AFL-CIO: Advocating A Second Stimulus Since September, 2008

The Business Insider ^ | 7/6/09

[FromLori]

Oh right, this would be the third stimulus... Read »

The drumbeat towards a "second stimulus" is growing louder, as advocates are helped by a deteriorating stock market and the withering of the green shoots.

It really got going after last week's jobs report, followed up by a Krugman article, and Joe Biden's comments about misreading the bad economy. Now the AFL-CIO is joining the trend.

We were curious to know more about the AFL-CIO's stance on stimulus, so we hopped on over to their blog and found this post titled: "Second Stimulus Package Needed Now for America’s Working Families"

...pointing to a five-year high in the unemployment rate and other bleak economic news, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called on Congress to quickly pass a stimulus package to “spur and stabilize our nation’s entire sinking economy” that includes:

Fiscal relief for states and cities. Extended unemployment benefits. Expanded funding for food stamps. Job creation by funding for ready-to-go infrastructure projects, including repairing schools, roads and bridges. Sounds pretty conventional. And then we noticed the date of the post: September 9, 2008.

That's right! Bush had his own stimulus early in 2008, when it looked like the economy was going into a "rough patch." So all this talk of a second stimulus is inaccurate. It's the third stimulus.

And when you get to three, the following phrases apply. It's either "third times a charm" or "three strikes and you're out."

So, dear stimulants, if you do a third one and it doesn't work, will you promise to try a different tack next time?

[whitedog57]

They don’t work. Period.

Stimulus are just wealth transfers to friends of the administration like the AFL-CIO.

[xcamel]

No nation has ever taxed its way into prosperity. None, never, nowhere.

[spintreebob]

Early on Obama kept saying “the worst since the great depression” when in fact it was only the worst since Jimmy Carter. So how can Biden now say they guessed wrong one way when they in fact exaggereated the other direction?

[K-oneTexas]

"Second Stimulus Package Needed Now for America’s Working Families"

Should read "Second Stimulus Package Needed Now for America’s Big Business and Sources of Politicians Campaign Monies"

[CharlesWayneCT]

The problem is, the 2nd stimulus wasn’t actually a stimulus. The Republicans had a plan that would cost half as much and would have put money into people’s hands which would immediately have been spent. This would have propped up businesses on the brink of failure, and saved maybe a million jobs over the last 3 months.

Saving jobs would have meant more money in the economy, which would have helped pull us out of the recession.

Instead, we got the non-stimulus bill from the Democrats, who paid off their constituents mostly be giving money to public entities to provide wage increases and protect the jobs of those who already were working.

They also had a little real stimulus money, but most of that hasn’t been released yet, because instead of really finding shovel-ready projects, they are sending the money to pay off politicians and supporters, and it’s not being spent.

[3niner]

First rounds of bribes not enough, second round needed.

[Kakaze]

If we really need more money in the economy,speed up the distribution of the first stimulus, rather than holding it as bribe money for the 2010 elections.

[Earthdweller]

I thought they would at least wait until the end of the summer when all the unemployment starts to run out. Bad moon rising.

[DustyMoment]

Almost immediately after Congress passed the 2nd Stimulus bill (Zero’s Porkzilla), they started talking about a 3rd stimulus because they already KNEW that Porkzilla would do NOTHING to stimulate the economy!!

If they KNEW that it wouldn’t stimulate the economy, why’d they pass it?? Having spent America into the 2nd Century B.C., where do they expect to get the money to finance a 3rd stimulus???

Daily, it is becoming more obvious that one of the requirements for being elected to political office is a complete and total brain removal.

[mad_as_he$$]

Yup more of the same $hit that does not work.

[for-q-clinton]

Great point! So the folow up questions we should ask is this.

Since the administration said this was the worst recession since the great depression, has it now surpassed the great depression?

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Let’s hope they can bury Jacko before the crooks on congress sneak the next “stimulus” through. The MSM (including FOX) is afraid of covering real news while the MJ event is going on, lest they lose ratings to the other networks.

I believe that the mindless US public is behind both the MJ obsession and government irresponsibility.