$825 Billion Stimulus Plan to Pay for New Windows, Day Care, Cable TV

CNS NEWS.com ^ | Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | By Matt Cover

[Cindy]

(CNSNews.com) – The $825 billion government stimulus package unveiled by congressional Democrats on Friday contains billions of dollars in government spending supposedly designed to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

However, the package also contains a host of items congressional leaders rarely mention, including hundreds of millions of dollars for cable TV boxes, new windows in government housing, and day care, among numerous other economic stimulus programs.

Drafted by Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the stimulus proposal – the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill” – claims that without the massive federal spending, America will face “economic chaos.”

[Cindy]

Speaking of TAXES...Recap:

CNS NEWS.com: "SCHUMER, DURBIN AND BARNEY FRANK SEE NO PROBLEM WITH TREASURY NOMINEE'S TAX PROBLEMS" by Nicholas Ballasy and Matthew Hadro (January 19, 2009)

BRAIN-TERMINAL.com: "CHARLES RANGEL AND THE HARLEM TAX REVOLT OF '09" by Evan Coyne Maloney (Note: Video included.) (January 19, 2009, 12:41 am)

[Cindy]

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Business/Default.aspx?id=390378

“Bailouts bad for economy, bad for recovery”
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2009 4:30:00 AM

[Cindy]

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Business/Default.aspx?id=390378

“Bailouts bad for economy, bad for recovery”
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2009 4:30:00 AM

[SkyPilot]

[familyop]

I’ve been very much against government-funded day care and wage schemes (”comparable worth” and the like), but more recently, I’m a little wiser. Consider the consequences and the costs, then give them what they want.

Give their efforts a little extra push by making sure that government-funded day care is available to every woman in the private and public sectors. Then see what happens.

The following are Fortune 500s that filed briefs (along with labor unions and lawyer organizations) in favor of so-called affirmative action in the Michigan “Grutter v. Bollinger” (Michigan University) case.

http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/legal/gru_amicus/32_internatl.pdf

3M
Abbott Laboratories
American Airlines
Ashland
Bank One
Boeing
Coca-Cola
Dow Chemical
E.I. Du Pont De Nemours
Eastman Kodak
Eli Lilly
Ernst & Young
Exelon
Fannie Mae
General Dynamics
General Mills
Intel
Johnson & Johnson
Kellogg
KPMG
Lucent Technologies
Microsoft
Mitsubishi
Nationwide Mutual Insurance
Nationwide Financial
Pfizer
PPG
Proctor & Gamble
Sara Lee
Steelcase
Texaco
TRW
United Airlines
General Motors Corporation

http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/legal/gru_amicus/gru_gm.html

[blueplum]

-- $650 million to help Americans upgrade to digital cable NO! - Delay the transition a year or two - what's the hurry anyway?
-- $44 million to repair and improve the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture NO! make do
-- $276 million to upgrade and modernize information technology at the State Department. NO! make do
-- $3.1 billion to fund “infrastructure projects” on federal land, including $1.8 billion for the National Park Service, $650 million for the U.S. Forest Service, and $300 million for the National Fish Hatcheries. NO! make do with your current budgets
-- $600 million for NASA, including $400 million for projects such as “satellite sensors that measure solar radiation critical to understanding climate change.” ...oh Hell no!
-- $1.9 billion for the Department of Energy for “basic research into the physical sciences,” Nope, not this year, sorry
-- $209 million for maintenance work at the federal Agricultural Research Service’s research facilities now what research can they do that Monsanto hasn't done already? NO!
-- $400 million in repairs to various “national treasures,” they can wait another year or three
-- $850 million for “wildland fire management,” including $550 million to states for “volunteer fire assistance,” - Ok to the fire management part, city forest stuff can wait
-- $400 million for “habitat restoration” projects to be doled out by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. NO - We citizens are more worried about our own habitat, thanks all the same
-- $2.7 billion for “rural water and waste disposal” grant programs for providing loans for digging wells it can wait - NO!
-- $2 billion to provide day care services to 300,000 additional low-income children, ostensibly while their parents are at work. ostensibly? how about, paystub or no daycare, and a limit on kids?
-- $1.2 billion to create an estimated 1 million summer jobs for young people. that's what, 100K per job ? Hell NO!
-- $2.5 billion to upgrade government-owned housing projects with new insulation, windows, and furnaces. deal with what you have for now - We taxpayers are worried about our own furnaces.
-- $6.2 billion to weatherize the homes of low-income people to make them more energy efficient. - shouldn't the landlord be doing this? this program is years old, just how many houses are left to weatherize? NO.
-- $2.4 billion for projects demonstrating carbon-capture technology. NOT ON YOUR LIFE
-- $600 million to “prepare our country for universal healthcare” by training more doctors, dentists, and nurses. - since "we" haven't passed 'universal healthcare' isn't it a little soon to be jumping the gun on this? NO!
-- $1.5 billion to build new “Community Health Centers.” NO! use existing facilities.
-- $20 billion to provide “nutrition assistance” for middle-income families and to lift restrictions on how long people can receive food stamps. Food police? NO!

sounds like thousands of new government or low-paying-entry-level jobs to me, and not much for the private sector - get back to the drawing board, Congress and come up with something real!
that was fun!

Best regards, blu

[Right Wing Assault]

My windows are 98 years old. I want some of my money back to buy new ones.

[ari-freedom]

no...Windows 98 isn’t really that old but it’s still a good idea to upgrade to XP or Vista. :)

[chainsaw]

I thought Obama said he wanted a bill with no pork. As a measure of what’s to come, we’ll see if he signs it.

[Dahoser]

Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"

Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.

Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.

But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."

It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented.
--Frédéric Bastiat

[PennsylvaniaMom]

My windows are old and need replaced. Where do I apply? Can I get new curtains too?

[ripley]

“i thought obama said he wanted a bill with no pork. as a measure of what’s to come, we’ll see if he signs it.”

there is no such thing as a lie in furtherance of the revolution.

IMHO

[ripley]

“schumer, durbin and barney frank see no problem with treasury nominee’s tax problems.”

should read: “schumer, durbin and barney frank see no problem with bag man nominee’s tax problems.”

[demshateGod]

It’s amazing how many women I know who fit that image perfectly. I work on a church bus route.

[Made In The USA]

Where’s the business case on how this list of pork stimulates the economy?!

The only thing this list ‘o spending is stimulating is my sense of frustration, sense of anger, contempt for those who insult taxpayers by writing it.

Worse, no one in our new Democrat leadership will have the commons sense or balls to stop this train wreck.

$650M for the digital cable upgrade???? My head is about to explode.

[I_be_tc]

bttt

[XenaLee]

The ‘people’ have spoken. This is what the majority... (the idiots) voted for. And now, the idiots really ARE in charge of ruining the country.....and us, right along with it. Meanwhile....the sychophants party down and slather, dribble and drool over the biggest fraud on the planet (so far). The “fiddling while Rome burns” analogy comes to mind.

[PAR35]

hundreds of millions of dollars for cable TV boxes,

I suspect the reporter is ignorant of the difference between cable TV and over the air digital, which wouldn't be a surprise for reporters these days.