Since the stimulus was such a roaring success according to its supporters, lets look at what our government is using our money on to stimulate, shall we.
Some of my Favorites:
- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. (that's our money being used to build a baseball field that should have been paid for by the owners of the teams, but instead we're doing it for them!)
- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway. (because Microsoft can't afford it themselves, duh!)
- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri (that's $21 grand per toilet...made out of concrete...when you can buy an 80lb bag of concrete for $5.19...I'm sure it was special concrete.)
and the best
- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.
Aren't we all glad that the government, in spending almost $800 Billion of cash that didn't actually exist, is flushing it away on things like this.
Now they want to spend $1,200,000,000,000.00 of our money on healthcare "reform" and that's the low end estimate. They claim it won't add to the deficit, but the CBO added that that claim was very uncertain. And if you can tell your right foot from your left, you know this type of mass spending is in no way sustainable.
I will admit, I was swaying a bit towards backing reform because something just has to be done (mostly fueled by my distrust of and disgust with insurance companies). Then I thought, "how is the government any better?" Even though the insurance companies are no where near as profitable as some claim, they are still making money. Why? Because they have too in order to survive. The government can run in the red, bankrupting itself (and us along with 'em) and not even blink an eye.
If things are just so deplorable now, what's going to happen when the government takes over and we can't pay for this hunk of horse sh**?
Do away with trust exemptions for ins. co.'s and do some real reform instead of breaking the back of the American people with more taxes to cover this 2,000 page healthcare monstrosity.
There's a reason they're having to ram this through so fast. Dems are afraid this will be their only opportunity to finally get their idea of healthcare reform passed because come November they'll likely lose their majority due to their utter incompetence while in power. And they don't give a damn about the consequences of doing all this, that we get to face. Its about winning to them, not actually getting things done the right way.
If the Liberal Democrat plan is anything like other programs the governments has implemented, that 1.2 Trillion dollar number will have to be described using exponents, i.e. 1.2 x 10 to the 13th power. I don't even know what number that is! And national debt is ticking up to 12 Trillion dollars. Holy God. Where is all this money coming from to pay for this?!?!
Just awesome.
Some of my Favorites:
- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. (that's our money being used to build a baseball field that should have been paid for by the owners of the teams, but instead we're doing it for them!)
- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway. (because Microsoft can't afford it themselves, duh!)
- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri (that's $21 grand per toilet...made out of concrete...when you can buy an 80lb bag of concrete for $5.19...I'm sure it was special concrete.)
and the best
- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.
Aren't we all glad that the government, in spending almost $800 Billion of cash that didn't actually exist, is flushing it away on things like this.
Now they want to spend $1,200,000,000,000.00 of our money on healthcare "reform" and that's the low end estimate. They claim it won't add to the deficit, but the CBO added that that claim was very uncertain. And if you can tell your right foot from your left, you know this type of mass spending is in no way sustainable.
I will admit, I was swaying a bit towards backing reform because something just has to be done (mostly fueled by my distrust of and disgust with insurance companies). Then I thought, "how is the government any better?" Even though the insurance companies are no where near as profitable as some claim, they are still making money. Why? Because they have too in order to survive. The government can run in the red, bankrupting itself (and us along with 'em) and not even blink an eye.
If things are just so deplorable now, what's going to happen when the government takes over and we can't pay for this hunk of horse sh**?
Do away with trust exemptions for ins. co.'s and do some real reform instead of breaking the back of the American people with more taxes to cover this 2,000 page healthcare monstrosity.
There's a reason they're having to ram this through so fast. Dems are afraid this will be their only opportunity to finally get their idea of healthcare reform passed because come November they'll likely lose their majority due to their utter incompetence while in power. And they don't give a damn about the consequences of doing all this, that we get to face. Its about winning to them, not actually getting things done the right way.
If the Liberal Democrat plan is anything like other programs the governments has implemented, that 1.2 Trillion dollar number will have to be described using exponents, i.e. 1.2 x 10 to the 13th power. I don't even know what number that is! And national debt is ticking up to 12 Trillion dollars. Holy God. Where is all this money coming from to pay for this?!?!
Just awesome.
Yet we should pay for a missile sheild to protect Poland. Makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteChanging The Subject (Digression, Red Herring, Misdirection, False Emphasis):
ReplyDeletethis is sometimes used to avoid having to defend a claim, or to avoid making good on a promise. In general, there is something you are not supposed to notice.
For example, I got a bill which had a big announcement about how some tax had gone up by 5%, and the costs would have to be passed on to me. But a quick calculation showed that the increased tax was only costing me a dime, while a different part of the the bill had silently gone up by $10.
This is connected to various diversionary tactics, which may be obstructive, obtuse, or needling. For example, if you quibble about the meaning of some word a person used, they may be quite happy about being corrected, since that means they've derailed you, or changed the subject. They may pick nits in your wording, perhaps asking you to define "is". They may deliberately misunderstand you:
"You said this happened five years before Hitler came to power. Why are you so fascinated with Hitler? Are you anti-Semitic?"
It is also connected to various rhetorical tricks, such as announcing that there cannot be a question period because the speaker must leave. (But then he doesn't leave.)
If this post is about government spending, as it seems to be, then I fail to see how I've changed the subject, and the fact that you believe I have is very illustrative.
ReplyDeleteI don't see many people who are worked up about entitlement spending also advocating that we reduce our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, or that we close military bases in Germany and Japan. Yet it all costs money. Some of that money goes to help U.S. citizens get healthcare through Medicare and Medicaid, which I think is worthy cause, but there is of course fraud and lots of room for improvement. Some money goes to paying troops and for their education which I think is worthy, and some goes to weapons we don't need and will never use.
As for the stimulus bill, yes it's a grab bag and I think Obama was too deferential to congress in crafing it. However, I do think fiscal stimulus was necessary and in fact believe it should have been larger but more directed at infrastructure than pet projects. However, I do think a do-nothing, neo-Hooverite approach would have made matters worse.
The missile defense argument is dead and healthcare issues quit alive.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the missile defense shield is of no purpose to the argument because it is not happening thus not using funds. It's already over with and provides no substance, just diversion from the actual point: how are we going to pay for this healthcare bill? And, yes, the government's atrocious handling of our tax dollars.
A major difference between healthcare "reform" and the other points mentioned is that those other things are already happening, healthcare "reform" has not yet been implemented. Which means, there's still time to prevent making a mistake.
And though we aren't cool enough to be allowed to read the bill, I'm betting there's more radio active rabbit poop detectors being provided for.
But, hey, it's all in the name of getting people insured right? Despite only two percent (2%) of people being covered by the direly necessary pubic option [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/01/health/main5483872.shtml]