At the time, I really didn’t know if it would work. Keynes’ economic theories had never been fully tested in this type of a crisis scenario…and we were certainly in one. So here we are a year later….did it work?
First of all, a bit of a clarification: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by Barack Obama is “the stimulus.” This is the money that went to fund road projects and pay firemen. It’s been called “the stimulus package” or “The recovery act”, and every Republican (except 3) voted AGAINST it. The Recovery Act contained the following provisions:
Financial assistance to states that were about to fire scores of workers, from firefighters to police officers to teachers, as well as an extension of unemployment benefits and generous COBRA health insurance subsidies.
Spending on new infrastructure and manufacturing: those newly smoothed roads and highways on your commute to work, along with spending on transit and green energy technology.
The largest middle class tax cut in American history — $288 billion in tax relief which, I might add, every Republican (save for three) voted against.
Unfortunately many Americans confuse the stimulus package with “the bailout”. TARP. The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program signed by George W. Bush. Hundreds of banks received money from this program…a few have repaid…many have not.
A recent CNN poll showed that 54% of Americans think the stimulus has helped bankers and investors. Obama is losing the PR battle, because Americans think that the Stimulus and the Bailout are the same: They’re Not. While there is much to complain about TARP, the Recovery Act appears to be working. Wall Street seems to think so:
Okay…but that’s just Wall Street…what about jobs?
Looks pretty good there too. Okay..but these numbers might be fudged. How about GDP? That’s the real pulse of the economy, right?
So does this mean that Keynes is vindicated? That supply-side economics is dead? That Adam Smith’s invisible hand has vanished?
I don’t know the answer…I’m just a piano player. But I do know that it looks like we may have dodged a very big bullet…for now. For more on this, visit: Bob Cesca: Happy Anniversary, Recovery Act.
– “We in no way want to promote the hateful rhetoric of Mr. Glenn Beck, and therefore take this matter very seriously,” said Dino Balzano, director of advertising at Concord Music Group, parent company of Hear Music, in an email to ColorOfChange.org.
– “We do not intend to have any additional ad placements during the program,” said Jeff Flaherty, spokesperson for Marriott International, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. “I’d like to point out that diversity and inclusion are core values at Marriott and an essential component of our success.”
– “I first learned about this controversy [in November] and asked Fox to take his show out of our rotation,” said Steve Schwartz, executive vice president of consumer services for Intersections, Inc., in an email to ColorOfChange.org. “We no longer advertise on Glenn Beck’s show.”
During a book signing in the private, gated community near Orlando called “The Villages”, Glenn Beck announced plans to do a tour to divide the country into 7 parts and conduct re-education camps.
Beck plans to teach ethics, history, finance and political science.
I’m not kidding. He says the first city on that tour will be Orlando on March 27, 2010 at UCF.
“It’s like looking into a mirror, after you’ve done a ton of coke off of it. Clearly, Glenn Beck is as sincere in what he says and does as I am in believing that baby carrots are trying to turn me gay.“ — Stephen Colbert
“Because if they can take Glenn Beck’s burst appendix to save his life, who’s to say that they can’t take out your healthy appendix tomorrow and eat it in front of you and your children?“ – Jon Stewart
Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee rebuffed two amendments to include the public option in its health care reform bill. The first amendment, offered by Jay Rockefeller went down 15-8. Chuck Schumer’s amendment failed to pass by a 13-10 vote.
“Beck, squeezes maximum profit from a relatively small, deeply invested audience…The more the host is criticized, the more committed the original audience becomes.” Can’t bring yourself to read the article? Then read the reviews on the link below…
Warning, what you will see in this video includes predominantly white, overweight, ignorant Americans who attended the Glenn Beck 9/12 Tea Party protest in Washington D.C. this past weekend.
To these people, Communism, Fascism and Socialism are pretty much the same thing. (6:01)
To these people, the Bible says that Barack Obama’s name means “Antichrist”. (4:51)
To these people, Obama is giving land to Czars. (7:41)
They later corrected the error, noting that it might be used to by liberals to “discredit the undeniably massive turnout”.
She’s right to be worried — it absolutely will be used that way. If you don’t want to be discredited, then don’t tell a ridiculous (and easily disprovable) lie.
I know this seems redundant, but this one has it’s own webpage and I spent like 30 minutes working on this video so I figured it deserved a second posting
Wednesday, February 17
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