[Rodney King]

Interesting article. It is BS, of course, but what is interesting is an outside observer basically saying that if the government is going to spend such an outrageous amount of money, the economy must be in big trouble.

Of course, the author does not understand the nature of Pork, and what happens if the congress and the president are from the same party, even if they claim to be conservatives.

[warchild9]

What the writer doesn't understand is the essential strength of an economy which can survive a succession of socialist hits such as the "Transportation" and "Prescription Drug" bills.

And perhaps I should have capitalized "bills," as in what the taxpayers are forced at gunpoint to cover by their "conservative" President and congress.

[LA Conservative]

I thought I was reading the LA Times.

[Americanwolf]

I just look at the source...

Pravda ---- Russian for SeeBS! :)

[johnnyBbad]

For all the talk of Bush "acknowledging the collapsing US economy" in a "remarkable statement" I don't see a single Bush quote in the entire article.

[GSlob]

Why even bother looking at "Pravda"? Their credibility is lower than that of supermarket tabloid with the cover page breathlessly informing the onlookers that clintons are space aliens. [Which, BTW, is wrong. Hillary is the third horn of the apocalyptic Beast, and not a space alien].

[datura]

Typically clueless Pravda.

[SteveMcKing]

"Of course, the author does not understand the nature of Pork, and what happens if the congress and the president are from the same party, even if they claim to be conservatives."

The "hard" Left does understand that Pork is a strain on Capitalism, which is why they support it.

The "soft" Left may be naive as you say, or they simply know that they benefit from working in public sector, and they don't care that they steal from taxpayers as a matter of principle.

[satchmodog9]

I guess Pravda is just jealous there is more socialism here than in Russia.

[Mad Mammoth]

Man, now this really speaks volumes about the value of free trade among nations, consider: the Soviet Union collapses, and all of those crusty Tass and Pravda Commies who used to crank out all of the Politburo's horseshit are able to find NEW jobs by just moving to North America and getting jobs with the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Glob, LA Times, etc., and in the spirit of latter day perestroika, the aforementioned newspapers send THEIR 'Rat-trained writers to take over the Pravda and Tass editorial desks!

As Yakov Smirnoff might say "what a (pair of) countries!!!"

[mmercier]

>> Of course, the author does not understand the nature of Pork, and what happens if the congress and the president are from the same party, even if they claim to be conservatives

They also do not understand the nature of capitalism. Europe sees everything as a zero sum game, the pie is only so big, so if someone wins then someone else must loose.

They have been bogged down in this chit mindset since the 30's. They cry as their living standards and economies contract, we whistle into the wind and "make money". They fight over the crumbs from other peoples labor, we just bake new pies.

Every cent wasted by the government goes into someones pocket, they then spend it in myriad ways based on their free will, and it feeds back into the food chain. The byproduct of all this government largess is an insatiable consumer demand and a vast economy that makes people who think of things like beanie babies billionaires in a decade.

Billionaires that would not otherwise exist.

[kittymyrib]

LOL...this poor Russian thinks the porky transportation bill's cost of 286 Billion over 6 years is going to break us. He must not have Googled our Gross National Product, which currently is over 11 TRILLION dollars. In 2003, the most current figure available, the Purchasing Power Parity per capita was $37,600, while Russia's was $9,300. No need to send us CARE packages, Sergei. Our biggest problem among the "poor" in the US is obesity.

[Brilliant]

Sort of reminds me of the many media reports of unrest in China and Iran. The hype is always greater than the reality.

Of course, the Russians live in a fantasy world where their leaders consistently refuse to acknowledge problems. So when the American President acknowledges high gas prices, and says he's trying to improve the economy, they are astounded.

[plain talk]

Russia criticizing us for too much socialism? :-)

[atomicpossum]

Pravda is probably even out-there to Michael Moore.

[God luvs America]

I saw the title and expected this to be from Scrappleface

[Westbrook]

"Pravda" is Russian for "Truth".

"Isvestia" is Russian for "The News".

The Russians have a saying about these two "news" organizations that I will try to transliterate, then translate.

"S'isvestia nee pravda, s pravda ne'svestia."

"In 'The News' there is no Truth, and in 'The Truth' there is no news."

The Russians ain't as dumb as their press and politicians would like you to think.

[RightWhale]

$1/4 trillion probably seems like a lot of money to those who don't have a noticeable economy.

[Dallas59]

Pravda.....The Bat Boy News Service of Russia.

[SuziQ]

Typical PRAVDA.

[tiki]

Wow! how scary and I didn't even know about it. I'm glad Pravda is letting us know what our government doesn't want us to know. Sadly, there are probably a lot of Dims who would believe this.