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Many in this Country want the Republicans to own our current economic situation. In truth there is a lot of blame to go around, dating back as far as the Clinton administration in 1996 , and the fingerprints of several current Democratic leaders are all over the mortgage meltdown and resulting collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Since the revisionists don’t want to accept that reality, I propose we make a deal.
Just for the sake of this argument, let’s all agree that a Republican administration and supporting lawmakers caused the economic crisis of 2008, and all the recrimination and whining in the world won’t change what is past. In return however, we must also agree that the $819 billion dollar “stimulus” plan being championed by President Obama, and all of its downstream results for the next four years, in terms of actual job creation, economic recovery, return of confidence, stabilization of monetary policy, inflation and the ultimate cost to the American people, must be the full responsibility of the Democrats. That seems like a fair trade off to me, and House Republicans must agree, since they voted unanimously against the package. This measure will now go to the Senate and hopefully the 41 Republicans there will stand with their colleagues in the House and vote against this pork bloated nightmare. Considering he has a loss proof majority in Congress, the President has worked unusually hard to bring Republicans into the fold on this issue, visiting the Capitol for meetings, hosting afternoon cocktails and such. Could it be that the Dems fear being wholly responsible for the admittedly unknown results of this stunningly costly plan? If they don’t feel confident enough to stand behind what they are proposing, perhaps they need to go back to the smoke filled room from which it emanated and start over. The dirty little secret of this whole thing is that it would funnel huge sums of money into Federal pet projects and infrastructure which though laudable, do nothing to create many real jobs in the private sector any time soon. Other large sums are “earmarked” for block grants to community organizations such as ACORN and La Raza, which may swell Liberal voter rolls, but again put few Americans to work. Additionally much of this package will boost ongoing budgets for various Government agencies, thus raising the bar for yearly expenditures, an expense that will never expire or go away, burdening taxpayers for years to come. And, that’s not even the beginning: Many Washington insiders concede that more money will be needed when this package fails to obtain the desired results, perhaps within a month or two. We can’t even say with certainty what happened to the original TARP money , why would we grant these people more? I defy anyone to explain what we have gained for the pleasure of tossing those billions down a rat hole. I believe in the strength of our economy, the power of the free market system and the resiliency of the American people. I believe that given enough time, without Governmental meddling, our economy would rebound and in many areas be stronger than ever before. But I also believe that many of our citizens are in desperate situations, and limited Governmental actions could hasten a return to fiscal health. For virtually nothing, we could temporarily cut or eliminate payroll taxes giving wage earners more money right now to spend or save as they see fit. We could do the same for business taxes, relieving pressure on the bottom line thus reducing the need to sacrifice labor costs for mere company survival. We could lighten up on Detroit with regard to emission standards and alternative energy vehicles. As it now stands, they’re lucky to pay the light bills much less re-tool their entire industry. Let’s take a rain-check on that good stuff and call it in when our economy is healthy again. And finally, we could insist that banks which received Federal money from TARP, loan it out (no sub-prime mortgages please!) instead of using it to line the vault or pay company bonuses. Note to President Obama: I know you are a Liberal, and you have a lot of things you want to accomplish in your term. My suggestion would be to not try to do it all right away. In two weeks you haven’t yet had a chance to develop the credibility you will need to lead all the people of this Country. We all love winners, and I promise we’ll get behind you if you start winning for the American people. There are reasonable politicians on both sides of the aisle, and when you are right, and proposing what is best for America, they will support you regardless of party affiliation. If you allow the fringe, far left elements of your party to dictate the agenda however, it will be a very long four years.
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