Liberals: We Need $2 Trillion in Stimulus Spending

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Whooops

NO, people should not stop spending. Public spending is the only thing that will keep the economy afloat. Not goverment spending. We need people to be confident in the market and the dollar of America, so they can spend and the businesses reap and create more jobs, which creates more product that the public buy, sell, etc. and the cycle repeats. You go on a "spending diet" and you got businesses clamoring to put better and cheaper products on the shelves so they can make money and stay afloat and no one buys them. It makes no sense. You really need to look into your facts before you write them.

Kenny C of HI @ Apr 14, 2009 15:55:10 PM

Wow

Was that really not Satire? Seven percent of the GDP dilluted by more American printed dollars that aren't backed up by anything beyond a promise and our credit rating isn't going to do any of us any good. Let me put it to you like this, read it slow so you understand, because this is a really simple way to understand the problem. If you have a potato chip (United States Economy) and it is worth 10 calories (GDP), and you bust it up into 20 small pieces (American Dollar value), how many potato chips do you have? Do you have 20 smaller potato ships still worth 10 calories each? Or do you just have a pile of crumbs that aren't worth very much? Hint to all of those reading, there is only one way out of this mess, it's like the Biggest Loser, we as a society need to go on a spending diet, stop buying everything off the shelf at your local retailer. Reduce the need for the government to come in and spend our money, we as citizens now how to redistribute our money better than they do. Allow the Government to do things like act as a National Defense agency and force them to make cut backs on their own spending, abolish the "Use or lose" policy that just makes things worse. Force those companies that are receiving our American Tax dollars to use on-shore suppliers for their goods. I can go on but I don't want to hurt too many peoples brains on here

Chuck of MN @ Feb 18, 2009 11:29:06 AM

It just doesn't matter anymore the cash is worthless!just make it 50 trillion whats the difference anyway? How will they SURVIVE the REVOLUTION is the real question??????

joe james of NJ @ Jan 14, 2009 23:44:31 PM

Well, actually

I have to admit my first post was a response to the three comments on the page with the article. I was unaware of the additional comments which make more sense. Hope I didn't offend anyone with the sentence referencing the people who commented on this article.

Andy of TX @ Jan 14, 2009 11:22:10 AM

Please

"What are you going to do for me?" Are we really so selfish as to demand the government repair the greed and unethical actions of the private sector? EVERY dime the government uses belongs to the taxpayers. When they spend two trillion dollars they don't have, who do you think is going to pay for it? Bugs, that was a pathetic sidestep of the real problem with this proposal. It wasn't "massive conservative spending" that created this. It was massive spending on the part of our government--both conservative and liberal--as well as massive consumer credit use that put us in a position to crash. This was started with liberal policies and supported by conservatives. WE put ourselves into this mess, and now WE need to get ourselves out of it. We can't expect someone to save us just because we got into trouble. Sometimes we need to take responsibility and fix the problems ourselves. Not that any such thing will happen of course, because apparently the people who have commented on this article represent the majority opinion of America. So much for capitalism. So much for America.

Andy of TX @ Jan 14, 2009 11:18:50 AM

WTF?

we are barrowing money to get us out of a debt problem? Am I understanding this correctly? That is the basis of a Ponzi scheme right there...

Thing is.. FDR did all these things also, and they supposedly made the depression worse... so we repeat history?

Very worried... very worried indeed.

dragonlord of OR @ Jan 13, 2009 17:22:32 PM

Don't Forget...

Very accurate Crusader..

If you pull a tooth out... you have a hole. It's gotta get filled somehow. If Americans foot (or repayed countries we borrowed from ), we'd have to pay an addition $5,500+ Dollars in taxes over those 2 years, at our current population. But of course, that would be if every person in this country was working, including the newborns and 100+ retired folks. It's hard to imagine how liberals could actually believe that this would stimulate anything other than a greater recession further down the road. I doubt we'll be able to borrow a whole lot more from other countries after this.... a lot of them lost faith in us and won't be willing to "lend" us money like Liberals pushed banks to do with people who made just above poverty salaries in the 90's (They said it was discrimination, because it just so happened to be that a majority of the people making that little money, we're non-whites... if that isn't hypocricy at its finest).

It's one thing for Government to take the money collected from taxes and re-invest it back into the country. But you have to do it in a way that will actually produce profitable returns, not into Government programs. Example, like in # 9: infrastructure programs... those are Government Programs. They USE Taxpayer money to CREATE those jobs.... but the job numbers are illusional at best. Why? Because who do you think pays for Government jobs? The Taxpayers... so you spend Tax money to create the jobs, but then use more tax dollars to support their on-going continuance. Uh... where's the profitable gain? There isn't any (or at least much of any). Your not getting any "Money" in return for your investment... in other words, the "borrowed" money will not be paid back, throwing us into further debt and recession. It's a political illusion, used to fool the blinded by thinking they actually created "new" jobs, when in reality, YOU, the Taxpayer, just bought some new Pavement, and you are now paying some person $35 an hour to maintain it.... oh, and you now have to pay for his Social Security too.

Social - New Deal programs don't work. FDR's did not work. Unemployment rates were higher at the end of his first 8 years, then what it was when he bagan. What GOT us out of the Great Depression, was WWII... not FDR's f$%ked up new deal, social (communist) programs.

Hiddukel of WI @ Jan 13, 2009 16:48:51 PM

You gotcher hope now you're left with change

To provide gov't with this ridiculous sum with no proof of expenditure and no regulation of how EXACTLY they are to spend it is stupid, insane, naive, suicidal.

stop drinking the kool-aid!

Maura of CA @ Jan 13, 2009 16:42:19 PM

Repub & Dems the same

I'm reading these comments and can't help but notice that many of you kool-aid drinkers blame the other party. Liberals blame conservatives and conservatives blame liberals. It's disgusting. The fact is republicans and democrats have both delivered us to this present location. Both Republicans and Democrats voted for the war or to at least fund the war. Even messiah that is Obama voted on various occasion to fund the war, as did many other on both sides. When Pelosi and Reid took control didn't they say they'd end the war? They did then turned around and allowed it to keep getting funded.

Now BushCo, Obama and the Dem controlled congress want to give billions upon billions upon billions we don't have to private companies, states that could not control spending. We are doing nothing but rewarding failure and it is the Republicans and Democrats fault. Nothing is going to change with Obama, nor would it with McCain. This country needs to seriously look at third parties or states should really start looking at breaking away from the USA. These politicians have ignored our constitution, corporations have robbed us and the media lies to us.

We need to all wake up and stop drinking the kool-aid; it's has gotten out of control.

http://stop-tyranny.blogspot.com/

Warriorjason of TX @ Jan 13, 2009 15:45:31 PM

Why?

"Total stimulus is two trillion dollars over two years, or about seven percent of GDP a year."

Our GDP is 28.6 trillion? I'm seeing 13.8 trillion for 2007 estimates; did that more than double in a year? Of course not. Check your math.

The IMF, Word Bank, and CIA Factbook have 2007 U.S. GDP at 13.8 trillion. 2 of 13.8 isn't 7%; it's 14.5%.

And what about the 8 trillion in loans that likely won't be paid back? Or the 1 trillion + in bailouts already paid out? We've spent 9+ trillion already of the 13.8 trillion our entire country produces.

I guess we need to have our Government simply spend more than every man, woman, and child produces every year; then we can avoid a depression. We'll be an economic powerhouse like Zimbabwe. They're doing so well that they're having to release a 50 billion dollar note... that's impressive, right?

Yeah, lets follow that model; starvation looks like so much fun.

Gek of CO @ Jan 13, 2009 15:39:28 PM

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Capital Commerce

U.S. News business reporter Matthew Bandyk examines the issues, people, and debates that shape the nexus of political and economic life in the nation's capital.

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