the electorate vote that Obama received, Limbaugh has suggested that the Obama administration use that percentage of the $825 billion dollar price tag on their ideas, such as the renovations to the National Mall and the funds to stop the spread of STD’s. The balance of the package will be utilized in the manner taht the Republican’s are suggesting, primarily in tax cuts. Limbaugh says that he is positive that the Republicans will prevail.
With all the money troubles at home, why are we spending money in foreign lands to provide abortions!
For starters, I am not an economist by any means, but I have laid a few pallets of sod (green side up), and I cannot yet figure out how $200 million dollars for renovations to the National Mall, which includes replacing all of the sod, is going to help to stimulate the economy and grow jobs…. weeds maybe, but jobs? How does $360 million dollars to slow the spread of sexually tansmitted diseases stimulate the economy and grow jobs as well. Yes, this is a worthy cause, as is the $60 million dollars alloted for the National Endowment for the Arts, but are they truly items that should be in an economic stimulus program?
The Republicans are remaining strong in their resistance to the items involved in the packages as they have evolved thus far. There is no doubt among the legislators that there must be some plan of action, but the idea of spending more in such a hphazard manner has many wanting to slow the “rush” of the package down a bit for careful scrutiny.
Even the Congressional Budget Office, whose Director is now at the White House, has reported that the bulk of the economic stimulus program would not trickle into the system for at least two years. Many economists are saying that by the time most of these items have an impact, the recession will have followed its normal mechanics of correcting itself. So one then has to wonder if the underlying basis for this package is the economy or is it a means of getting other agenda issues into action, such as the White House Urban policy development?
Given the nature of the past week, the American people will give President Obama a pass on his “because I won” comment once, maybe twice. But if that is the maturity level of his leadership skills, even the Kool Aid drinkers will soon stop drinking the Kool Aid!
White House Urban Policy: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/urban_policy/
