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Uh-oh, the Administration Is Contemplating Further Stimulus
Liberty and Power at the History News Network ^ | October 4, 2009 | Robert Higgs

Posted on 10/04/2009 9:14:03 AM PDT by Captain Kirk

Despite all of the smiley faces that journalists for the mainstream news media continue to paste on their reports about recent economic developments, the official unemployment rate now verges on 10 percent, and various economic indicators signal a discouraging prospect for the near-term future. Republican partisans, willing to grasp and exploit any passing news that seems to discredit the ruling Democrats, trumpet the conclusion that “the stimulus has failed.” I don’t dispute that it has failed and that it will continue to do so, but my reasons for this judgment have nothing to do with partisanship, inasmuch as I loathe both parties equally — indeed, I don’t regard them as two parties at all, but only as two wings of a predatory one-party state. In any event, though, there’s trouble in River City, and the politicians have naturally decided that “something must be done,” lest the peasants grow dangerously restive.

Whence cometh a good deal of talk about “more stimulus,” although administration spokespersons such as Larry Summers are quick to distance themselves from this phraseology, if not from the substance it denotes. So, what exactly do our glorious rulers have in mind? According to the Wall Street Journal,

Obama administration economists said they would like the enhanced unemployment-insurance program to extend beyond its Dec. 31 expiration date. They also want to maintain a program that offers tax credits to pay 65% of the cost of health insurance policies under the COBRA program, which allows laid-off workers to purchase the health plans they had through their previous employer.

White House officials said they also are examining whether to extend a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time homebuyers, but that provision faces a stiffer headwind.

If these ideas are the best ones that the administration’s economic geniuses can

(Excerpt) Read more at hnn.us ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: stimulas

1 posted on 10/04/2009 9:14:03 AM PDT by Captain Kirk
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To: Captain Kirk
"Captain! We're taking on water! The ship is sinking!"
"Don't worry. I just sent some men below to punch holes in the hull to let the water out."
2 posted on 10/04/2009 9:25:02 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Play the Race Card -- lose the game.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Real mixed emotions here.
Hate watching family and friends suffer in this economy.
Relishing the shredding of Democrats in 2010 due to it.


3 posted on 10/04/2009 9:27:23 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: Captain Kirk

More imaginary taxpayer’s funds are needed to prop up the stock market, so as to provide the illusion that all is well, and the nation is recovering. Start hoarding supplies, because the next crash is going through the floor.


4 posted on 10/04/2009 9:29:00 AM PDT by pallis
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To: Captain Kirk
So far ‘O’s Economic Viagra has turned out to be in actuality.. Saltpeter.

Now he wants to give the economy more of this Saltpeter?

I don't think so.

5 posted on 10/04/2009 9:30:51 AM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: Captain Kirk

Start up CCC camps!!! LET’S GET SOMETHING FOR OUR MONEY.


6 posted on 10/04/2009 9:30:53 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Captain Kirk

Democrats: Our first bribe...uhhh...I mean stimulus didn’t work, our poll numbers are still droping! We gotta do something, an election year is coming up! Time for another bribe...uhhh...stimulus.


7 posted on 10/04/2009 9:32:34 AM PDT by apillar
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To: Captain Kirk

Liberals invariably think the remedy to every failed liberal scheme (read unbridled spending) is a bigger dose of more liberalism.


8 posted on 10/04/2009 9:39:04 AM PDT by luvbach1 (Worse than we could have imagined.)
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To: Captain Kirk
Nothing has changed since before summer. We need to go back to the same message we had then.


9 posted on 10/04/2009 9:41:54 AM PDT by paulycy (Screw the RACErs)
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To: paulycy
The first stimulus was for one primary purpose....

To establish the future of Universal Health Care via the MANDATE for electronic records. This is pretty close to putting a tracking chip in everyone!!

10 posted on 10/04/2009 9:45:03 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Captain Kirk

What this means is that ACORN has established a new non-profit to operate under that needs to be funded.


11 posted on 10/04/2009 9:47:45 AM PDT by vamoose
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To: Captain Kirk
Photobucket
12 posted on 10/04/2009 9:51:09 AM PDT by massmike (...So this is what happens when OJ's jury elects the president....)
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To: paulycy

Nice graphic. I agree completely.

No one, not even our Royal Imperial Federal Government, can spend their way our of debt. The more they spend, the worse it gets.


13 posted on 10/04/2009 10:02:09 AM PDT by upchuck (New sign on my pickup: Are you a "Hope and Change" regretter?)
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To: Captain Kirk

Its not so much the parties that are the problem as it is the entire notion of a strong federal government. The federal govrnment was ok when it was weak. Now we would be better off without it altogether.


14 posted on 10/04/2009 10:03:12 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: nascarnation
Real mixed emotions here. Hate watching family and friends suffer in this economy. Relishing the shredding of Democrats in 2010 due to it.

Ditto here. I'm sure that more than a few of us here have benefitted in some way from benefits related to unemployment but I wonder what percentage of the current stimulus the, for example, cobra allowance, represents. My guess is that far more is allocated for the really crap stuff like featherbedding gov't employees and paying off the unions. Any additional stimulus will have more of the same garbage.

15 posted on 10/04/2009 10:16:47 AM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
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To: Captain Kirk

If you’re a taxpayer who gets a “stimulus,” it will be a small fraction of your tax dollars coming back, and you may not feel it that it’s in your *hand*....

If you’re on welfare and you get one, Obama owns you: worry about how he may choose to use, abuse, or dispose of you.


16 posted on 10/04/2009 11:08:57 AM PDT by JohnQ1 (Pray for peace, prepare for war.)
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To: Captain Kirk
They also want to maintain a program that offers tax credits to pay 65% of the cost of health insurance policies under the COBRA program, which allows laid-off workers to purchase the health plans they had through their previous employer.
Health Care is a beneficial service that must be earned by a society by engaging in productive, wealth-creating industries.

An economy cannot be "stimulated" into recovery by subsidizing benefits for people who aren't working to earn them.

But Health Care professionals view the Messiah as their guide to gluttony at the taxpayers' expense.
Just more bleeding-heart, poverty-pimp parasites taking us down the road to economic ruin.

17 posted on 10/04/2009 11:43:09 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Captain Kirk

They’re going to have to put cooling fins on those money-printing machines!


18 posted on 10/04/2009 12:52:01 PM PDT by RoadTest ( Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols - Psalm 97:12a)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Purser of the USS Titanic: “Captain Obama, we just hit a huge iceberg! What should we do?”

Captain Obama: “Don’t worry, we’re just stopping to stock up on ice”


19 posted on 10/04/2009 2:25:10 PM PDT by Newtoidaho (Liberals are nothing more than drooling buffoons. Spread the word.)
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