The Need For A Strong Opposition Party
Below are some screen shots from Meet The Press on Sunday. "$650 million taxpayer dollars to extend the coupon program to allow analog TV owners to continue to watch TV" seems the most egregious to me. And unfortunately, soon-to-be Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel didn't have a good explanation for any of these. Here's the video if you'd like to watch the clip.
If you're liberal and you're wondering why fiscal conservatives often don't trust the Democrats - here's a perfect example: They don't think the government should be borrowing to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on random crap and calling it a "stimulus" package.
You lost me here. How is restoring marine habits and providing more college education a clear and obvious case of waste?
What I find more puzzling is the broader question why a reduction in USA spending on imported oil and gasoline is a good thing (which it is) but somehow a reduction in USA spending on imported factory goods from China is a bad thing (which it is not, IMHO). Sure, some tiny value derives from the margins of the sales process but when we're done carting our stuff home from the mall, we're poorer as a nation than if we'd spent the money within our borders.
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John, I never said everything was a waste. I said some may be worthwhile efforts, but many should not be considered part of a stimulus. I think increasing Pell Grants may be a good thing, but let's call it was it is: an education bill. Not a "stimulus" - which by definition is supposed to give the economy a quick boost. The same goes for funding for the arts and marine habitat restoration.
On your point about reducing spending on Chinese goods, I couldn't disagree more. We should be buying goods wherever our consumers get the best value. If a company can make products in America with a better value for the dollar than a competing product made in China, than that's great. If we attempt to force people to buy things just because they are "made in the USA" then we are forcing people to buy products with a lower value for the dollar. This may help in the very short term, but is horrible for long term growth, and will make us less competitive in the global economy.
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