Stimulus bill thoughts
January 11th 2009 05:23
It seems inevitable at this point that the new Congress will pass -- and Obama will sign -- a financial stimulus bill nearing $1 trillion. As a fiscal conservative, I don't like huge spending bills. However, we have to have some type of meaningful intervention in what is a stagnant and moribund economy. Is this the solution? I seriously doubt it. The $700 billion TARP bill from last year certainly hasn't helped much (if at all) at this point. Still, it looks like the stimulus bill will happen. With that in mind, here are two questions I have about the bill:
(1) How will Obama ensure that the 3 million jobs created will go to Americans and not to illegal aliens? The recent slowdown in construction has caused the number of illegal immigrants to go down in the US as jobs dried up and some illegal aliens returned to their home countries. With Obama promising to spend a lot of the stimulus money on infrastructure projects, how will he make sure that the jobs created by the enormous expenditure of American tax dollars actually go to Americans? Unemployment has been rising and Americans need those jobs. I hope that the authors of the bill remember this and put the American people first for a change.
(2) Why can't some of the money be used for non-construction projects? All I've heard about are "shovel-ready" projects. Those would, in theory, help create blue-collar jobs. Yes, blue-collar workers are hurting, but so are white-collar workers. Allocating at least a portion of that money to projects that would employ American white-collar workers (such as software projects or consulting-related projects) would provide relief across the board.
Again, I'm not remotely convinced that the stimulus bill is the best (or even a good) solution to get the economy going again. However, if the bill is going to go through, let's make sure that it directly benefits American workers -- and ONLY American workers -- of all stripes.
(1) How will Obama ensure that the 3 million jobs created will go to Americans and not to illegal aliens? The recent slowdown in construction has caused the number of illegal immigrants to go down in the US as jobs dried up and some illegal aliens returned to their home countries. With Obama promising to spend a lot of the stimulus money on infrastructure projects, how will he make sure that the jobs created by the enormous expenditure of American tax dollars actually go to Americans? Unemployment has been rising and Americans need those jobs. I hope that the authors of the bill remember this and put the American people first for a change.
(2) Why can't some of the money be used for non-construction projects? All I've heard about are "shovel-ready" projects. Those would, in theory, help create blue-collar jobs. Yes, blue-collar workers are hurting, but so are white-collar workers. Allocating at least a portion of that money to projects that would employ American white-collar workers (such as software projects or consulting-related projects) would provide relief across the board.
Again, I'm not remotely convinced that the stimulus bill is the best (or even a good) solution to get the economy going again. However, if the bill is going to go through, let's make sure that it directly benefits American workers -- and ONLY American workers -- of all stripes.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
With his usual deftness, B.O. (B.S.) will make sure that no "illegal aliens" get any of the jobs. He'll just keep calling them undocumented Americans and solve the problem.
Concerning the blue-collar/white-collar issue, I don't think he has any experience with actual blue-collar workers, but he seems to like the sound of the term. The white collar jobs probably won't get much help from him because they might represent "big business" in some way. Remember, PopCon, when there is no substance, he must rely on semantics.
Comment by Lester Caudill
Round Politics
We still don't know where all the 700 billion went as no one is accountable to tell. Is it stuck in the the pipeline or in someones pocket.
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
I'm sick over the $700B and the lack of accountability. I knew when they were discussing it that they needed accountability. However, Henry Paulson (a miserable failure as Treasury Secretary) didn't want constraints because he feared that banks wouldn't take the money if it had conditions on it. That was a ridiculous argument. He's just another shill for the failed Wall Street mentality.
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
It's not just Dems, though, SL. Our esteemed president said just yesterday that his biggest regret as president was that he didn't pass immigration reform. His immigration reform bill was a de facto open borders bill and it would've put almost all the illegal aliens here now on a path to citizenship. And one of McCain's first calls after losing the presidency was to Harry Reid. In that call, they agreed to work together on immigration reform (i.e., the same atrocious bill). Both parties have sold us out on this. There are a few people on the right side on this issue (Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, Jeff Sessions. Byron Dorgan), but they are outnumbered by the open borders and globalization morons who won't be happy until our standard of living matches that of Mexico and China and India.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by Lester Caudill
Round Politics
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
I understand people wanting to better their lives, but the way to do it isn't to violate another country's immigration (and other) laws. And, I'm sorry, but we just can't take everyone who wants to come here. Our welfare system (which included all the expenses listed above and more) will implode.
Illegal immigration is just the flipside of job offshoring. Companies send whatever jobs they can overseas and they bring in cheap (usually illegal) labor to do the jobs that can't be sent overseas -- and our government incentivizes both actions. It's just unconscionable and the race to the bottom is, I fear, irreversible.
Comment by Randy Inman
Waxing Political
Football Dogz
NCstuff
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
I do see some promise in the notion of "green" jobs. If we could find some type of replacement for foreign oil and employ Americans at the same time, that'd be great.