Posted on 09/14/2005 9:24:24 PM PDT by Uncle Joe Cannon
Bush to Request More Aid Funding
Analysts Warn of Spending's Impact
By Jonathan Weisman and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A01
President Bush will call tonight for an unprecedented federal commitment to rebuild New Orleans and other areas obliterated by Hurricane Katrina, putting the United States on pace to spend more in the next year on the storm's aftermath than it has over three years on the Iraq war, according to White House and congressional officials.
With the federal tab for Katrina already nearly quadruple the cost of the country's previous most expensive natural disaster cleanup, Bush plans to offer federal assistance to help flood victims find jobs, get housing and health care, and attend school, according to White House aides.
In a speech from the flood zone, Bush will commit the federal government to what many predict will become the largest reconstruction effort ever on U.S. soil.
The president will call on Washington to resist spending money unwisely, but some in his own party are already starting to recoil at a price tag expected to exceed $200 billion -- about the cost of the Iraq war and reconstruction efforts. As emergency expenditures soar -- with new commitments as high as $2 billion a day -- some budget analysts and conservative groups are warning that the Katrina spending has combined with earlier fiscal decisions in ways that will wreak havoc on the government's finances for years to come.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
200 billion, that'd buy a lot of beads. Are that many tits in the country? It sounds like the strip joints are right behind the refineries and ready to run at full capacity.
Are you saying that the mission of Free Republic is futile?
Well, I'm not holding my breath.
If not reducing the size and scope of government, what then, should our goals as conservatives be? I, like you, am pessimistic about the size of government, but I will never ever quit fighting for it. As former NJ gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler says, "the good fight is the good life".
WTF?
Then what is the point?
I agree. Wonder why we don't consider letting capitalism take care of the rebuilding? Good old supply and demand, ingenuity, etc.
No Republican president since Coolidge has spent less money than the year before. Not Ike, not Nixon, not Reagan, not either Bush.
What's more, the American people don't want it. If they did, they'd put in people who would cut the size of government.
I don't think even most conservatives much care what the size of the federal government is.
Help your neighbor and have some fun.
Worrying about the size of government is a waste of angst.
I wasn't asking what's the point of living?
Good answer BTW.
I guess I could have been more clear so here is take #2...
What's the point of politics in general, and FR in particular?
I had a good discussion with some co-workers last week about this. I disagree with you that Americans don't want less government. Whenever the subject of wasteful pork comes up, it seems as if everybody is against it, whether they are conservative or liberal. The problem is that Americans are not motivated enough to really act on this.
I feel that a politician could come along who was capable of creating enthuiasm and really motivate the public on this. We came close to this with the Contract for America.
Because of this, my early pick for the GOP nominee in '08 is Gov. Sanford of South Carolina. This guy brought live pigs into the statehouse to protest wasteful spending. While some might consider that childish, I think we need more people like him to expose the con game politicians have been playing on us.
Please reconsider your position and do not give up hope of one dayreturning to a small, non-intrusive government. Without hope, it will never happen.
I am going to cross-link your post to another thread (the Bush speech) where the majority of posters think that the Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper and the phrase "the general welfare" means that President Bush can and should provide unlimited aid to all those who have been affected by the storm.
---
Thanks, and please do. Educating the people is the only way to stop this constant looting of our property. Only when the people will no longer stand for it, will the thievery stop. Not spending public money on disaster relief is not only required by the constitution and due process of law, it is also the compassionate thing to do. This last point, unfortunately, needs to be emphasized more than the former.
>>From our pockets, the usual place. Have you looked at your phone bills lately? My last bill was about 20% federal taxes. GWB may have cut income taxes, but overall more taxes are being paid than ever before, they simply get it from other taxations.<<
Big gov just gets bigger, and we keep getting raped by them..
AHHHH......Never mind...I am too depressed to even respond to posts like this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.