Obama: King Of The Stimulus

Last week, researchers unveiled findings about a giant snake from South America. This prehistoric reptile is thought to be the largest terrestrial vertebrate ever discovered. Measuring over 40-foot long, this snake probably ate full-grown alligators for breakfast. To appreciate its size, any snake you’ve seen in the movies could have been inhaled by this oversized reptile. The aptly-named “Titanoboa” perished many years ago in the jungles of Colombia. Unfortunately, a close cousin to this sizable serpent has been slithering through the halls of Congress.

Obama’s Stimulus Set to Pass

The fears of many readers will soon be realized. Obama’s new stimulus package will probably pass Congress this week. This $827 billion piece of legislation passed the House, and most likely will pass the Senate by Tuesday. As various Republican senators march in lockstep with the new President, the bill should reach Obama’s desk by early next week.

Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend numbers in Washington. Just for fun, I clicked on the Windows calculator to grasp the math of Obama’s proposed stimulus (my standard desk calculator couldn’t display all the 0’s). Here’s what I found…

If a drunken sailor was born in the same year as Jesus Christ, and that sailor were to spend $1,000,000 every day of his life – and then his son did the same thing – spent $1 million every day he lived, every day of every year – and generations of drunken sailors lived the same exorbitant lifestyles – by the time the modern sailor reached 2009, that sailor family would still need another 255 years before they wasted $827,000,000,000.

The So-Called Stimulus Package

That’s how much money our new President and Congress wants to spend to stimulate the economy. But is that really what the money will do? Some have said it’s not even possible. They may have a point. According to the Congressional Budget Office, only $26 billion of the “stimulus” will be spent this year. Next year, $110 billion is slated for government expenditures. Huh?

Let me get this straight, we’re saddling our grandchildren with nearly $1 trillion of additional debt to help stimulate the economy, and only 16% of the money will be spent before 2011? Excuse me? I thought this bill was a stimulus for an economy on the brink of another Great Depression? Sounds more like a ruse to expand government over 8 years of Obama rule – with various installments for pet projects.

If you don’t want to call it socialism, fine. Spending money on highways, green energy, and Congressional pork could be construed as business as usual for those inside the Beltway. Maybe a more appropriate title for the stimulus would be a Titanoboa. At least the real snake is dead. But the next one is just being born.

MLK, Obama And A New Day for Socialism

The markets were closed yesterday giving everyone a chance to catch their breath. If you had to work, you enjoyed a shorter commute than usual. If you’re retired, well – you didn’t have a commute yesterday or today. I’m jealous.

Regardless of your station in life, almost everyone reflected on a certain Martin Luther King, Jr. It almost seems providential that our nation celebrated Dr. King’s legacy yesterday. The same nation that watched MLK ascend the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for his “I Have a Dream” speech will watch Barack Obama give a speech at the nation’s capitol as the first black president just 46 years later. Being more than a generation removed from the 1960s – and a world removed from the circumstances that African-Americans lived through in this country – I cannot fully appreciate the momentous occasion in which we find ourselves. Indeed, this day will be remembered for another generation as a cultural milestone. Congratulations, Mr. President.

If you follow most of the circulation-hemorrhaging press, you will read many more such sentiments today. Most of the mainstream media will lavish praise on the new administration as it reports on the “change” that Obama’s campaign promised. The public does seem to be welcoming. Perhaps it’s because President Bush leaves office with an approval rating approaching Nixon, or perhaps most Americans are just happy not to see another Clinton in the White House. Whatever the reason, Obama’s ascendency has been lauded – and will be lauded – for many weeks to come.

And yet, it’s difficult not to see the new administration in light of their stated financial objectives. Not satisfied with the Bush-Paulson TARP, Obama wants to further socialize the US economy with $825 billion more debt. His first stated order of business is passing this financial behemoth. One Obama aide underscored Obama’s unabashed support for the new package by saying, “We have got to get an economic recovery and reinvestment plan in place quickly to turn the economy around.”

In the same CNN article, Obama is quoted, “The good news is that we’re getting a consensus around what needs to be done. We’ve got to have a bold, aggressive reinvestment in a recovery package.” I beg your pardon. Mr. President, do you really have a consensus on handing out nearly $1,000,000,000,000 in government money to banks, public works projects, and tax cuts?

“Surely the Democrat leadership in Congress doesn’t plan to spend a trillion dollars of taxpayer money — nearly $10,000 in new debt for everyone who pays federal income tax, charged to the credit card for our children to pay — without safeguards, without appropriate hearings to scrutinize how tax dollars are being spent,”

Senator Mitch McConnell, Kentucky

“Many of us are concerned that 40% of the package that was announced was to be tax cuts”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, California

“I think it has absolutely dire consequences for the value of the dollar. And I think it has absolutely dire consequences with regard to inflation, the middle class and all Americans will one day face and I think it has absolutely dire consequences with the regard to the purchasing power of the dollars we hold globally,”

Governor Mark Sanford, South Carolina

The honeymoon hasn’t even started and the snipes are already coming from both parties. And yet, it’s the duty of every American who hates to see misdeeds rewarded with MasterCards and bankruptcies rewarded with bailouts to oppose such measures. Not everybody was pleased with Bush’s final stimulus push in his waning presidency. Historical election or not, we’re not exactly welcoming the same sort of socialism from the new administration. Change? Yeah, right.

Welcome to Washington, Mr. President.

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com