$819B stimulus bill passed. Your thoughts?

[Net]

What do you think about the $819 billion dollar stimulus bill?

Do you think it will work?

Or will it flop and put us yet even more billions of dollars behind?

 

[frostedflakes]

It doesn't contain as much Keynesian spending as I was expecting, just seems like it's turned into a big health/education/welfare package. I mean, I think a lot of the spending in the bill is good for our country, but I'm hesitant to call it a "stimulus" bill anymore. It's more like a "Democratic agenda under the guise of a stimulus" bill.

So I guess I think it's good for the country, kind of meh for the economy.

 

[Xellos2099]

It is just a super pork barrel and it need to be stop at all cost.

 

[Ozoned]

If the bill is designed as 1/2 indirect, and 1/2 direct stimulus to our economy, it could turn over 10/11 times and add a total of 9 to 10 trillion to our gdp over a period of 3-5 years. It will help, and the inflationary effects should help real estate values to recover over the same period. Of course, this is just my opinion.

 

[EagleKeeper]

I t seems more of an attempt to stop the slide from steepening rather that goose a recovery.

To much pork added (again)

 

[Budmantom]

This goes a long way to bankrupting America.

 

[Aimster]

They should have offered a $15,000 first time home buyers tax credit

 

[jjzelinski]

The first thing I'm going to do with my stimulus money is buy a golden toilet for my jet.

 

[imported_K3N]

Buy Gold and Silver, baby.

 

[woodie1]

Is this the bill that passed along party lines? Can't wait to see what the Senate does with it.

 

[palehorse]

my thoughts?

"fuck."

These viral "bailouts" and "stimulus packages" will be the death of us all...

 

[Dissipate]

Two words come to mind: economic meltdown.

 

[Jiggz]

If the gov't believes it can spend its way out of this recession, we should have printed 1000X the amount of money we'll use for this "Steel Mucus" package! But the truth is that we can't! Maybe what we need now is $$ for new printing presses. The old ones have been working 24/7 on overtime and still catching up to print the last $750B they approved for the TARP.

 

[ProfJohn]

From what little I have read this package seems to be a mess that will do little to help us today.

The VAST majority of the spending does not occur for a few years which makes no sense. I thought the idea was to jump start the economy now, not set up spending programs for the next 4-5 years.

The sad thing is that even if the package is a total failure the Democrats probably won't pay a political price for its failure. Increasing the debt of the country is not tangible enough for most voters.

 

[Mxylplyx]

It has turned into a shopping list for political interest groups. All this talk about infrastructure spending and getting Americans back to work, and this bill only has $30B of actual infrastructure spending. The bill is a stinking pile of shit, and completely violates the bipartisan tone that Obama has talked about, since not a single Republican was consulted. It should be used to build shit, not provide temporary aid to every interest group under the sun.

 

[ProfJohn]

From the WallStreet Journal

We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

 

[evident]

what does it actually even spend money on?

 

[ProfJohn]

From the Tax Policy Center, a joint effort by the non-partisan Brookings Institute and Urban Institute

Fiscal stimulus can raise output and incomes in the short run when the economy is operating below its potential. To have the greatest impact with the least long-run cost, the stimulus should be timely, temporary, and targeted. It should be timely so that its effects are felt while economic activity is still below potential; when the economy has recovered, stimulus becomes counterproductive. It should be temporary to avoid raising inflation and to minimize the adverse long-term effects of a larger budget deficit. And it should be well targeted to provide resources to people who most need them and will spend them: for fiscal stimulus to work, it is essential that the funds be spent, not saved...

...The most effective fiscal policy options to stimulate the economy are those that would increase spending quickly and be short-lived. Those criteria can be met by policies that temporarily boost the purchasing power of households who are most likely to increase their spending quickly in response. Extending unemployment insurance beyond its normal twenty-six-week limit, raising food stamp benefits, or issuing refundable tax credits, all on a temporary basis, would likely provide the greatest fiscal stimulus in the shortest time...

...Policies that boost investment, such as direct spending on public infrastructure or tax incentives for businesses, are likely to have a smaller impact on the economy than policies designed to increase consumer spending. In particular, the available evidence suggests that the stimulus they provide would be small, not well-timed, or both.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: evident
what does it actually even spend money on?

Probably better summaries out there, but the Wikipedia article breaks it down a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A..._and_Reinvestment_Plan

 

[SSSnail]

I don't really care if it will work or not, at least the PEOPLE get some of it instead of the corporate criminals.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: K3N
Buy Gold and Silver, baby.

Wrong, the risk is deflation, not inflation.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: K3N
Buy Gold and Silver, baby.

Wrong, the risk is deflation, not inflation.

You REALLY don't get this, do you.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: K3N
Buy Gold and Silver, baby.

Wrong, the risk is deflation, not inflation.

You REALLY don't get this, do you.

OH LOOK AT ME I'M BRITISH I'M SO ENLIGHTENED AND SO SMART I HAVE A BRITISH ACCENT!

Please come back to me in a year when gold is down 25%+.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: K3N
Buy Gold and Silver, baby.

Wrong, the risk is deflation, not inflation.

You REALLY don't get this, do you.

OH LOOK AT ME I'M BRITISH I'M SO ENLIGHTENED AND SO SMART I HAVE A BRITISH ACCENT!

Please come back to me in a year when gold is down 25%+.

You do realise that you are making a complete fool out of yourself with that "I AM BRITISH" idocy? No? Well you are.

The point is that Gold and Silver retains it's value regardless of the currency you stupid fucking twat.

 

[fskimospy]

This bill is only the House version, whatever is actually implemented will likely be FAR different than this. So, for all the people foaming and crapping their pants, chill out.