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Another CNN reporter says stimulus a sorry spectacle.

Posted By: Sunflower on 2009-02-17
In Reply to:

Commentary: Stimulus bill a sorry spectacle

* Story Highlights
* Jack Cafferty: 1,073-page bill was passed before Congress could read it
* He says Congress violated pledge to make it public 48 hours before vote
* Cafferty: Some provisions enable leaders to grab pork for their districts
* He says the tax cuts in the bill may be too small to get the economy moving


By Jack Cafferty
CNN
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Editor's Note: Jack Cafferty is the author of a new book, "Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream," to be published in March. He provides commentary on CNN's "The Situation Room" daily from 4 to 7 p.m. You can also visit Jack's Cafferty File blog.
Jack Cafferty

Jack Cafferty says the House violated a pledge to make stimulus bill public 48 hours before vote.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- What a joke. Your Congress has voted to spend almost $790 billion of your money on a stimulus package that not a single member of either chamber has read.

The 1,073-page document wasn't posted on the government's Web site until after 10 p.m. the day before the vote to pass it was taken. I don't care if you're Evelyn Wood, you can't read almost 1,100 pages of the lawyer talk that makes up all legislation in eight or 10 hours.

The criminal part of this boondoggle is divided into two parts. The first is the Democrats promised to post the bill a full 48 hours before the vote was taken to allow members of the public to see what they were getting for their money. Both parties voted unanimously to do this ... and they lied.

It didn't happen. Why am I not surprised? Congress lying to the American people has become part of their job description. They can't be trusted on anything anymore.

I'm sure part of the reason there was no time for the public to read the bill was the 11th-hour internecine warfare between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

When Reid first announced the compromise had been reached, Nancy Pelosi was nowhere to be seen. And it would take an act of God for this egotistical, arrogant woman to miss a photo op where she could take credit for anything. But she wasn't there.

She summoned Reid to her office, where unnamed sources said she blew her top over some provision for schools that she wasn't happy with. Pelosi's snit delayed everything.
Don't Miss

* Cafferty: You can blame Pelosi for stumbles
* The Cafferty File: Join the conversation
* Jack's new book: "Now or Never"
* In Depth: Commentaries

It's really too bad President Obama couldn't figure out a way to jettison these two who are poster children for everything that is wrong in Washington. The Associated Press called the birth of the stimulus bill "sausage making" in the best tradition of Washington politics as usual.

The second part of the crime is the contents of the bill itself. Far from being only about jobs, infrastructure and tax cuts as promised, the stimulus bill stimulates a bunch of other stuff as well. Eight billion dollars for high-speed rail lines, including a proposed line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This little bit of second story work wasn't even in the House version of the bill.

It started in the Senate as a $2 billion project, and came out of the conference committee costing a whopping $8 billion. Gee, now who would that benefit? Oh yeah, the Senate majority leader is from Nevada.

Filipino veterans, most of whom don't live in the U.S., will get $200 million in compensation for World War II injuries. And: $2 billion in grants and loans for battery companies, $100 million for small shipyards and a rollback of the alternative minimum tax at a cost of some $70 billion.

The AMT provision is much-needed legislation, but it doesn't belong in the stimulus bill. It forced other things out so Congress could keep to its self-imposed $800 billion cap.

And when it comes to the tax cuts contained in the stimulus bill, experts have determined they will amount to about $13 per week after taxes for the average American. I'm not sure how much stimulation $13 a week buys. It depends on the neighborhood.

The biggest problem of all is the stimulus bill may not be nearly enough. And if the president has to come back asking for more, the next time might not be so easy.

So far, we have an anemic stimulus bill and some sort of vague proposal from the secretary of the Treasury to deal with the banking crisis -- a proposal that landed with a thud last week -- as the two first steps toward solving a financial crisis that is threatening to take down the country.

Obama better step up his game, or it's going to be a short four years in office.


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Another CNN reporter says stimulus a sorry spectacle.
The line I find funniest: "He says the tax cuts in the bill may be too small to get the economy moving."

No one in the world thinks tax cuts can get the economy moving (although plenty of pundits get paid to say they do). Removing all taxes on everyone would *still* be too small. Tax cuts are a pointless, ineffective gesture. (And of course, he doesn't say what the little bullet point says he says!)

The line I find correctest: "The biggest problem of all is the stimulus bill may not be nearly enough."

It's too early to say they blew it, but dear god, it looks like they blew it. The one time we really require the congress to blow some massive money...and they get all stingy. Where was all this fiscal responsibility back during the Bush era?
why don't you show as much concern for the spectacle
right and left, as we speak. You just can't stand the fact that Obama is going to be a fine leader, ran a brilliant campaign, is loved by people all over the world while pub party is basically turning into a laughing stock.
The reporter said it as well, sm
so I'm wondering if this is an apartment building. It kind of looked like an old apartment building from the outside. It would be interesting to know.
And being a reporter....(sm)
makes him an economist? 
The bit on the bad CNN reporter
Thanks for posting.
Not only that, she is a HEALTH reporter and

you could tell that Joe Biden really did think she was joking because the question was so ridiculous, about Obama being a Marxist.  No wonder these things get so inflated by the right-wing media.  Ridiculous questions don't deserve to be acknowledged.  What a waste of time. Someone needs to ask SP why her own home newspaper in Anchorage is supporting Obama, because she is considered too risky to be in a position a heartbeat away from the Oval Office, and the McCain campaign aides have referred to her a rogue diva.  Ouch, that must have hurt!  Now there are some FACTS for you!!


But I thought this reporter WAS all
aaa
Ha Ha Ha on the Maddow reporter
That is too funny.

Thank you for the clarification about the troops issue. I do appreciate it. You know when I post things they are usually from things I read or hear on the TV with how I feel about the situation. Lots of posts I read below that is what people do. I don't have "selective hearing" or "selective posting". If I'm angry about a situation or I feel I have been lied to about something I'll say it and I will say it on both sides too. I don't like either side and I think both sides have lied to us. One side is no better than the other. I honestly do believe we have been lied to by Obama and he's just ignoring it as in telling us "so what, what are you going to do about it". All the way from his cabinet choices, to the spending bill he just signed, etc, etc (but that is for a different post I guess). Anyway...like I say those are my opinions. I guess what really gets to me is when I vote for someone thinking they are the better choice and then they get in and you go, wait a minute here, that's not right. I didn't vote for you so you would hire back on the Clinton's cabinet people. I voted against Hillary to keep them out. Just very maddening.

Anyway...thanks for the info JTBB. I always enjoy your posts whether I agree or not. I think you bring up some good topics and thoughts.
"spook" came from the reporter...sm
who I would venture to say was liberal leaning. The original email went out under the "Keepsake" line.
A television news reporter said they

 talked about his new baby, not world affairs.


You betcha, and he sent his reporter to Harlem...
to ask the questions. I found it very interesting that not one person knew anything about Obama but his name and his race. Pretty telling.
Did you see the video of the conversation with the Fox reporter?
The BP was not a very nice guy
I didn't know Obama was a reporter...(sm)

How this story was covered by either side is not the point.  Or, on second thought, maybe it is.  In case you haven't noticed, this is the kind of thing that Obama is trying to overcome - bipartisan politics.  Did I call them neocons?  Yes, because most of them are self-proclaimed neocons.  But who ended up calling Obama a nazi?  Hmmmm.


As noted in the OP, if you did not like the source provided, you could look it up through a media source that is more to your liking.  Maybe you couldn't find this story in conservative media.  Why do you think that is?


Okay. Where is the petition to fire that CNN reporter
nm
They also tried to call police on the news reporter that
was there. Stated  he wasn't allowed to be there. The reporter checked with their lawyer and he's allowed to be 10 feet away, but although he was 10 feet away, the Black Panther still tried to get rid of him. The BP also stated there was no BP there with a night stick. Yet I think the reporter saw him for himself.
sam, weak argument based on semantics, that reporter's
implication was all too clear, and just another stupid accusation in order to mislead yet more uneducated, misinformed voters.
Bush told reporter Jews as "all going to hell."

Book: Bush told reporter Jews are 'all going to hell'


09/02/2006 @ 7:53 pm

Filed by Larisa Alexandrovna

An upcoming book about presidential advisor Karl Rove reports allegations of anti-semitism by President George W. Bush, RAW STORY has learned.


In The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power, Austin-based journalist James Moore and Wayne Slater, senior political reporter for the Dallas Morning News, will allege that Bush once made anti-semitic comments to a reporter.


You know what I'm gonna tell those Jews when I get to Israel, don't you Herman? a then Governor George W. Bush allegedly asked a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman.


When the journalist, Ken Herman, replied that he did not know, Bush reportedly delivered the punch line: I'm telling 'em they're all going to hell.


This quip never received wider media attention. RAW STORY obtained a copy of The Architect late this week.


Bush's thoughts on the fate of non-Christian souls became a minor source of controversy after he told the Houston Post in 1993 that only those who accept Jesus Christ go to Heaven. However, the future president was also earlier briefly engaged to a half-Jewish woman.


The authors of The Architect assert that religion and ethnicity have been manipulated by Bush and Rove to divide and conquer the nation.


More information about the book, to be released Tuesday, can be found here.


A Republican reporter? All I see are liberal reporters everywhere trying to shove Obama down my
Why don't you dems get your head out of the sand and start facing some facts!  Check this stuff out for yourself.  Mojo is a Democrat, and yet she's smart enough to know that not all the stuff you hear from the liberal media is true!  And I sure as heck wouldn't trust Pelosi as far as I can throw her.  Everytime we state a fact all you can come back with is Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant, or she hunts, or McCain is stiff.  And deny what's really going on. You all are REAL good at doing that...
much ado about nothing...reporter posed question as, "had he spoken to any *living* presidents?..
i agree the reporter's question was absolutely LAME..."has he spoken to any LIVING past presidents?" um...as opposed to talking to dead ones? I thought his response was quick-witted considering the idiocy of the question--at least he didn't put the reporter on the spot and embarrass her...instead he made his first gaffe as POTUSE and already apologized. let's hope the reporters ask SMARTER questions at the next conference.
Protests erupt in Iraq in support of shoe-throwing reporter
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.2815505803

I would believe Nancy Pelosi before a biased reporter who is Republican, sounds like Palin, no facts
x
stimulus
Where did you get that info from?
Stimulus
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that eliminating the waiver requirement (which is what Pelosi et AL are talking about) would save $400 million dollars over 10 years. The stimulus package contains short-term and long-term stimuli.

Here's a link, but it wasn't working last time I tried it. It's a pdf so you'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it.

http://change.gov/open_government/yourseatatthetable/2008121

If you Google "CBO stimulus package family planning waiver" you'll find new articles with references to those same figures found in the CBO report.
The stimulus was this big because it has to be BIG.
The reason it has to be BIG is because there are a lot of things that need MONEY!!!  It needs to be big to get back on track, and if this doesn't work, your grandchildren will be eating dirt, everything is just that BAD!!!  HE HAS TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY!!!  That's the predicament we're in because of the last 8 years.  Taxes cut for the rich with 2B going to Iraq every week, we're still paying Iraqis to not shoot us at $250 a week per family, 700B a year for oil, and nothing for us.  So goes the Bush agenda which did very well for the rich, but not for you nor me, now we PAY!  You can't fight wars, deregulate the banks, cut taxes, etc., and expect it not to bite you in the a@@, and that's where America is now, broke and beaten to a pulp.  The gift Bin Laden never thought he'd receive.
Stimulus checks

How many of you enjoyed your Stimulus Checks?  I for one loved mine.  Think back to what you did with that check?  Maybe you paid some bills, bought that CD you have been wanting, maybe a night out with your family to a nice restaurant or even Pizza Hut.  A lot of us were able to buy new clothes for our children.


Admit it, it was worth going to the mailbox for.  I looked forward to the mail for once.


Senator Obama has pushed for more Stimulus checks immediately for the American people.  But who do you think veto'd it?  President Bush did.  Senator McCain has sided with President Bush 90% of the time.  Believe me, you won't be going to the mailbox to find anymore Stimulus Checks in there if you elect John McCain on November 4, 2008.


Stimulus checks

I'm ill, have no health insurance, and if we get another stimulus check, I'll be able to go see the doctor again.  (I've been there twice:  When I received my income tax refund and when I received the first stimulus check.) 


The doctor is pretty far away, and I need to rent a car (with a $250.00 deposit) since my daughter's car is very old and probably wouldn't make the trip.  (My car was repossessed when I couldn't afford the payments any more due to being in the hospital so often.)


I hope we get another stimulus check so I can see the cystic fibrosis specialist again.  In the meantime, I'm fortunate to have found a good doctor for low-income people in my town.


stimulus package
Has anyone heard anything about the stimulus stating that if you're white, do not apply?
Stimulus Package

I've read a lot about it on line and decided to get the info from the government itself.


Division B is where the so-called stimulus for us is located. A whole 5 pages or so. The rest is for millions and billions to go to:


Agricultural Research Services, buildings and facilities


Farm Bureau Salaries and Expenses


Natural Conservation Sevices Watershed and flood prevention operations, watershed rehab, fisheries


Rural Development Programs, rural housing services, utilities including distance learning, telemedicine,and broadband program


Bonneville Power Administration


Appropriations Transfer Authority: Department of Energy for `Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy', `Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability', and `Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee Program'


Financial Services: GSA, federal building fund,energy efficient government motor vehicle fleet procurement


Then we come to small businesses. Economic Stimulus LENDING for small businesses. 


Shall I keep going or does everybody get the jist of this so-called stimulus package?


 


 


Stimulus package, etc.
I absolutely agree with you.  You are 150% right.
So, In Obama's stimulus there is anything about
Just great. Is that why now Government is taking over the car companies now?
The programs in the stimulus...nm
x
This is about LAST YEAR'S stimulus

Now this makes sense. 


Yes, let's all blame W's stimulus

STIMULUS STORY

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea . It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.


Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.


The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher. The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.


The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.


The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.


The hooke*r runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.


The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.


At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.


No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism….


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.


And if that doesn’t scare the ____ out of you then you are brain dead!


The new stimulus payment idea
Have you seen the new stimulus payment idea, 150 billion dollars??? Do you know I looked up and it there is an estimated 304,000,000 (304 million) people in the US.  150 Billion dollar plan?  Give us ALL 1 million dollars and it would make sense to me!
the problem is that the stimulus checks are not...
"compliments of Obama." He is not footing the bill. The tax payers are, one way or another. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Boooo... stimulus package
Is anyone else not happy about this stimulus package? 
McCain won't vote for stimulus as it
Sen. John McCain, Obama's opponent in the November presidential contest, said he did not believe the stimulus package did enough to create jobs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28840572/
Stimulus Package breakdown
I know some of you don't like Glen Beck, but he has broken it down by the numbers and provides links so you can check the facts yourself. It sounds okay until you get to the heading: "When is the money going to be spent, and on what?"

 

 

 

 

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/20639/

What! The current stimulus plan
I heard about Hollywood wanting money and I did not believe it, but furniture? You gotta be kidding me! Can I have a new couch too and a new desk for my computer?

The GOP want to get rid of:

Meanwhile, House Republican leaders put out a list of more than 30 "wasteful" provisions in the Senate version of the stimulus, including:

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion pictures

• $650 million for the digital television (DTV) converter box coupon program

• $248 million for furniture at the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census
Maybe their payment of taxes is all the stimulus...
$$ we need? Makes one wonder, doesn't it????
Stimulus versus tax cuts

Stimulus means SPENDING


Non-refundable tax rebates means every $1.00 spent creates $1.02 in economic activity. 2 freaking cents (makes sense to the pubs.....I guess)


Infrastructure - every dollar spent equals $1.59 in economic activity (bridges, roads, etc.)


Food stamps (which the pubs want to cut out of the bill) - every dollar spent equals $1.73 in economic activity. This is the single most productive stimulus we have. Food stamps will get SPENT, unlike tax rebates.


If the pubs have their way, the bill will be 42% tax cuts which will not benefit job creation or improve the economy. They want to fail. Why? And you all call your senators to support this? If it gets pushed through like this, you have only yourselves to blame when everything goes to helll. You can't blame Obama for this cluster.


 


 


Yeah, the junk in that stimulus is really
nm
Stimulus package -- what the pubs want..(sm)
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=pete%20sessions%20taliban&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#
Disagree. This WASTEFUL stimulus is likely
nm
Stimulus package could be hazardous to your

health.  Take a look at this little hidden jewel.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs


Stimulus is 'anti-religious'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee warned supporters Tuesday that the $828 billion stimulus package is “anti-religious.”


In an e-mail that was also posted on his blog ahead of the Senate’s passage, Huckabee wrote: “The dust is settling on the ‘bipartisan’ stimulus bill and one thing is clear: It is anti-religious.”


The former Republican presidential candidate pointed to a provision in both the House and Senate versions banning higher education funds in the bill from being used on a “school or department of divinity.”


“You would think the ACLU drafted this bill,” Huckabee said. “For all of the talk about bipartisanship, this Congress is blatantly liberal.”


“Emily’s List, radical environmental groups, etc. all have a seat at the decision making table in Washington these days,” he continued. “Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are in charge and they are working with an equally ‘progressive’ President Obama (remember his voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy!).”


In the e-mail, Huckabee concedes that there is little that conservatives can do in the near term, but advocated mobilization to defeat those “masquerading as ‘conservative Democrats.’”


“This is the opening round of the Democrats’ campaign for big government,” he wrote. “We cannot afford to sit round one out, because if we do, they will only become more emboldened and their grab for power more audacious and damaging to our country and our freedoms.”


I used the last economic stimulus check
It was costing me about $25 in quarters every time I went to the laudromat. Not to mention gasoline and time spent not typing. I used the $600 to buy myself a portable washing machine (attaches to sink in kitchen when in use) and a portable drier. They use very little electricity. Washer uses very little water (good thing, now that we're in a major drought), and only a teaspoon of detergent per load. So it's nice to no longer have to pay at the pump and at the 'mat!

Lots of ways to cut down costs and giving our money to the government in taxes. I now pay all my bills online. Costs me nothing. Saves me a stamp (the price of which is going up AGAIN this spring), and the use of a check that i had to pay to have printed.

If they want to send me another $400, I'm sure not gonna complain. As a single renter with no kids, I have ZERO tax breaks. Last year, the I overpaid and Calif. OWED me $300. Then they very conveniently 're-figured' my taxes, and sent me a letter saying I actually made LESS MONEY than I had put on my return, and by their calculations, they didn't owe me anything. (???) If I made less money, but still overpaid the same amount in taxes, shouldn't they owe me MORE? Needless to say, if I owe them this year, they might just be getting a $300 IOU. They can spend their bailout money collecting it from me.
So agree with you. It is a spending stimulus.
No social security, nothing for the future but debt. I bet a country will be ready to buy us soon. Probably China, Iran, and Russia just waiting to buy us and take over. Shoot, probably it is in the stimulus bill because NOT ONE PERSON HAS HAD TIME TO READ IT AND GOVERNMENT PASSED IT. HOW STUPID!!!!!!!!
Who wrote the stimulus bill, do you know?...
//
Healthcare provision in stimulus package
Apparently this was added in at the last minute by an unknown.  I heard bits and pieces about this today in between working, but never really got the whole story.  Did anyone get the whole story?