Should Barack Obama Press Massive Economic Stimulus?
President-elect Barack Obama and his aides signaled over the weekend that Obama plans a huge economic stimulus effort focused on rebuilding roads, upgrading schools, cutting taxes, and creating environmentally friendly jobs in the energy sector. Is a mammoth stimulus package the right policy to steer the country out of its current economic problems? Post your thoughts below.
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Reader Comments
I know i'm not the only one
When speaking about bailouts... what happens then? the ones we bail out may just get a big wave of consumers rushing through the doors wanting to finance cars they can't afford or they may want to purchase homes they know they can't pay for. by the way... credit doesn't mean much to the average person because they can't get financed anyway even with good or moderate credit. So what happens now?
AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED TO FEEL MORE THAN EVER, THAT THEY CAN TRUST OUR GOVERNMENT. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE CALCULATED SIMULUS SPLIT BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF TAX PAYERS OF THE $300 BILLION TO $600 BILLION OR EVEN MORE? AND WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT MONEY WOULD END UP? TO THE SAME ONES THAT WE ARE THINKING OF BAILING OUT. WHEN WILL WE WAKE UP?
Responsibility no longer exists
Economic stimulus money has been shown to do little or nothing to bolster the economy. Having just turned 60, I continue to work. During our lifetimes, my wife and I have been fired, laid off, and had debt. In every case, NO ONE BAILED US OUT !! Each instance forced us to take a hard look at what we, personally, had done wrong. We didn't turn, look at everyone else, and blame them for OUR FAILURES. We went to a bank ONCE and borrowed money for 3 months, cut our spending almost completely, both worked 80 hours a week, and we financially recovered. In the meantime, we didn't have time to go to the malls and buy extraneous junk that would have required us to rent a storage locker in which to store it. We didn't particularly like the jobs we were working, but life is not always fair or comfortable. This experience made us smarter, tougher and more inclined to look in the mirror at the person responsible for our life's course.
Providing an "economic stimulus" is nothing more than welfare for those who chose to work the bare minimum or not at all. Those who are in debt need to get off their flat butts and get to work for 30 to 40 years and stop spending what they do not have or cannot afford.
The United States Government has absolutely NO BUSINESS getting into the management of people's finances.
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