New Deal

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong ... somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises ... I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... And an enormous debt to boot!"

Treasury Secretary Henry Morganthau to Congressional Democrats

May 1939

Five myths about the New Deal.

#5 - Enlightened government pulled the nation out of the worst downturn in its history and came to the rescue of capitalism through rigorous regulation and government oversight.
To the contrary, the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations -- in disregarding market signals at every turn -- were jointly responsible for turning a panic into the worst depression of modern times. As late as 1938, after almost a decade of governmental "pump priming," almost one out of five workers remained unemployed.

Obama knows it too. He's already attempting to dampen expectations.

Not One Member

has read the stimulus bill.

Michelle's Opinion

of what impact a stimulus check will have:

"You're getting $600," she told an audience of mostly African-American women here. "What can you do with that? Not to be ungrateful or anything. But maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn't pay down every bill every month."

I couldn't agree more. Of course, that was last year when it was George Bush sending out the checks.

Mathematicians Discover Largest Number

At Iowahawk:

An international mathematics research team announced today that they had discovered a new integer that surpasses any previously known value "by a totally mindblowing shitload." Project director Yujin Xiao of Stanford University said the theoretical number, dubbed a "stimulus," could lead to breakthroughs in fields as diverse as astrophysics, quantum mechanics, and Chicago asphalt contracting.

AKA

Other names for the "Stimulus" bill:

Crapulous Package

Porkulus Bill

Generational Theft Act

And the latest I heard from a black caller on talk radio this morning :

The Kill Grandma Act of 2009

Limits On Health Care

hidden in the stimulus bill:

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States”. Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions.

As a person who aspires to be elderly one day, this is alarming. I don't want a paper pusher "guiding" my doctor on the best treatment.

I just hope it doesn't come to this:

Elderly people suffering from dementia should consider ending their lives because they are a burden on the NHS and their families, according to the influential medical ethics expert Baroness Warnock.

Medical Ethics Expert? You gotta be kidding me.

Freshman Rep One-Ups Freshman President

A first term Democrat Representative has a better stimulus idea than the one the President is hawking:

...a $170 billion “bare bones” pure stimulus approach that would put $100 billion immediately into the pockets of low- and middle-income Americans, then use the other $70 billion for basic infrastructure projects that create jobs. START requires that all funds not spent by 2010 be returned to the Treasury. START also stops stimulus spending when the nation’s Gross Domestic Product increases in two of three previous quarters, and all START payments are required to be posted on a public website.

The problem with the Pelosi-Reid-Obama "stimulus" package is that it is nothing more than the enactment by fiat of everything on their wish list, with funds for everything from ACORN to condoms. And they are so eager to pass it quickly because they are afraid the economy will rebound on its own, giving them no cover for their porkfest.

UPDATE: BTW, the PRO stimulus bill is up to 1.5 trillion.

UPDATE 2: Make that 9.7 trillion, all in. According to Bloomberg, that represents 2/3 of everything produced in the US last year. Holy Crap.

Best Line Of The Day

Jonah Goldberg calls the stimulus bill "ten pounds of manure in a five pound bag."