Hey, $13 dollars is $13, I guess. In January that falls to $8.
Here is our 800 billion dollar stimulus mostly-spending bill we must see passed, and we must gratefully accept as the only possible solution to our “catastrophic” problems and our growing malaise. The ONLY solution.
This other one, over here, brought up by another Democrat? Ignored. Just ignored.
I just have one thing to ask:
What does Michelle Obama suggest we do – how we will stimulate the economy with our $13?
As I recall, when there was a $600.00 stimulus check rolling down the pike a while back, Mrs. Obama rather sneered at it:
“You’re getting $600. What can you do with that? Not to be ungrateful or anything. But maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn’t pay down every bill every month..
Barack’s approach is that the short-term quick fix kinda stuff sounds good. And it may even feel good that first month when you get that check. And then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings.”
Hmmmm…forget earrings…I’m not sure I understand how $13.00 a week, reduced to $8.00 a week in January, will do much for “paying down every bill every month.” $54 per month (or $32), when offset by the increased taxes that will come from ending the infamous Bush Tax Cuts – which stimulated us out of a recession and brought 7 years of unimpeded growth before this time-suspect strangeness occurred and the additional tax increases that will accompany our ramped-up spending, plus the million little laws, fees and fines that will eat into our incomes…help me out, I’m not really seeing the stimulus, here.
And, you know, if Barney Frank gets his way and caps salaries at $500,000 per year, that will foment a huge loss of tax-revenue, (assuming that most fatcats – unlike say, our deer-in-headlines SecTreas – actually pay most of their taxes), which will have to be made up.
Except I don’t think people who are accustomed to making huge salaries are going to be playing fair on all this. I think they’ll find ways to continue their lavish life-styles at the expense of others, and duck taxes, anyway. This is how black markets start.
How will all those tax revenues be made up? Hmmm…let me think. You know, this is just an idea…but if you take about 400 Billion of spending out of that bill – just chuck it for now, and bring it up later, when we’re back on our feet – and then maybe spread 200 billion around to the taxpayers by way of payroll tax reductions, tax-holidays and temporary tax-relief programs, and spend some money on job-creation and vo-tech educational programs and ummm…oh, yeah, open ANWR and most of our coastal oil reserves up for drilling, reinstate the Bush executive order allowing drilling contracts in Utah and start investigating the feasibility of refining oil shale, you could actually create good-paying jobs, which will contribute to the tax-base.
And…you’d have the additional effect of eventually – in less than a decade – freeing this country from its dependency on foreign oil.
Because, you see, even this silly little electric golf cart that is an absurd part of this mostly-spending bill is going to require, ummm…energy. Electricity may be invisible, but it is not yet free or magically produced. Not yet.
This is really not as complicated or as difficult as you preening, posturing folks want to make it.
But, hey, thanks for the $13.00/$8.00 a week. Like Mrs. Obama, I don’t want to be ungrateful, but it’s not going to pay down a bill for one month, or two, so I’m going to donate it to a local food pantry, so they can stock up and be ready for a lot of hungry, scared folks. Maybe next month I’ll donate it here, and the month after that, here, and maybe Americans helping Americans, not with hand-outs but hands-outstretched – will re-awaken something that is being lost, in all of this: our sense of purpose and potentiality.
Maybe it will re-ignite the woefully American habit of dreaming glorious dreams, which seems strangely subdued, lately. Or perhaps not subdued, but smothered in pork and unable to breathe.
UPDATE I:
Psssssst – while Obama and Congress were working so hard to convince us that the stimulus was “desperately needed or there will be a catastrophe,” Lorie Byrd points out that retail sales rebounded in January. Well, New Jobless Claims dropped too. Now you understand the rush. If you’d realized that recessions can fix themselves, you might not have allowed Obama/Pelosi/Reid to go forward with that socialist’s wet dream of a bill.
The American Press may be willfully ignorant, but the rest of the world is catching on to this scam. The real cost of the “spendulus” is going to be over 3 Trillion, by some estimates. Trillion here, a trillion there, what’s a few trillion between comrades, eh? Hmmmm….
UPDATE II: Rather like a King, or a Dictator, Obama declares, “BUILDING SPRAWL STOPS NOW!”. So, aside from all the Federal Building projects in the Spending Bill – which will keep people in Maryland busy, anyway, the rest of the country’s construction industries (and the trickledowns) will go to hell. Now, pay attention to this article from 2005, which was trying to paint such a (nonexistant) disaster under Bush. I’m sorry. I’m beginning to think Obama is out to ruin us. The Pelosi says this vote is going to be “historic and transformational. For once she is telling the truth. This is going to transform our free nation into a socialist state. This insane bill has to be stopped. We seem to be powerless, here. Our elected officials are acting not like servants but like masters, and we have no power. I can’t believe what I’m watching. K-Street and the lobbyists are seeing this bill before the legislators get to. Astonishing. Yes, Just words.
UPDATE III:
Kim at Wizbang is writing on this and – ever an American entrepreneur – has already figured out what to do with her “tee-shirt stimulus”:
Yes, she is selling them – and even has a few priced for the January ’10 drop! I love America! I love it!
UPDATE VI:
Bookie on Your Tax Dollars at Work
The Chicago Way
American Digest and Neo: Tag teaming.
Tom Maguire: Oh, we’re stimulated!
Hello?: What is Plan B?
Just in time for the elections: How the Democrats Derailed the Economy Last Summer H/T Instapundit
Byron York’s Question: Who will Investigate the Obama Administration. If you guess no one, and particularly not the press that carried him to the White House, you’re correct.
A good illustration of how Obama has been treated with kid gloves: It is freaking NEWS that late night comics are starting to make fun of him. Even godlings tumble.
Althouse: A one-woman squad of right reason and naked Emperor exposition
WELCOME Michelle Malkin and Ace readers. Please check out this Good Advice on what to do with your $13!
Barack Obama Promised a Tax Cut for 95% of the American People…
So, how much of a tax cut is he delivering to 95% of the American people with that $790 billion? A whopping $13 per paycheck that later gets reduced to……
[...] will be about $13 a week beginning in June, falling to about $8 a week in January.The Anchoress is hopping mad over the very trivial tax cut that we’re supposed to believe will hope usher in great new [...]
The shirts might be a little early since the final number is not yet done. Then again, should one wait until all the give away bills are done with this Democratic control of everything? You might only be able to get enough zero’s on XXXL size. As to what you get, I doubt you will have a shirt on your back when you get done paying for all of this so it could come in the form of a tattoo.
I love the thought of using the $13 creatively. I strongly urge that it go to those who are fighting these crazy policies. That does not just mean the Republican Party, but any group that is active and vocal in fighting what we face over the next four years at least.
Interesting bulletin from priest in California..
http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=290d52c0-6e71-45b8-958c-bb9a7aa44eb3
You have to read it to believe it. Send along a postive feedback email to this priest because I suspect he will get a lot of flack about this from the left and Obamacaths.
If you’d like to drop Father an e-mail of support, here’s his address – pastor@stmary.sdcoxmail.com
Regarding the finite nature of the natural resources that are oil and coal and, hence, the need to find alternatives:
I suppose I should have realized it before, but I have never seen it mentioned in the MSM until recently, when I saw a story about batteries for electric and hybrid cars and about solar panels — the materials needed to make those batteries and solar panels, that is, the minerals and metals that are needed to make them efficient, are a couple of million times more rare and more finite than fossil fuels. That is, the minerals and metals used to make electric car batteries and solar panels are harder to find and will run out long before oil or coal runs out. Moreover, the mining needed to extract these materials from the earth are more destructive to the environment than modern drilling techniques.
In other words, aside from hydro-electic and nuclear, oil and coal are the most cost-effective and most plentiful and most long lasting energy sources out there.
But then again, the green movement has never been about improving things, making life easier and better or about causing less damage to the environment. Like most things on the left, it has mainly been about tearing down things and giving control to a select few.
********
As for the spendulus bill, here is my prediction — 90 percent of the spending does not occur until next year or later. Thus, it is not going to help now, but it will likely not hurt now either. Rather, what is very possible, if not probable, is that we will start to see some improvement in the economy by the end of this year. Things could very well get better this year. But then the other 90 kicks in, and because it is so large and costly, it will very likely strangle the recovery in the crib. To repeat, things will likely get better this year, but then there is going to be a downturn next year and things are going to get worse.
And because things will have started to improve before they get worse, Obama and Pelosi and Reid can try to blame Bush, but it will not work. The crashing — the real crashing — that is to come will undeniably have Dem fingerprints all over it. The only question is this — will they have the guts to repeal this montrousity next year or will Obama have the guts to sign a repeal after the Dems are thrown out of Congress in 2010?
[...] The Anchoressreminds us of how Michelle Obama sneered at the $600 stimulus checks previously sent out. I’m [...]
[...] The Anchoressreminds us of how Michelle Obama sneered at the $600 stimulus checks previously sent out. I’m [...]
[...] The Anchoress does. [...]
Wow JoeH – I emailed Father after reading his column. He replied already:
“Julie,
Living in Illinois, you know well how Catholic politicians have betrayed Jesus. Please write, fax, call them on every issue to make known Jesus’ truth over the lies of the culture.
Thank you and bless you
Richard Perozich”
I may post something over at the Catholic.com forums…
[...] this is no longer the case: Here is our 800 billion dollar stimulus mostly-spending bill we must see passed, and we must [...]
These are the same people who smeared Bush over and over again about the rush to war in Iraq. This rush to SPEND could surely be our downfall…the end of prosperity (as Rush has stated) for America.
Re. “The ONLY solution”? It’s the only solution that increases the government’s role in society more in a month than in the past seventy years.
When are people going to finally realize, deep in their bones, that all liberals have one essential mantra: “Don’t do as I DO, do as I SAY!” and judge all their programs and proposals by that litmus test.
I can only hope that Michael Steele will sufficiently energize the GOP that they mount credible candidates against all members of Congress for the mid-term election and drive the moneychangers out of our temple!
Who knew? $76 is All the Difference In The World…
George W. Bush’s $600 rebate checks?
Bad.
Obama’s $676 rebate checks?
Good!
If I may quote the First Lady We All Wanted To See On The Cover Of Vogue Magazine, from a statement she made back when the previous summer’s stimulus bill was un…
[...] I have to sell a few things on Ebay, to donate to whoever opposes you in the next election.) Like The Anchoress, I’ll put that “tax break” in the Donate column of the budget. As for [...]
Michelle Obama’s point is actually somewhat poignant, and it’s more or less the same thing I’ve been saying in the past few posts about the economy. The Bush stimulus, cash directly back to the people, wasn’t useful for stimulating consumption because it was being used to pay down existing debt rather than generating new consumption. The Obama-administration stimulus, misguided as it is in various ways (as most House Democrat bills are), is at least trying to stimulate consumption in a way that could actually do something. Bush’s stimulus would have been much more effective at actually stimulating consumption if he had left the taxes on the wealthy back at Clinton levels and instituted tax breaks on corporations and small businesses to level the difference.
Make no mistake: that personal debt needs to get paid down, but we need an employed workforce long before that can happen for a lot of people.
[...] we are going to be getting $13/week back as part of Obama’s Grand Stimulus Package. How do you stimulate the economy with this? By donating it to bloggers who are trying to defend [...]
[...] what Michelle Obama had to say when $600 tax rebates were being doled out last year. (h/t: MM and The Anchoress) During her talk in Pontiac, Michigan, she waxed on about how the $600 rebate given to taxpayers [...]
[...] Anchoress, commenting on The Obama’s munificent gift of $13 a week for us poor tax-paying schmucks, [...]
At least you made me laugh. Yes, the situation is stupid and disturbing, but I truly like your solution. If the government doesn’t have any sense, I guess we all need to use ours.
How Are You Going to Spend Your $13/Week?…
Millions of working families can breathe easy now. That extra $13 a week in my paycheck is going to make a huge difference in my standard of living. Think about the possibilities – I can turn the thermostat up to……
[...] The Anchoress does. [...]
Bender…absolutely the damage that is done to the environment by the making of those batteries for hybrid cars is pretty ugly.
From an article by Chris Demorro, Staff Writer (March 7, 2007) at Central Connecticut State University…
“Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.”
[...] Via Slublog, the Anchoress reminds us of something our masters would just as soon we forget: As I recall, when there was a $600.00 [...]
the damage that is done to the environment by the making of those batteries for hybrid cars is pretty ugly.
It’s like the enviro-wackos who oppose clearing some dead trees out of forests, only to have millions of acres burned to the ground in fires.
Or the HUGE increase in emissions caused by their gridlocked parking lot roads due to their refusal to wide roads or do anything to improve traffic flow, rather than their tactic of making driving so inconvenient and onerous so as to extort us into using mass transit, and then, when ridership is at an all-time high, telling folks that they are going to drastically cut back service – like stopping the Metro at 10 p.m. All they do is make things worse.
They are going to kill us all.
[...] The Anchoress does. [...]
Well, well. Some good news after all.
Judd Gregg has done the right and honorable thing — telling the Savior where he can stick the Commerce job.
Good.
Bender…the mass transit thing only works if everyone is heading into the District to work. My husband used to work in downtown Silver Spring, so we bought a townhouse that made the commute doable. Within months, he was transferred to another location and now works near Columbia, MD. I teach in Southern Maryland, so none of the mass transit ideas work for either of us. I think the Metro system is tossing out ideas to see what sticks, sort of like they did back in the Clinton days…hold that finger up to the wind to see how it’s blowing. If they get too many complaints, they’ll back off of this one and try something else. Maryland has been talking about the ICC for as long as I’ve lived hear (nearly 24 years) and finally the road has been started. The enviro-wackos have made it next to impossible to do anything about the awful traffic around here.
FYI ~ Judd Gregg is going to have a press conference at 5:30.
[...] 95% of us that Obama promised a tax cut are going to get only about thirteen bucks a week, and the Anchoress and Slublog at Ace of Spades are planning how they’re going to spend this [...]
[...] The Anchoress notes that we’re all getting $13 a week out of the stimulus check — and also notes that Michelle Obama turned her nose up at a much larger stimulus last year. Now, I’m not going to say “No” to some money, although I know enough about economics to know that if the US borrows a bunch of money and just gives it out to everyone, the net effect in the long run is… nothing. Nothing, that is, until we have to pay back what we borrowed. [...]
[...] a.k.a. The Anchoress, asks Michelle Obama how we might spend our windfall. Michelle Malkin remembers her very un-First-Ladylike sneer at last [...]
I love the despair.com picture!
[...] interesting opinion on the Obama economic stimulus package at the following link: The $13 a week stimulus. (I also love the picture accompanying the [...]
[...] Lady Michelle Obama was equally enthusiastic about the windfall her husband has planned for the country. “Over a year’s time, that [...]
The Runaway Pork Train Continues…
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is looking to get this massive pork offal passed as quickly as possible so that she can jet off to Rome, Italy. What’s more important? Pelosi’s travel plans or close study of the largest spending plan in the history…
[...] Good! [...]
[...] $13.00 PER PAYCHEQUE? The price of selling your children’s birthright …. (pw, [...]
[...] heard about the bit of the Magic Stimulus Plan that is supposed to lower our payroll taxes by, uh $13 a week? Do you feel stimulated [...]
[...] what you actually mean to be doing, right? …if you take about 400 Billion of spending out of that bill – just chuck it for now, and [...]