Lame Duck Watch: President Bush “exploring economic stimulus package”
Interrupting post-Iowa caucus coverage for a depressing Lame Duck Watch bulletin…
Someone pinch me. Am I dreaming? Is it 2008…or 1993? Because the last time I recall the words “economic stimulus” wafting out of Washington, Bill Clinton was in office and Hillary was, you know, risking her life on First Lady superhero missions. Gack. Now, lame duck president George W. Bush is raiding the cemetery of buried bad ideas and resurrecting the economic stimulus idea. It’s deja voo-doo all over again:
President Bush said Thursday that he was considering whether to propose a stimulus package to shore up the economy, the clearest indication yet of a growing concern inside the White House over rising oil prices, the subprime mortgage crisis and the possibility of recession.
“I’m concerned about people losing their homes and paying a lot for gasoline,” Mr. Bush said in an interview with Reuters…“In terms of any stimulus package, we’re considering all options,” Mr. Bush said.
USAT reports Bush will hold a press conference at 12:30pm today, though he says he won’t be making any final decision on the how, what, and when of the stimulus package until he delivers the State of the Union address later this month.
It would be one thing if “economic stimulus” simply meant tax relief. But in Washington–what with the White House looking for a legacy, the subprime crisis exploding, and “bipartisan consensus” in demand–there’s no way in hell any “economic stimulus” package will win approval without being larded up with gobs of needless, unwarranted spending. I don’t care who’s occupying the White House. “Economic stimulus” is a synonym for Big Government.
House Democrats are already eying “help for state and local governments suffering from the real estate slump” as part of their economic stimulus proposal.
John Edwards has proposed a $25 billion economic stimulus package “of investments in clean energy, job training and unemployment benefits. He said lawmakers should be prepared to allocate another $75 billion in the event of a recession.”
Hillary Clinton’s economic advisor Gene Sperling, who advised Bill Clinton during his failed economic stimulus attempt in the 1990s, is already licking his chops–proposing “a one-time foreclosure-prevention fund” and “relief to states to prevent property tax hikes” among other stimulating measures.
Where will GOP Senators stand? In 1993, they sank Clinton’s bloated economic stimulus plan, which was a hodge-podge of liberal goodies (job training programs, mass transit spending, and even funding for an ice skating warming hut in Connecticut).
Today, there’s only one US Senator on record against a federal housing bailout. One.
The president is crusading for strapped homeowners (who bought more house than they could afford or went bonkers with their home equity) to get government relief–on the backs of responsible homeowners, responsible savers, and responsible taxpayers. He says he’s “concerned about people losing their homes and paying a lot for gasoline.”
Methinks President Bush should be more concerned about the rest of us who’ll be forced to subsidize an inevitable expansion of the welfare state in the name of economic “stimulation.” There’s nothing compassionate or conservative about that.
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Categories: George W. Bush, Subprime crisis
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I like President Bush but wish he would spend the rest of his Presidency at Camp David roasting Marshmellows or something….or the Ranch.
I guess I’m a suspicious sort. Maybe Senator Kyl, the one Senator “against” the plan is not really against it, but is trying to re-institute his conservative credentials after the amnesty fiasco.
Hang on to your wallets sports fans. Here we go again…
Stimulus? How about stop spending like a drunken cowboy? How about killing the central bank? How about stop providing incentives for our manufacturing base to pull up stakes and leave? That’s stimulus.
Here’s another idea: Cut taxes again. Put a moratorium on half the gas and property taxes paid out. Tighten the government budget and actually cut spending.
A legacy… doesn’t he know he already has one? Bringing democracy to the Middle East is quite a feat, if you ask me. Why can’t he leave it at that?
The American people are tired of having our money ripped from our hands.
This is completely senseless. The home my husband and I purchased a year ago was picked because of the size of the house, the acreage and the price. We knew we would have to put alot of money into it. It was built in the 70s and the former owners did everything they could to make sure it reflected the 70s. Well, we have been updating/renovating it since we moved in. If only we had bought a nice big house on the lake that we really couldn’t afford. But who cares about those responsible people out there who do not overextend themselves no matter the tempation?
Economic stimulus? Besides correcting out of control spending, how about opening up drilling in ANWR and the gulf and fast tracking the building of a new refinery. Wow, solve the energy problem and lower gas/oil prices and stimulate the domestic economy on several levels without gov’t spending all in one fell swoop. Wow, what a concept. The collective IQ of our gov’t is something less than that of a drooling, concussed, crack addict.
That’s because the addiction to power and money in Congress (opposite of Pro-gress) is the most addictive.
What you and I want to the government to get out of the way. Why would they want that?
Whether it’s amassing power or money, the concentration of such influence must be brought into line.
The more I look at Bush the more he seems to be pushing for Hillary as the next president…Why would he propose a economic stimu-lust package the Democrats can take credit for in an election year….
Let’s flood the White House switchboard and “just say NO!”
I-for one- am tired of Republican “royalty” cowing to the Saudis, the banks, and the Democrats.
You can count me in Christian Soldier.
Bush continues to race randomly around the room looking for a legacy - sad and dangerous IMHO.
Unfortunately many of will remember him as the president who allowed the US to be overrun by invaders from the south. Yeah, I know he did some other things like Iraq, tax cuts … but i will remember the sellout to Mexico and corporations.
What we have is stag-flation. I think it could get like the Carter years. The feds have not been properly measuring inflation and it has run out of control. To maintain liquidity they have been expanding currency, but not capital, a deadly combination. Bush is guilty of greatly expanding the government and it is out of control. If you want a measure of the devaluation of the dollar just look at gold. In less than a decade it has gone from 280 dollars an ounce to 860 dollars an ounce. That is a tripling. Now measure the dow jones to the price of gold and you will see that it has dropped more than 50 percent in that decade. We are quickly becoming one of the poor countries on this planet, and we are paying to police the world.
I tell you what. . . why don’t you give me my money back in the form of a tax cut, and we’ll call that an ‘economic stimulus package’. OK?
I’ve got an idea for an economic stimulus package: tax incentives for coal gasification.
Thacker #15,
DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!!!
Winner-Winner, chicken dinner!
And, if you (President Bush) really want cheaper gasoline, try pushing for more “home-grown” oil along with new refineries.
It’s as if President Bush is at zugzwang.
My “econnomic stimulus package”?Eliminate the 75% of useless beaurocrats in Washington,make them get real jobs and pay into the federal budget instead of sucking money out of it.
The last I heard, we have to work until sometime in May for various governments before we start keeping any of the money we earn. If Bush really wants to stimulate the economy, maybe he should to something to back that date up a month or so. Otherwise, this just sounds like another way to P_ _ s away our tax dollars.
Wasn’t it a stimulous package that led to the sub prime fiasco in the first place? Just lower the interest rate below 2003 levels so folks can pay their mortgages. And lower taxes, of course. Actually the government should pay a reverse tax to the people–a progressive reverse with the wealthy, productive people getting more. This would stimulate the economy so much that giveouts would continuously increase.
Proof that government ballots do not work. They keep growing and growing…
I tell ya, it’s time like these that Ron Paul becomes more appealing. Just for a little while.
I think Bush should just go back to Crawford and ride is bike for the next year. I really wish he would stop being a compassionate conservative fixing the world’s problems with our hard earned money.
How is increasing government going to stimulate the economy? Doesn’t anybody in Washington have a brain?
When taxpayers spend their money….that stimulates the economy. When the government spends the taxpayer’s money it stagnates the economy.
My guess is that they do have a brain in Washington but choose to take care of themselves and their own instead of the people they are supposed to serve…what a joke!
When we get to keep more of our money, we the taxpayers spend like drunken sailors.
We buy new cars, we buy bigger houses, we go on vacations, we furnish our homes, we buy all the new toys and gadgets. That is how you prop up the economy.
Lower our taxes and there will be more money for the government….it is a proven fact!
I’ll take a tax CUT any day. Better yet, while you’re at it, make them permanent, eliminate the AMT, and take away the death tax too.
Economy is tanking for foure simple reasons…
Oil prices hitting $100 a barrel.
No idea what the tax structure is for THIS year (AMT).
Devaluation of the dollar.
Too much government intrusion into business (latest “energy” bill and its mandates).
All of these are problems created by the government.
Where’s my old “WIN” button? (You youngsters who need a change may not know what that is…)
“Deja voo-doo.”
OT, but I gotta point out that Deja Voodoo is also the name of a fine Gov’t Mule album!
That is an excellent sentence, goos writing, Michelle!
Keep the government out of my wallet, that’s all I have to say.
Sheesh, I’m having a hard time typing today - goos should be good.
#28 On January 4th, 2008 at 12:35 pm, AlohaGuy said:
“Where’s my old “WIN” button? (You youngsters who need a change may not know what that is…)”
Oh yeah…”Whip Inflation Now” during the Ford administration, I believe.
Maybe he’s trying to lay a time bomb for the incoming socialists. If you do a “Jimmy Carter” you’ll wind up with major stagflation in a couple of years that can be blamed on the party in power. It could be a come-back ploy for the conservatives.
ARRRGGGHHHHH I’m so sick of this. It’s really time for another revolution. These politicians are bloody idiots. Time to get them all out and go back to the days of old. Absolutely NO PAY for being a politician, it’s part of your duty as an American, not a job. I am so ready to see a true Constitutional Conservative come along. I think it just goes to show that things that are good in theory and on paper (the constitution) flop big time in the real world. I’m just tired of feeling helpless and along for the painful ride.
I cringed when I hear about the “stimulus” comment too. Didn’t Pappa Bush do a stimulus (read tax hike) on his way out?
Can’t we just kill some more fr=kn’ terrorists and bomb Iran in the final months?
When government spending goes up, so does GDP.
GDP = consumption + investment + (government spending) + (exports − imports)
Thus the GDP report will remain positive.
True, consumption is the big elephant with nearly 70% these days but guess what, government must be approaching the remaining 30% as we have cellar dwelling investment in this country along with a massive trade imbalance.
I wonder if any one realizes this. Now of course government spending includes all levels of government but the federal government is the largest of them all by far.
Here in California we are used to what is called Hollywood accounting where a blockbuster movie such as Forrest Gump can be called a flop by studio executives but they must step aside to the grand daddy of all accounting b.s artists, our government.
The emperor has no clothes.
Searching for legacy by largess.
This man is not done, in fact he’s more dangerous now than ever before just watch what he does for illegal aliens in the next year.
If the freaking, uninformed subprime borrowers can get a bail out, why not a bail out for overpriced food and gas? Huh? Most responsible Americans did their research about what kind of mortgage to get and planned accord-ingly. They’re paying their loans on time. According to Gallup, about 84% of Americans are satisfied with their per-sonal lives. Now they’re expected to save the suckers who fell for the sub-prime, ARM’S, and teaser rate jazz.
Well, in the immortal words of Kathy Griffin, these sub-prime “victims” can go suck it. While I sympathize with their plight, no one forced them to make bad decisions. Yes, there are genuine victims out there but to expect the American people to bail out those claiming “victim status” who didn’t think before they signed the dotted line is ridiculous.
Honestly, I’m fed up. With it all. This country has millions of adults who lack a basic economic education and just as important: common sense. All I hear on message boards across the internet about the economy is: wah, wah, I’m a victim…I’m being crunched and can’t afford food, housing, college tuition, health care. The inevitable blame game has begun about what caused the slowing economy and high prices. What the average American citizen fails to realize is that without Pres. Bush, this economy would have been toast a long time ago.
While we’re at it, let’s do an investigation into why exactly all these items are so expensive. Why are we outsoucing jobs to the third world? To enrich them or to enrich businesses? If both sides (labor and business) actually sat down and chatted perhaps they could have avoided this unpalatable trend. Just like the sub-prime crisis, business and their employees are equally greedy.
I agree with others…President Bush, stop being a schmuck. You’ve already disillusioned much of your base and those of us still supporting you (like myself) think this is a dumb/ill-timed move. You have to sink before you can swim. Let these sub-prime consumers reap what they sow because if they don’t and we don’t learn from this, the same thing will happen again (yet packaged differently of course).
Do you really think this is about the consumer?
The best, noblest action Bush could take for the economy would be to resign and let Chaney take over. He is always stating how he (Bush) wants to “do right” by this group or that. Let him do right by the whole country for a change. It is his last chance to secure a legacy that would be worthwhile.
quack, quack
Economic stimulus package, lame duck president, and democrat congress. There went any chance to have more money in my pocket this year. More “stimulus” means more taxes on the “wealthy” (working, tax paying) people to support the non-wealthy (non-working, no tax) people and those that complain that life is unfair. The only ones who get “stimulated” are the congressmen rubbing their hands in glee over more money for pork.