Now Would be a Good Time to Invest in KY
The handout bailout stimulus package has passed the House 244-188. It will now proceed to the Senate, where the battle will (hopefully) be tougher.
At HuffPo, some bloke is calling everyone who voted against the bill (even after a “face-to-face” with President Obama! For shame.) a traitor who “voted against their country” and accuses them of “ersatz patriotism.”*
On the other side of the spectrum, Jacob Sullum at Reason says:
Even as President Obama promises that the federal government will spend the $1 trillion or so contemplated in the stimulus legislation in a utterly open, totally transparent, and absolutely accountable way, he demands that members of Congress vote for the 647-page monstrosity before they can possibly have time to read and digest it.
Did everyone forget how the USA Patriot Act got rammed through the legislature before anyone had the time to read it. Did everyone forget what a horrible piece of legislation that was?
What could possibly go wrong with $825,000,000,000 of our money on the line? Oh, right. Hope. Change. New dawn, and all that. Let the professionals do their jobs.
* That thumping sound you hear is the progressives’ newfound patriotic chest-beating.
I also like how the “Herbert Hoover” meme has spread around like a case of herpes. I guess it dovetails with the whole “Obama-as-FDR” story, but I suspect that people really don’t know much about the guy or his policies.
Case in point:
Axtman says: “Apparently still longing for the days of Herbert Hoover, Richardson appears to be looking for a zero debt/slashing spending way to climb out of this hole.”
Even a cursory glance at Wikipedia would’ve revealed this:
Hardly In other words, Carla Axtman has no idea what she’s talking about when she mentions Herbert Hoover.
On one hand, you can’t blame someone for trying to milk a politically advantageous situation for all its worth, especially since “progressives” have been claiming Obama’s victory as vindication of everything they believe to be true and some sort of conclusive debunking of everything they disagree with.
On the other, it does seem a bit premature to celebrate the death of fiscal conservatism, especially since the last eight years were hardly the salad days of the untrammeled free market that those who have an interest in increasing regulation have portrayed it as.
Carla is one of those chuckleheads from Blue Oregon. Here’s some more of her sterling prose:
On Monday, uber conservative Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Poing) griped about the plan too–whining about spending. Apparently still longing for the days of Herbert Hoover, Richardson appears to be looking for a zero debt/slashing spending way to climb out of this hole.
Anyone know of some good book titles to send to the Oregon GOP legislators to bring them up to speed on how their economic ideology is an abject failure?
That’s right, folks: An economic recession completely invalidates fiscal conservatism as a credible political ideology!
Since when was the Bush Administration “fiscally conservative”? Also, I’d be interested to see your explanation of how Bush’s tax cuts led to the credit crisis.
Let
Let’s just hope this fiscal conservatism sticks around for awhile. The country is going to need it.
True enough.
That thumping sound you hear is the Republicans’ newfound fisacally conservative chest-beating.
/fixed
How long does it take a jackass’ assistant to read 700 pages and then boil it down to shallow talking points for the jackass to regurgitate?
My guess is anywhere from 6 months to never.
So, while I appreciate the sentiments of the post (really I do), I wonder what the more realistic take should be on passing this legislation given the state of the economy, etc.
Would a time limit help? You have two weeks to read this? That sort of thing?
On the bright side, the Republicans did something right for once. I’m sure it was for the wrong reasons and I’m not holding my breath that they’ll do it very often, but take it for what it’s worth.