Energy $32 billion Funding for "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste $20 billion + Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit $6 billion Funding to weatherize modest-income homes
Science and Technology $10 billion Science facilities $6 billion High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas
Infrastructure $32 billion Transportation projects $31 billion Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure $19 billion Water projects $10 billion Rail and mass transit projects
Education $41 billion Grants to local school districts $79 billion State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid $21 billion School modernization
Health Care $39 billion Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid $90 billion Help to states with Medicaid $20 billion Modernization of health-information technology systems $4 billion Preventative care
Taxes
Individuals:
$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children A $2,500 college tuition tax credit Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time Businesses:
An infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans Source: Associated Press
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/wm2287.cfm.................The House and Senate stimulus bills will overturn the fiscal foundation of welfare reform and restore an AFDC-style funding system. For the first time since 1996, the federal government would begin paying states bonuses to increase their welfare caseloads. Indeed, the new welfare system created by the stimulus bills is actually worse than the old AFDC program because it rewards the states more heavily to increase their caseloads. Under the stimulus bills, the federal government will pay 80 percent of cost for each new family that a state enrolls in welfare; this matching rate is far higher than it was under AFDC.
It is clear that--in both the House and Senate stimulus bills--the original goal of helping families move to employment and self-sufficiency and off long-term dependence on government assistance has instead been replaced with the perverse incentive of adding more families to the welfare rolls. The House bill provides $4 billion per year to reward states to increase their TANF caseloads; the Senate bill follows the same policy but allocates less money.
This is a huge spending bill. The economic stimulus portion of the bill is about 3 percent. The Democrats are seeing an opportunity to put in their wish list of pent-up spending desires. It will be ruinous for the country over the long run in terms of long-term debt and inflation. The Democrats saw this opportunity and they grabbed it. Inexcusable! Pearing down the bill to the stimulus portion only would be a consideration, but until the public regains trust in the private sector to grow the economy, we will continue to sink into the economic mire while dragging the rest of the world with us. History is set to repeat itself, again. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 has all the hallmarks of a classic deja vu. Last year the federal government sent out rebate checks in an attempt to stimulate the economy. They also dumped huge sums of money into failing Wall Street banks and insurance firms. Both had no effect. It’s long past time that central planners learned that throwing good money after bad will not stimulate the economy. We must instead cut taxes, reform burdensome regulation and eliminate government waste. It is not until we pay attention to our past history of stimulus failures that we can begin to move toward the future.
After reading many letters that repeat the Republican point of view on the stimulus package, I feel it is time for a brief economics lesson. Fiscal policy has two components — taxes and government spending. The goal of responsible fiscal policy is to stimulate GDP [gross domestic product] growth by spurring consumer spending and business investment. Tax cuts can do both, quickly, but only for the short run. Tax cuts ultimately shrink the revenue of both federal and state budgets and put us in the situation we are currently facing — large deficits and high unemployment. For eight years the strategy of our economic and public policy leaders has been to temporarily prop up GDP while ignoring the long-term issues. Some examples of this are the tax rebates and the TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] bailout of 2008. Neither move was particularly effective. The current proposed stimulus plan offers a longer term solution. New jobs create more consumer demand, which in turn spurs business investment. These two factors along with increased government spending will improve GDP for the long haul. New jobs increase tax revenue and allow for larger federal and state budgets. Cutting taxes works until the money is gone, then results in no new jobs or investment of any kind. The failed strategy of cutting taxes had eight years to work, it has not. It is time for a real solution to a very real problem. The current plan may work, it may not, but it is surely time to try something different.
TARP wasn't effective because nobody monitored where the money was going, what was being done with it, and was any of the money spent on things that it shouldn't have been spent on. Because TARP didn't work the government says we'll just throw a trillion more dollars after the money wasted on TARP and see if that might help. Our children's future is being wasted by a government who doesn't have a clue what they're doing.
http://www.americansolutions.com/General/?Page=01607eab-e608-4f34-8ca7-367da48a1430........ We need a clear and decisive alternative that creates jobs and rewards work, saving, and investment.
Payroll Tax Stimulus. With a temporary new tax credit to offset 50% of the payroll tax, every small business would have more money, and all Americans would take home more of what they earn.
Real Middle-Income Tax Relief. Reduce the marginal tax rate of 25% down to 15%, in effect establishing a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 9 out of 10 American workers.
Reduce the Business Tax Rate. Match Ireland’s rate of 12.5% to keep more jobs in America.
Homeowner’s Assistance. Provide tax credit incentives to responsible home buyers so they can keep their homes.
Control Spending So We Can Move to a Balanced Budget. This begins with eliminating Congressional earmarks and wasteful pork-barrel spending.
No State Aid Without Protection From Fraud. Require state governments to adopt anti-fraud and anti-theft policies before giving them more money.
More American Energy Now. Explore for more American oil and gas and invest in affordable energy for the future, including clean coal, ethanol, nuclear power and renewable fuels.
Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. Match China, Singapore and many other competitors. More investment in America means more jobs in America.
Protect the Rights of American Workers. We must protect a worker’s right to decide by secret ballot whether to join a union, and the worker’s right to freely negotiate. Forced unionism will kill jobs in America at a time when we can’t afford to lose them.
Replace Sarbanes-Oxley. This failed law is crippling entrepreneurial startups. Replace it with affordable rules that help create jobs, not destroy them.
Abolish the Death Tax. Americans should work for their families, not for Washington.
Invest in Energy and Transportation Infrastructure. This includes a new, expanded electric power grid and a 21st century air traffic control system that will reduce delays in air travel and save passengers, employees and airlines billions of dollars per year.
I am an economics student at RPI and a longtime reader. I understand the need to pump capital into the U.S. banking system and do believe it is very important. It is also equally important that there is strong transparency and accountability. I believe in Keynesian economic theory and support a large part of the stimulus bill. As far as I am concerned, it didn’t go far enough. Paul Krugman (a Nobel Prize winner) has made very convincing arguments about the importance of a large spending bill for stimulus. The banking bailout is the next step and is equally if not more important. Right now the banks need capital to feel secure since they have so many “bad” loans like subprimes on their balance sheet. With this capital, there must be accountability, transparency and returns to the investors (i.e. the American people.) There must be restrictions and a way perhaps on the Internet to see who is getting what and how they are using it. For example, if Bank of America receives $1 billion, then a citizen should be able to look up on a Web site how it is spent; whether it is being used for bonuses, dividends for shareholders, or being invested in the economy. Bankers are the engine of investment in our economy, we need them to lend and borrow.
AS YOU KNOW, BARACK OBAMA JUST SHOVED A 787 BILLION DOLLAR STIMULUS PACKAGE DOWN THE THROATS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. APPARENTLY IT WASN’T ENOUGH FOR HIM. NOW THE DEMOCRATS WANT AN ADDITIONAL 410 BILLION DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONEY TO SPEND. AND THIS IS A SPENDING BILL WHICH CONTAINS 9000 EARMARKS. EARMARKS WHICH OBAMA PROMISED WE WOULDN’T HAVE. AMONG THE HIGHLIGHTS ARE THESE:
· $2.2 MILLION FOR THE CENTER FOR GRAPE GENETICS IN UPSTATE NEW YORK.
· $143,000 FOR MANHATTAN'S AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE
· $500,000 FOR A SENATE PROGRAM TO DEFRAY THE COST OF MASS-MAILING POSTCARDS TO CONSTITUENTS
· $200,000 FOR A “TATTOO REMOVAL VIOLENCE PREVENTION OUTREACH PROGRAM”
· $5.8 MILLION FOR THE “TED KENNEDY INSTITUTE FOR THE SENATE”
· $473,000 FOR NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA
AS I’VE SAID AGAIN AND AGAIN ON THIS PROGRAM, LA RAZA MEANS “THE RACE” IN SPANISH, AND IS A CLEARLY RACIST ORGANIZATION.
WILL OBAMA ADMIT THAT HE LIED ABOUT EARMARKS? OF COURSE NOT. WILL HE ATTEMPT TO JUSTIFY THE WAY IN WHICH HE HAS SOCIALIZED AMERICA SO FAR? UNDOUBTEDLY. WILL HE DEMAND MORE MONEY FOR STILL MORE SOCIALIST PROGRAMS? ALMOST CERTAINLY. I HAVE SAID TIME AND TIME AGAIN ON THIS PROGRAM THAT NO ONE HAS EVER SAID NO TO OBAMA. FROM HIS CHILDHOOD, THROUGH HIS EARLY CAREER, UNTIL NOW, NO AUTHORITY FIGURE HAS SAID, “STOP, YOU CAN’T DO THAT.” SO HE HAS DEVELOPED A SENSE OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND POLITICAL INVINCIBILITY. AND NOW THAT A WEAK-KNEED CONGRESS HAS SUBMITTED TO HIM ON THE STIMULUS BILL, HE WILL CONTINUE TO ASK FOR MORE AND MORE BECAUSE IT HAS ALWAYS WORKED IN THE PAST. AND UNTIL SOMEONE IS WILLING TO STAND UP TO HIM AND SAY, “STOP! ENOUGH! YOU WILL NOT DRAIN THE TREASURY! YOU WILL NOT SOCIALIZE THIS COUNTRY,” HE WILL CONTINUE TO STEAMROLL OUR FREEDOMS.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
you quote lunatics hate mongers like Micheal Savage?
President Obama will go down in history as the best pres ever! more $$$ will be spent to help us little guys. you people making more than $50K a year should have stepe tax increases. Obama cares about true americans, hard working union members, not you MILLIONARE Repubs.
I cant wait to get my tax rebate check that you filthy rich repubs can pay for. HA!
Yeah, Clyde, you tell them! Go ahead, I DARE you to go ahead and raise the taxes on those people making over $50K a year. Please! Hey, wait. If you do that, then when they're employing someone at minimum wage, you're now saying that they can't employ as many people? Why not, it's only a working wage, right? Why can't we employ an unending number of people? Money grows on trees, you just have to call Washington D.C. and they set up a bailout package for you.
President Obama is well on his way to correcting the mistakes of the past. Although it will take a while, he has the American people’s best interests at heart. The most important issue to address by the states is job creation. Although there are many new jobs within the newer green technologies, there needs to be a more diverse spectrum of employment opportunities across all levels of age, status and ability. Over a half-million workers need employment. Many of us are highly trained, college-educated and have more than 25 years of work experience and yet find ourselves unemployed. No one should face losing their home. No one should have to eat in soup kitchens and rely on food pantries and food stamps. Our country is failing hard-working Americans who have endured tremendous economic upheaval and deprivation.
Benefit confusing for laid-off workers Stimulus bill lowers cost of health plan BY ERICA WERNER The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration rushed to include a health care safety net for laid-off workers in the recently signed stimulus bill, but has not told employers exactly how to make it work. As a result, tens of thousands of jobless people could wait months before getting help paying for health insurance that their employers previously had covered. “Too many people are still trying to figure this out,” said Heath Weems, director of human resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. “There is a lot of confusion.” At issue is the program called COBRA, the acronym for the law that allows workers to keep their company’s health insurance plan for 18 months after they leave their job, if they pay the premiums. The policies are so expensive that only a minority of eligible workers sign up, often those with medical conditions that demand attention. Costs for a family of four can top $1,000 per month. A $25 billion provision in the stim- ulus bill aimed to cut COBRA’s price tag, reducing its cost by 65 percent for workers laid off as far back as Sept. 1. The bill gives eligible workers 60 days to apply. Then they get the reduced-cost premium for nine months. But it’s not going to happen right away. Employers are waiting for instructions from the Labor Department and the Internal Revenue Service on how to put the program into place. Both agencies posted some information online Thursday. Until employers get the guidance they need and notify potentially eligible ex-employees, most workers will not apply for the new benefit. Many probably will not know it exists. Left waiting are people such as Cassandra J. Kelsey, 55. The District of Columbia resident lost her job with Verizon in January. She says she can barely pay her rent and is eating less to save money to cover the $550 a month premium to keep her health coverage under COBRA. Kelsey walks with a cane and lists a litany of ailments, including degenerative arthritis and hypertension. For her, going without health insurance is unthinkable. Outside a D.C. career center on a recent morning, Kelsey clutched copies of her COBRA invoice, clippings from a local newspaper about the stimulus bill and a form letter she received from the White House after writing to Obama about her troubles. Kelsey knew about the reduced premium and said it would bring her COBRA costs below $200 a month. But when she called her benefits department, she was distressed to learn that she would not be able to get the reduced cost immediately, probably not until May. “I can’t take advantage of it now, which I think is totally unfair,” Kelsey said. “I don’t know...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00102
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