Free Republic

The $1 trillion “infrastructure” plan poised to pass the Senate is a bad bill; the only possible excuse its Republican backers have is the claim that it may help stop a truly terrible one — the $3.5 trillion social-spendapalooza Democrats will introduce next. Contra the hype, the 2,700-page “bad” bill won’t pay for itself, and only a tenth of its spending ($110 billion) is for roads, bridges and other major infrastructure projects.... Meanwhile, the bill drops plenty on Dem wish-list projects: $65 billion to expand broadband Internet access, including a new federal entitlement for low-income households, $73 billion for clean-energy...

The Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are about to give Democrats, President Barack Obama included, a clean vote on whether or not to raise the federal debt ceiling. For months now, Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and congressional Democratic leaders have been demanding an increase in the debt ceiling without having to accept any preconditions like real reforms in the budget process or real limits on future federal spending. For their sins, they are getting exactly what they wanted. What they do with it is another question entirely. It is highly doubtful that the Democrats ever thought the...

Every cloud has a silver lining. It is an ill wind that blows no good. Every crisis is an opportunity. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Even the brontosaurus-sized governmental monstrosity Obama is getting ready to cram down our throats has an upside. Those clowns in Congress are getting ready to throw a lot of money up in the air; a Boy Scout-like person (thrifty, prepared, wise, all that) will grab some of it. Hypocritical? Yes. But why stand on principal? If they’re wasting it, why not let them waste it on you? A friend of mine is in...