Why do YOU like the stimulus package?

[blueladybird]

I'm for anything that will work. Some things in it seem strange but what are the strong areas that are good for the economy? Again, I'm for anything that will work and the sooner the better.

[stray cat]

1. Funding for scientific research because it keeps me employed.....

Tax breaks and money for low incomes that will spend it rather than save it. Money for infrastructure. Money for education and job training I think shows foresight.

[blueladybird]

3. These are good.

Wish low incomes could save though.

[stray cat]

6. Absolutely right on wishing low incomes didn't have to spend it to keep going

[mikelgb]

2. Unlike Boehner, I am not intimidated by the size of Obama's package

I only hope the stimulus can titillate enough to produce the spurt of growth to seed the economy for generations to come...ah

ok I'm finished

anybody have a towel?

[CTyankee]

4. spending on the infrastructure will have a muliplier effect.

If my local bridge which crosses over the Quinnipiac River on I95 is fixed it will ensure safe travel for thousands of people coming from New England and northern CT to southern CT and on down the I95 corridor. A productive ride, indeed! Workers will be hired to do the work. Subcontractors and suppliers will have business again and they can hire more people. Money gets circulate in the economy up and down the East Coast.

I call that "stimulus." I don't know what else it is...

[Jennicut]

5. Don't get me started on I95. Its a freakin mess.

[CTyankee]

8. And might I add that we need more investment in rail service.

Transporting people and goods by rail is economical and environmentally wise.

I was using I95 as an example of the muliplier effect, which is basic econ 101.

I could just as easily talk about an elementary school in my neighborhood in New Haven. It is too old and should be torn down and rebuilt. Since building contractors have been idled because no one has the money to redo a bathroom or put an addition on the house right now, these contractors get work on the school and they hire electricians and plumbers and they order supplies from vendors of goods. More people who might just be sitting around will now have some income to spend and inject back in our local economy. It's all part of a cycle.

[Jennicut]

18. Lots of highways, roads, bridges, schools in need of repair

I95 is bad in our state, I wonder what other states have issues like this? That is why the stimulus is needed and it helps with adding some badly needed jobs right now, you are right.

[nxylas]

19. See here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=398x557

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. Therein lies the problem... I don't like it. (Though passage is much better than non-passage.)

I would like to be enthused about shoving the stimulus down the pugs' throat but I don't think there's any real stimulus package on the table.

The "stimulus" bill is not a stimulus bill. It is a relief bill.

Relief is all well and good, but relief should be a minor part of a staggering stimulus proposal.

So any desire I have that this particular scale/style of bill be passed is 1) personal partisanship and 2) it's better than nothing.

Sufficient reasons, but not real exciting or even hopeful.

The most optimistic claims for this package are to reduce future surplus unemployment by about one third.

That is merely softening the blow somewhat with no concerted attempt to avoid the blow through real stimulus.

How much has the money supply shrunk in the last two years? Simple asset devaluation in homes and stocks is way over ten trillion. Pulling back on credit from other sources... if it's under 20 trillion I'd be surprised.

(The Fed has tried to keep pace printing new money but if banks won't issue loans the authorization to create new money goes un-used.)

[blueladybird]

10. I was hoping supporters would convince me that this is the answer.

It might have to be trial and error for a while. The price is just really high.

[Dawgs]

17. "The "stimulus" bill is not a stimulus bill. It is a relief bill."

You sound exactly like a republican.

Every "non-partisan" study shows that this bill will create 3+ million jobs. That seems pretty fucking stimulating to me.

Your pessisim and "made up" statistics show that you wouldn't support any package. You should be embarrassed.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

20. You can either be stupid or nasty--try to pick one.

If I sound "Just like a Republican" could you please name a single Republican on Earth who has proposed anything even remotely like the many suggestions for stimulus I have proposed on this board on an almost daily basis for months?

And the creation of 3 million jobs sounds great until you realize the size of the United States.

The fact that that sounds "pretty fucking stimulating" to you means you don't have the faintest idea of the scale of the issues involved, so why run your mouth?

There are no "made up" statistics in what I wrote.

All in all, you are just being a clown, but I don't expect you to be embarrassed by the fact.

[Dawgs]

21. Fine. You live in fear. I'll live in reality.

[CTyankee]

22. What I want to knowis why isn't injecting the economy with infrastructure spending a stimulus?

See my post above about the multiplier effect.

Can you explain why my example of I95 and a local school rebuilding DOESN'T "work" to stimulate the economy? I am no economist but the logic of the multiplier effect makes sense to me.

I truly want to know and I'd be happy to hear you out...

thanks, k and h!

[damntexdem]

9. I like it; but I'd like it more with some changes:

1) fewer tax cuts, but keep those for poor and middle class;
2) more infrastructure spending, including mass transit projects;
3) operating funds for schools, mass transit, health coverage, and so on.

[mvd]

11. Exactly

One thing I don't want taken out is the provision for rebates given to those who don't pay income taxes. What we need now is more spending and less saving.

[sandnsea]

13. There are operating funds

for schools, mass transit, health coverage, and so on.

The tax cuts and credits are 99% good.

http://www.obama-mamas.com/stimulus-tax-cuts.htm

The reason there isn't more money for mass transit is because everybody let Republicans boondoggle them into talking about bogus tax cuts and big spending instead of fighting for the transit program.

[JayMusgrove]

12. I like it because Obama and the Dems GET IT, and John McCain...

well, he thinks it's just a "spending package"...so he doesn't GET IT.

I like that the plan will also help local states and communities to keep police, fire, teachers, etc on board.

[sandnsea]

14. It's about 95% good stuff

And goddamn Krugman and Maddow for starting the attack against it in the first place.

"The plan will lay down more than 3,000 miles of transmission lines to address that ailing electricity grid. Remember the biggest blackout in history? Yes, our President is actually going to address that, finally. The plan will generate the largest government revitalization project, making 75% of federal buildings more energy efficient. 10,000 schools will be modernized with state-of-the-art classrooms, libraries, and computer and science labs. 90 major ports will be secured and law enforcement will finally get the communications network they’ve been clamoring for since 9/11. To get a real sense of the scale, consider that $5 billion has been allocated to health care Research & Development, in comparison to $4 billion for the TOTAL Research & Development Budget for the sciences in 2008. This stimulus has $20 billion for science R&D, a monumental figure in comparison to recent years."

http://www.obama-mamas.com/blog/?p=165

http://www.obama-mamas.com/stimulus-tax-cuts.htm

[backscatter712]

15. Despite the attempts to water it down, the core remains textbook Economics 101.

Ask any Keynesian economist (like Paul Krugman) - in a recession, you have the .gov spend money on economic stimulus - building infrastructure, helping the unemployed and disadvantaged, pouring money in so that it propagates through the economy. Go countercyclical, spend some money, so everyone starts spending money, and the economy gets a jump-start. Raise taxes and pay down debts when the economy is doing well. It's really basic stuff you learn in any college macroeconomics class.

As for the Rethugs, the catchphrase of the day is "Joe The Plumber Economics". "CUT TAXES!!!!1111" Sorry, but taxes are already low, the robber barons have already raided the treasury, and so many people are unemployed and already aren't paying taxes. They're not thinking ahead, they haven't done the research to figure out how their proposals will help, they just propose what they're lobbied to propose by their Davos rich robber-baron buddies.

[Dawgs]

16. Because studies predict that it will create or save 3 million jobs.

I would like more infastructure spending. I don't care about the rest if it creates jobs.