Hypocrisy: A Play in Two Acts

stimulus, politics, democrat, republican, liar,
Remember all those Republicans who opposed the stimulus, refused to take the funds and claimed that the stimulus wouldn't create jobs? Apparently, not even they believed that one.

Sen. Christopher S. Bond regularly railed against President Obama's
economic stimulus plan as irresponsible spending that would drive up the
national debt. But behind the scenes, the Missouri Republican quietly sought
more than $50 million from a federal agency for two projects in his state.

. . .

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Mr. Bond noted that one
project applying to the USDA for stimulus money would "create jobs and
ultimately spur economic opportunities."

So, Senator Bond, was that "irresponsible spending" or the creation of jobs and economic opportunities?

Senator Bond wasn't alone in his hypocrisy.

Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican who became famous after yelling,
"You lie," during Mr. Obama's addresses to Congress in September, voted against
the stimulus. Nonetheless, Mr. Wilson elbowed his way into the rush for federal
stimulus cash in a letter he sent to Mr. Vilsack on behalf of a foundation
seeking funding.

"We know their endeavor will provide jobs and investment in one of the
poorer sections of the Congressional District," he wrote to Mr. Vilsack in the
Aug. 26, 2009, letter.

Wait, which one of you is a liar again, Mr. Wilson?

On Feb. 13, 2009, Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican, issued a
statement criticizing the stimulus — but two days earlier, he privately
forwarded to Mr. Vilsack a list of projects seeking stimulus money.

"I believe the addition of federal funds to these projects would
maximize the stimulative effect of these projects on the local economy," he
wrote.

You know what the worst part about this is? These idiots are going to keep hurling accusations of evil socialism at Obama and the Democrats while simultaneously secretly acknowledging that socialism is the way to go.

Objecting for the Sake of Objecting

facepalm, prop 8, stimulus, obama, protest, stupid

picture from sheburns12*

Pearlyscum has some advice for those protesting Democrats/Obama/stimulus. Some of it's not bad, but the this bit of advice is extremely telling:


3. Speakers not prepared for the media - the organizer was asked to name some specific objectionable items in the stimulus. She couldn’t do it. I doubt many of us could.
If you are an organizer, or the “face” of the event - take an hour to prepare. You don’t need to know everything about the stimulus. Just find 2 or 3 things - hard facts - you can point to and credibly say - these are wrong, wasteful spending items. Or, these items grow government, not the economy. It is critical.


If you can't think of one, just one, item in the stimulus you are opposed to, then how do you even know you are opposed to it? These people used valuable hours of their lives, time that could have been spent doing, well, just about anything, to protest a stimulus and they don't even know what it is they are opposed to?


Captain Picard displays my reaction to this in a way words cannot.

*unfortunately, using the source code for blogs from sheburns12's page results in a picture too big to be seen in its entirety on my blog. hence the awkward attribution.

Will I Be Stimulated?

I have no idea if the stimulus package will stimulate the economy. I am not an economist. Neither is IamHistoryProfessorWhoThinksTehGayIsNew.

I will say this. Anybody who says that Congress got together to : 1) Create an urgency ("crisis" is the nom du jeur) is living in a fantasy land. The crisis is real. Real people are losing their jobs- faster than ever before. Real people are losing their homes- the most since the Great Depression. The stock market is shocky, credit is all but nonexistent, and if you aren't suffering, good for you. Go tell everyone else who is that, hey, no big deal. I'm a big college professor and it's not bothering me any. What's your problem?

File that under arrogance.

The Part Where I Scam the System

economy, health care, obama, stimulus, conservative, liberal, congress
What percentage of people who declare bankruptcy due to medical bills have health insurance? 68%. What percentage of people who declare bankruptcy do so due to medical bills? 50%. (Link)

Yup, that's right: health insurance won't help you if you develop a devastating illness. Get cancer, lose your house.

Isn't life grand?

Today I will spend the better part of my day scamming the system. Not that I want to, it's totally unethical, not to mention a waste of my time, but because I have to.

See, I 've developed a problem. I don't know what it is, and I can't afford to find out. I have a $500 deductible that I can't pay. So, I can't go to my doctor or get tests done unless I can come up with $500. At the beginning of every year, I may as well not have insurance.

What are my options? Well, I suppose I could rob a bank- or I go to the hospital, sit in the ER for 6, maybe 10, hours with some vague complaint that will force a bill over $600. (I owe the first $100 dollars of ER visits unless I get admitted.) I end up waiting 10 hours because I keep the complaint vague enough that they don't put me ahead of people with immediate problems. (What's wrong with me may really be a problem, but I've had it for 3 weeks, so it's not an immediate problem.)

Then, when I'm done, I have to stiff the hospital for the bill. I can't come up with $500, and the hospital will let me come back if I don't pay them. My doctor, not so much.

Everyone's making a big deal about "socialism" (though I doubt those people know what socialism is) and "spending bills" (please, explain to me the difference between "stimulus" and "spending") and how families don't fix their finances by spending more (yeah, because the economy of your household and the economy of the entire country are two completely different things). [I read a really awesome article on this that I now can't find. If you can help me out with linkage, please do. My comments do allow for ahref.]

Well, you explain to me why a person who works hard and has insurance can't afford to go to the doctor without engaging in hospital chicanery first- then explain to me why that's better than Obama's plan. Be prepared to show your work.

Stimulus Package- How Spending Works

economy, depression, recession, stimulus, economic, conservative, liberal, acorn, national, mall, nea, john galt, libertarian

Okay, so I'm not an economist, and if you are, feel free to correct/educate me. (No, really, I learn a lot from people who take the time to correct me in my comments. It's pretty cool.)

First of all, Democrats are pushing spending as a way to help the economy, and Republicans are pushing tax cuts. Ideologically, this pretty much defines Democrats and Republicans. Here's the thing: both spending and tax cuts do stimulate an economy, the questions is how much and how quickly. For every dollar of spending, you get a $1.50 of stimulus, and it's quick. (Think about it: if Jack isn't working, he isn't paying bills or buying food or renting movies. Give Jack a job, and that's exactly what he'll do.) For every dollar of tax cuts, on the other hand, you get $0.75 of stimulus. Why? Anyone affected by a tax cut already has a job. They're already paying bills and buying food and renting movies. Give them a tax cut, and they might spend more, but maybe not. They might just put more money in their 401k, which doesn't help the economy right now.

So, let's take a look at the evul librul stimulus package, shall we?

$2.4 billion carbon capture products... that's clean coal technology ( i had to look it up.). That $2.4 billion will give people jobs: jobs in development, jobs in actually building the products, jobs in transporting the products, jobs in advertising the products. Jobs are good! (And a cleaner environment doesn't hurt, either. Please don't excoriate me on whether or not clean coal actually works, I don't know. Feel free to educate me, just don't yell.)

$4.19 billion for ACORN and other bogus "community organizing" groups... Yes, I know, the barely there scandal with ACORN. What does ACORN do, anyway? Well, for one thing, THEY EMPLOY PEOPLE. Again, jobs are good. ACORN employees help poor people, which is good, too. (I think that's what sets the bigotsphere off. How dare they help poor people! We all know poor people are immoral and lazy and promiscuous. How do you think they got poor in the first place?) They help with housing, they fight to end predatory lending, they're helping with the Gulf recovery, they help poor children get good educations, they fight for paid sick days and a living wage . . . ACORN is Teh Evul!

$650 million digital tv conversion... I don't really understand the whole conversion thing, but I'm guessing somebody will get a job out of this.

$79 billion to bail out the state education system...god knows we wouldn't want somebody teaching evilution or gay sex to 4 year olds!

Hundreds of millions for family planning...what, no number? damn those poor people wanting to control their fertility! how dare married poor people want to have Teh Seks! how dare poor women want pap smears! (i shouldn't have read that sinner's prayer. i think it worked.)

$400 million global warming research...scientists need jobs, too! (oh, and i'm pretty sure we all need air to breathe- unless Who Is John Galt? has gills.)

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts...$12 billion dollars A MONTH for the war in Iraq, and this asshat is angry about a onetime payment of $50 million for art? artists need to eat, too, buddy!

$200 million to refurbish the National Mall..does asshat think we will be refurbishing the National Mall by taping $200 million in ones over every surface? Hello, construction workers REALLY need jobs right now. And, George W. Bush's reign of terror allowed the National Mall, a symbol of our history, to turn into a national disgrace. It should have been refurbished years ago. Shameful.

so, true to his name, Who is John Galt? is against people having jobs. Good for you. See how well it works out for you when we hit depressionland. Asshat.