Senate Stimulus Package Like House's: Ice Cream On A Cow Pie
The House passed a so-called economic stimulus bill that doesn't and now the Senate is working on their version that's simply ice cream on a cow pie.
The Senate Finance Committee added federal checks to low-income seniors and disabled veterans, extended unemployment benefits for 13 weeks, and added tax credit extension to alternatives energy sources, but then went ahead and included tax breaks for oil and gas exploration, appliance makers, and construction firms building houses in an already overbuilt market reports the Washington Post.
If we keep giving big breaks tax breaks, aka corporate welfare, to big corporate business like gas and oil, in what is laughably known as free market capitalism, we might as well nationalize the energy industry.
As the Washington Post article states:
"The Senate Finance Committee bill would send checks to virtually every American. Individuals would receive $500 -- for couples, it would be $1,000 -- plus $300 per child. Workers who can show $3,000 in earned income last year -- or seniors who had $3,000 in Social Security benefits -- would also qualify, even if they earned too little to pay income taxes.
"After a revolt among Senate Democrats, Baucus added income caps on eligibility that he had initially rejected, but they are considerably more generous than the ones imposed by the House. Rather than capping eligibility for the full check at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples, the new bill phases out eligibility at $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for couples. The committee also said no member of Congress would qualify."
In my post of 1/24/2008, "White House and Congress Making Band-aid Solutions for Economic Crisis," I wrote, "Do Democratic leaders think that these measly rebates will help those people who are struggling to make mortgage or rent payments, almost unaffordable health care coverage payments for those fortunate enough to have health care, while also paying for the increasing cost of other necessities? What planet are these Dems on? This is not the way to begin overcoming the terrible consequences of Dubya's economic debacle."
Unfortunately, the Senate eligibility cap is $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for couples. Pierre Tristam, editorial writer for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, addressed the fallacy of this stimulus package when he wrote,
"There's something embarrassing -- economically, politically, morally -- about government "bansheeing" to give voters cash handouts disguised as economic stimulus. Does a couple with two kids, making $160,000, really deserve the same $900 as a single mother of one living on tips from her roadside diner job? Does a childless, single lawyer making $74,000 a year really need $600 from a federal government with a $163 billion deficit?
"For that matter, it looks like my family -- mother, father, two kids -- will be getting at least $1,200. Can we use it? Sure, although we'll end up saving it, which defeats the purpose of the stimulus. Assuming current job situations remain unchanged, do we need it more than possibly 70 million households that have it harder than we do? No. And most of this "stimulus" handout is going to people who don't need it."
Tristam also asks why, with the skyrocketing cost of food, weren't food stamp benefits increased and why, with the high cost of oil, wasn't the home heating oil subsidy raised in this stimulus package?
Jim Hightower talks about this inadequate White House-Congress stimulus that should have created jobs which would be one of the best stimuli possible. As he says, "Now that all of this has led to a very real economic crumbling that even affects Wall Street, Democrats are scrambling to look like they’re doing something, including meekly going along with Bush to provide more corporate tax cuts that will do zero to stimulate recovery. Where’s their “little d” democratic impulse?
"Now is precisely the time to offer people not only short-term help, but also long-term vision. Indeed, a solid plan already exists. The Apollo Alliance is a grassroots coalition with a comprehensive proposal that would create millions of good-paying green jobs – including launching a 10-year crash program to retrofit all of America’s buildings for energy conservation and to take other readily-available steps to end our country's dependence on fossil fuels.
Too many Democrats in the House and Senate are myopic, tunnel visioned advocates of business-as-usual in their Capitol Hill bubble and more than willing to put their stamp of approval on ineffective, corporate friendly Republican Congress members and White House policies, like this "non-stimulus" economic stimulus package.....ice cream on cow pies.
The Senate Finance Committee added federal checks to low-income seniors and disabled veterans, extended unemployment benefits for 13 weeks, and added tax credit extension to alternatives energy sources, but then went ahead and included tax breaks for oil and gas exploration, appliance makers, and construction firms building houses in an already overbuilt market reports the Washington Post.
If we keep giving big breaks tax breaks, aka corporate welfare, to big corporate business like gas and oil, in what is laughably known as free market capitalism, we might as well nationalize the energy industry.
As the Washington Post article states:
"The Senate Finance Committee bill would send checks to virtually every American. Individuals would receive $500 -- for couples, it would be $1,000 -- plus $300 per child. Workers who can show $3,000 in earned income last year -- or seniors who had $3,000 in Social Security benefits -- would also qualify, even if they earned too little to pay income taxes.
"After a revolt among Senate Democrats, Baucus added income caps on eligibility that he had initially rejected, but they are considerably more generous than the ones imposed by the House. Rather than capping eligibility for the full check at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples, the new bill phases out eligibility at $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for couples. The committee also said no member of Congress would qualify."
In my post of 1/24/2008, "White House and Congress Making Band-aid Solutions for Economic Crisis," I wrote, "Do Democratic leaders think that these measly rebates will help those people who are struggling to make mortgage or rent payments, almost unaffordable health care coverage payments for those fortunate enough to have health care, while also paying for the increasing cost of other necessities? What planet are these Dems on? This is not the way to begin overcoming the terrible consequences of Dubya's economic debacle."
Unfortunately, the Senate eligibility cap is $150,000 for individuals and $300,000 for couples. Pierre Tristam, editorial writer for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, addressed the fallacy of this stimulus package when he wrote,
"There's something embarrassing -- economically, politically, morally -- about government "bansheeing" to give voters cash handouts disguised as economic stimulus. Does a couple with two kids, making $160,000, really deserve the same $900 as a single mother of one living on tips from her roadside diner job? Does a childless, single lawyer making $74,000 a year really need $600 from a federal government with a $163 billion deficit?
"For that matter, it looks like my family -- mother, father, two kids -- will be getting at least $1,200. Can we use it? Sure, although we'll end up saving it, which defeats the purpose of the stimulus. Assuming current job situations remain unchanged, do we need it more than possibly 70 million households that have it harder than we do? No. And most of this "stimulus" handout is going to people who don't need it."
Tristam also asks why, with the skyrocketing cost of food, weren't food stamp benefits increased and why, with the high cost of oil, wasn't the home heating oil subsidy raised in this stimulus package?
Jim Hightower talks about this inadequate White House-Congress stimulus that should have created jobs which would be one of the best stimuli possible. As he says, "Now that all of this has led to a very real economic crumbling that even affects Wall Street, Democrats are scrambling to look like they’re doing something, including meekly going along with Bush to provide more corporate tax cuts that will do zero to stimulate recovery. Where’s their “little d” democratic impulse?
"Now is precisely the time to offer people not only short-term help, but also long-term vision. Indeed, a solid plan already exists. The Apollo Alliance is a grassroots coalition with a comprehensive proposal that would create millions of good-paying green jobs – including launching a 10-year crash program to retrofit all of America’s buildings for energy conservation and to take other readily-available steps to end our country's dependence on fossil fuels.
Come on, Democrats – be Democrats! To learn more about The Apollo vision, go to www.apolloalliance.org."
Too many Democrats in the House and Senate are myopic, tunnel visioned advocates of business-as-usual in their Capitol Hill bubble and more than willing to put their stamp of approval on ineffective, corporate friendly Republican Congress members and White House policies, like this "non-stimulus" economic stimulus package.....ice cream on cow pies.
Posted by Kaz at 1/31/2008 2:31 PM 
Categories: Energy, Health Care, Congress, Economy, Senate, Housing Crisis
Categories: Energy, Health Care, Congress, Economy, Senate, Housing Crisis
Comments