UPDATE #2: More good news. The recession will end by late 2009 without the “stimulus.. Oh, and the Democrat controlled CBO says the stimulus will hurt, not help. Maybe it will hurt enough to abort the recovery, like Roosevelt did.
UPDATE: Delaying the consideration of the second TARP bill seems to be the strategy to avoid sticker shock with the voters when they see just how much money is being shoved out the door.
The stimulus bill seems destined to pass the Senate, then go to conference committee. On the Sunday shows, the consensus was that Obama is not as interested in “bipartisan” actions by Republicans so the bill will most likely end up closer to the House version, including the return of welfare. This may result in another contest for votes in the Senate. This Week, with George Stephanopolis, seems to be gaining stature the past few months and they had the best group today. George Will and Newt Gingrich provided needed depth in analysis. Gingrich pointed out something that I have seen mentioned nowhere else. Next week two huge bills will be considered that will involve even more financial risk for the taxpayer.
The administration is not talking about these bills because it wants to focus all debate on the “stimulus bill” and does not want to emphasize the huge amount of debt that is going to pile up. Credit markets may derail these masterminds’ plans.
Tax cuts are ideologically unacceptable to Democrats so the negotiations with Republicans were just not going to work. John Kerry does not want people to have the freedom to use their money as they wish. Both Will and Gingrich raised the point that a cut in the FICA tax would be an immediate Keynesian stimulus but, once again, Robert Reisch another member of the group today, noted that recipients of the tax cut may not use the money as the government wishes.
Senator Kerry and Secretary Reisch both believe:
If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to invest that or invest it in America.
They’re free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest.
And we can’t have that.
Gringrich noted that the new FDIC authorization that comes up next week may place up to four trillion dollars at risk for taxpayers. I can understand why Obama does not want this discussed while the Congress is debating the “stimulus bill.”