What is in the new plan?

[Rustic23]

I have been watching the news, and reading the papers, however, I don't really know what we are buying for $850 billion. Now, I suppose it is because there is not plan to pass the House yet, so there is no plan. On the other hand there have been somethings brought out like contraceptives, swimming pools, and infrastructure. They always say, the devil is in the details. So does anyone have the details?

After reading I came up this:

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10934

some detail, but still short. i.e. I don't see the contraceptive issue here.

 

[bbbamI]

I don't...

 

[ziggy29]

More giveaways for the less responsible and a jobs program that only benefits a small sector of the economy?

 

[JPatrick]

I have been watching the news, and reading the papers, however, I don't really know what we are buying for $850 billion. Now, I suppose it is because there is not plan to pass the House yet, so there is no plan. On the other hand there have been somethings brought out like contraceptives, swimming pools, and infrastructure. They always say, the devil is in the details. So does anyone have the details?

After reading I came up this:

Open Left:: Stimulus Spending Summary, By Category

some detail, but still short. i.e. I don't see the contraceptive issue here.

I've only seen dribs and drabs, but the contraceptive issue is real as apparently is lots of bucks to ACORN type organizations. Yipes!

 

[TromboneAl]

Here's a question: Some have been criticizing/ridiculing the inclusion of one million for grass seed for Washington DC parks. It sure seems silly -- save the country with grass seed?

However, it's really no different from, say, building bridges, is it? The grass seed manufacturers get the money, they hire people to harvest grass, someone gets paid to plant the grass, etc.

As long as the grass planting needs to be done, and truly serves a needed purpose (a muddy Wash DC: probably not a good idea), I'm guessing it's as good as anything else to spend money on.

BTW, Ace hardware sells grass at $25/45 pounds. Home Depot tells me that I'd need 120,000 pounds to seed one square mile. So, $66,666 to seed one square mile. So 1 million would buy enough (without a discount) to seed 15 square miles. The total area of Washington, DC is 62 square miles. I did not check my math.

 

[FinanceDude]

More giveaways for the less responsible and a jobs program that only benefits a small sector of the economy?

Or, enough pork for his/her district to guarantee re-election to the Senate ad infinitum..........

 

[Rustic23]

I do think it makes a difference as to what it is spent on. I may not have this right, but one of the largest if not the largest infrastructure expenditure was the National Highway System. Not only did it create jobs to construct it, it created jobs in the form of car sales, motels, restaurants, an a whole bunch of other stuff. A bridge that links two cities and promotes commerce between the two creates more jobs.

All spending, or almost all spending, creates jobs. However, if you look at the list from the link, it appears this is a Pork Christmas Tree and not a Jobs program.

TAL, the Washington mall is 146 acres. There are 640 acres in a square mile, so it sure looks like they are going to plant more seed than the Mall. However there appear to be 12.26 square miles of parks http://www.capitalspace.gov/events/Pub_FINAL Presentation 4_5_07_optimized.pdf. However, you are going to have to take out some streams and trees to plant grass on all of it.

 

[Gotadimple]

Or, enough pork for his/her district to guarantee re-election to the Senate ad infinitum..........

It's Washington DC: they don't get a senator, just a representative. And, Congress has to provide funds to run DC rather than funds from a state's ta coffers, as there is no state.

So, our tax dollars HARD at work keeping OUR public places up!

-- Rita

 

[crazy connie]

I caught a commercial from Glenn Beck indicating he had a document of the stimulus funds plan for disbursement. I just checked it out a bit and there is a link to the House Appropriations Committee as well. Happy reading!

Glenn Beck - Current Events & Politics - Obama Stimulus Package Breakdown

Glenn Beck - Current Events & Politics - Obama Stimulus Package Breakdown

 

[dex]

Individuals:

*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion.
*Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor.
*Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children
*A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
*Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time.

I don't see anything in there for me - Retired with income from investments. That needs to change. Last year the tax rebate paid my Fed taxes. I would like to have no Fed taxes plus another $800 to 1,000 - I think that is reasonable.

 

[Rustic23]

$2.3 B for carbon-capture projects
650m for digital TV conversion (anyone know what we have spent all ready?)
400m for global warming research
50m for National Endowment for the Arts (Hey, where is ACORN and NPR! they have to be in there somewhere)

Just another big spending bill. Not a stimulus package, Not a jobs package!

 

[OAG]

Have no fear, ACORN is there, hidden well (Community Outreach or Community Organizing Funds, which will include ACORN). As far as creating jobs, it has, look at all the people "working" to figure out what is there.

 

[MichaelB]

I don't see anything in there for me - Retired with income from investments. That needs to change. Last year the tax rebate paid my Fed taxes. I would like to have no Fed taxes plus another $800 to 1,000 - I think that is reasonable.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Of course, reason doesn't usually have much to do with anything related to government. Federal benefit usually doesn't go to the most needy, but to the best connected. Seems we are neither so we get get nothing.

On second thought, we do get our fair share, and more, in one aspect - paying the bill.

 

[Rustic23]

$4.1B for Neighborhood Stabilization! 'Well it could go to ACORN, it just depends on what the Governors want to spend it on' Hey! This is going to create jobs, they don't even know how it is going to be spent!

 

[JPatrick]

One of the selling points has been that much of the money will go to shovel ready projects, or in other words, projects that can begin to employ people now versus after months of planning.
Employ now is good, but simply "shovel ready" is a piss poor test IMO.
A ready project is not necessarily a smart project..For all the years it has been around, I'm sure the "bridge to no where" is shovel ready.

 

[ziggy29]

One of the selling points has been that much of the money will go to shovel ready projects, or in other words, projects that can begin to employ people now versus after months of planning.
Employ now is good, but simply "shovel ready" is a piss poor test IMO.
A ready project is not necessarily a smart project..For all the years it has been around, I'm sure the "bridge to no where" is shovel ready.

Not only that, but how many people, regions and industries are going to be helped by "shovel-ready" projects? Seems like this is essentially concentrating all the job creation/preservation into one primary type of activity, and those who aren't in that industry or in a support role to that industry really don't see much help.

If you don't build stuff, or if you're not part of the support infrastructure for people who build stuff, the benefits would seem very limited.

 

[ls99]

It seems they are turning a lot of freshly printed paper (money) into shovel ready manure. None of it will improve my retirement life.

OTOH a lot of folks will be w*rking later and paying for this stimulus.

At least they took out the stimulating procreation preventors. Now they can go forth and multiply and pay for it all.

 

[Rustic23]

Listening to the prelude to Obama speach. Not sure who the first guy was but "We know working with the transition that $30B could create 1M jobs in the next 12 months"

So, why $850B? Is this like drag, the faster you go the more power it takes to overcome the wind drag? So $30B for the first 1M jobs and $820B for the next 2M jobs?