Spring Break
Give this bill a chance
Adam Holliday | Guest Columnist
Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: Opinion
In response to the Feb. 10 column, "'Stimulus' legislation undermines economy":
Mr. Ontko takes a rather narrow view to what constitutes job creation. The U.S. debt is already at extreme levels. Eight years of failed policy resulted in a doubling of the national deficit now hanging at over $10 trillion and the running of a nearly $1 trillion-a-year debt.
Might I remind you of a certain $700 billion bank stimulus that was passed with much less argument and outrage under the previous administration? Combine that with two sets of ineffective tax cuts and you've got yourself a large (expensive) mess.
Let's not ignore the political power plays being made with this legislation. In no uncertain terms let me state: The majority of Republicans won't vote for any stimulus bill that goes through Congress in the near future. The House Republicans especially know they can safely sit on the other side of the fence for every major piece of legislation safe in the knowledge that even if it works, they can always play up the ways in which it still fails.
There will be no job creation if there's no work coming down the line (guaranteed with federal contracts). When we're already involved in a $3 trillion war and have spent over $1.2 trillion on banking industry, another $1 trillion isn't going to miraculously stop the world governments from funding our debt..
Besides, these countries still see our currency as reasonably safe. Just look at who owns the majority of U.S. treasuries currently (hint: It's not us).
As to the "waste" present in this bill, do you know how much of the total bill the items that really irked the Republicans added up to? Two percent or so.
As to some of the specific items you mentioned, they actually demonstrate how the jobs that are being created are not just temporary low blue-collar work jobs. We have heavy science jobs generated through energy research, industrial jobs through carbon emission programs, large amounts of education-related jobs generated due to the new demand for people knowledgeable in all these areas. Think of all the money spent on STD treatments that could be avoided if it was spent on STD prevention.
As to more tax cuts, I've got news: When you give Americans more of their money back, they don't go support their local businesses. They support Wal-Mart and associated businesses. That money doesn't work its way back into the small business community (80 percent of our jobs).
If you want hypocrisy, look at the Republican desire to re-imagine themselves. Look at the massive debt they've already left for future generations that no president, no matter how well-loved, is going to be able to turn around in any sort of short order.
Look at the Senate changes in this bill. They removed over $100 billion in spending just to add $120 billion in tax cuts, which if we haven't figured it out yet, don't work and don't provide long-term benefits. People do not increase their overall purchasing with temporary tax cuts because they are temporary.
Give this bill a chance to fail on its own merits; it can't be any worse than the Troubled Asset Relief Program, several trillion dollars worth of tax cuts and the giant hemorrhaging and increasing debt that is the Iraq War. New politics indeed.
Adam Holliday is a political science major,
an Iraq veteran and guest columnist for
the Daily Kent Stater.
Mr. Ontko takes a rather narrow view to what constitutes job creation. The U.S. debt is already at extreme levels. Eight years of failed policy resulted in a doubling of the national deficit now hanging at over $10 trillion and the running of a nearly $1 trillion-a-year debt.
Might I remind you of a certain $700 billion bank stimulus that was passed with much less argument and outrage under the previous administration? Combine that with two sets of ineffective tax cuts and you've got yourself a large (expensive) mess.
Let's not ignore the political power plays being made with this legislation. In no uncertain terms let me state: The majority of Republicans won't vote for any stimulus bill that goes through Congress in the near future. The House Republicans especially know they can safely sit on the other side of the fence for every major piece of legislation safe in the knowledge that even if it works, they can always play up the ways in which it still fails.
There will be no job creation if there's no work coming down the line (guaranteed with federal contracts). When we're already involved in a $3 trillion war and have spent over $1.2 trillion on banking industry, another $1 trillion isn't going to miraculously stop the world governments from funding our debt..
Besides, these countries still see our currency as reasonably safe. Just look at who owns the majority of U.S. treasuries currently (hint: It's not us).
As to the "waste" present in this bill, do you know how much of the total bill the items that really irked the Republicans added up to? Two percent or so.
As to some of the specific items you mentioned, they actually demonstrate how the jobs that are being created are not just temporary low blue-collar work jobs. We have heavy science jobs generated through energy research, industrial jobs through carbon emission programs, large amounts of education-related jobs generated due to the new demand for people knowledgeable in all these areas. Think of all the money spent on STD treatments that could be avoided if it was spent on STD prevention.
As to more tax cuts, I've got news: When you give Americans more of their money back, they don't go support their local businesses. They support Wal-Mart and associated businesses. That money doesn't work its way back into the small business community (80 percent of our jobs).
If you want hypocrisy, look at the Republican desire to re-imagine themselves. Look at the massive debt they've already left for future generations that no president, no matter how well-loved, is going to be able to turn around in any sort of short order.
Look at the Senate changes in this bill. They removed over $100 billion in spending just to add $120 billion in tax cuts, which if we haven't figured it out yet, don't work and don't provide long-term benefits. People do not increase their overall purchasing with temporary tax cuts because they are temporary.
Give this bill a chance to fail on its own merits; it can't be any worse than the Troubled Asset Relief Program, several trillion dollars worth of tax cuts and the giant hemorrhaging and increasing debt that is the Iraq War. New politics indeed.
Adam Holliday is a political science major,
an Iraq veteran and guest columnist for
the Daily Kent Stater.
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