The 1 Thing You Need 2 Know This Week

I usually like to be light and fluffy on Friday as to send us all of on a weekend complete with sunshine and lollipops. Not today.

Sorry, but today I have to bring attention to the current spending bill going through congress: “H.R. 1. ” I do this because I want you to get involved and contact your congressman. Plus, I don’t think the media is really being honest about what this really does or what’s in it. SHOCKER! You can go to the source and read about it here. It’s about 700 pgs. long. I skimmed through it and found some interesting things.

First, I want to point out that it has been referred to as a “stimulus” package. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I would call that description an outright lie. From what I read on an analysis of the bill (since it’s hard to understand it all if you’re not a lawyer), only about 12% of the $825 billion (825 BILLION!!!) goes to actual job creation. And the jobs it creates are temporary. Plus, those jobs are gov’t jobs. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that gov’t jobs don’t actually stimulate the economy since they are a tax liability. So they add to the burden, not take away. That’s not stimulus. BTW-this billed has passed the House of Representatives and now goes to the Senate. It’s widely accepted that they will add even MORE spending to the already ridiculous figure of $825 billion.

Second, most of the funds don’t get released for 18 months. And then finally over a couple years after that for the rest. Strange? Not when you consider there are mid-term and general elections right around those times. Why does that matter? So they can use this as a means to get reelected. If this were true stimulus and it is a real emergency, shouldn’t we drop the money right now?

Third, the “summary” link on the gov’t website that helps explain the bill to stupid citizens like me is mysteriously inactive. A small detail, but interesting nonetheless.

Fourth, here are some things that are getting money–that’s OUR TAXES btw. This is more like buying votes than actual stimulus.

*$600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars (they already spend $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles)
*$1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years
*$2 billion for child-care
*$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
*$400 million for global-warming research
*$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
*$650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons
*$7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities
*$200 million provision for National Mall restorations
*$40 billion for broadband and electric grid development

Just thought you should know…