And it begins...

The Obama administration’s “stimulus package” was just passed by the House of Representatives and now heads to the Senate where it will meet little to no resistance before it is passed onto the President for his final approval.

My guess is that Obama will sign it by noon on Friday.

What are we paying for in this bill? Well, here’s a brief outline of some of the programs that are needed to “stimulate jobs” (thank you Wall Street Journal):

· $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that has not turned a profit in 40 years

· $2 billion for child-care subsidies

· $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

· $400 million for global-warming research

· $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects

· $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons

· $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects

· $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars

· $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities

· $150 million for the Smithsonian

· $81 billion for Medicaid

· $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits

· $20 billion for food stamps

· $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax

· $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits

· $66 billion more for education. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush.

· $335 million for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

It’s not that all of these programs are without merit; it’s just that so few of them offer the opportunity to stimulate the economy or create jobs…the supposed very point of this bill.

This is nothing more than the Obama Administration using the “economic crisis” to get his pet projects through without any questions.

Simply maddening!

If you read the linked AP story, the level of delusion of some Congressmen, notably David Obey of Wisconsin, is really quite striking.

Here are a couple of his quotes:

"Another week that we delay is another 100,000 or more people unemployed. I don't think we want that on our consciences."

React: First, does he have any factual evidence to back up this number or is this just him spit balling? You know when President Bush was in office, a statement like that would have been categorized as a “scare tactic”. Not now though. These irresponsible figures are the “cold-hard facts”.

"They don't look like Herbert Hoover, I guess, but there are an awful lot of people in this chamber who think like Herbert Hoover."

React: Perhaps Obey would like to read some recent economic studies on the Great Depression and how it was FDR and his spending programs, programs that eerily resemble this spending plan, that turned a garden variety recession into a nearly decade and a half depression that was only rescued by World War II.

I’m sure he didn’t have time to read any of those studies, as he was hard at work getting this bill passed. After all, I’m sure he wouldn’t want any more lost jobs on his conscience.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John