The one thing that isn't shrinking in the U.S. economy these days is the size of the stimulus package that financial experts say is needed to turn it around.
With automobile sales dropping, payrolls plunging and manufacturing contracting, economists from across the political spectrum are raising the ante on how much the government should lay out. Some are now calling for at least a $1 trillion boost.
Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University professor who was an adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner who served in President Bill Clinton's White House, are among those who say President-elect Barack Obama should push for a package of that size.
"They need a stimulus of $500 to $600 billion a year for at least two years to counter what is going to be a collapse in consumption," said Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.
That number may grow. Last week brought news that the economy has been in recession for a year and employers cut 533,000 jobs last month. It was biggest drop in monthly payrolls since 1974.
Obama, who has said that enacting a stimulus plan will be his top priority once he takes office on Jan. 20, has been steadily increasing the amount he thinks is needed. Early in the presidential campaign, he proposed a package worth $50 billion, then raised that to $175 billion as the election approached. Advisers have since said the program may total as much as $700 billion, although that number, too, may rise.
With automobile sales dropping, payrolls plunging and manufacturing contracting, economists from across the political spectrum are raising the ante on how much the government should lay out. Some are now calling for at least a $1 trillion boost.
Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University professor who was an adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner who served in President Bill Clinton's White House, are among those who say President-elect Barack Obama should push for a package of that size.
"They need a stimulus of $500 to $600 billion a year for at least two years to counter what is going to be a collapse in consumption," said Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.
That number may grow. Last week brought news that the economy has been in recession for a year and employers cut 533,000 jobs last month. It was biggest drop in monthly payrolls since 1974.
Obama, who has said that enacting a stimulus plan will be his top priority once he takes office on Jan. 20, has been steadily increasing the amount he thinks is needed. Early in the presidential campaign, he proposed a package worth $50 billion, then raised that to $175 billion as the election approached. Advisers have since said the program may total as much as $700 billion, although that number, too, may rise.
This is unbelievable! Despite all the talk that we're in a recession and heading toward another Great Depression and economic collapse, Obama is looking at spending $1 trillion in his first two years in office!!! Naturally, that number is just a starting point. It wouldn't be a government project if there weren't cost overruns, you know.
So how much money is that, exactly? Well, the current budget is about $3.5 trillion, so it would be an increase of about 30% over that. Still, how much money are we talking about? Glenn Beck puts it in perspective this way:
Let me give you a handle on how big $1 trillion is. NASA has a budget. You know the people, they send up space planes and the space station and all the satellites and everything else that NASA does? NASA's budget is $17 billion. The post office's budget is $34 billion. The Department of Labor is 10, EPA is 7. Treasury, well, this has got to go up. Can you check on this, Joe? It's only $12 billion, but they've got to be spending a lot more on ink and paper right now. Treasury department is $12 billion. Department of Energy is $24 billion. The Department of Transportation is $12 billion. Justice is $20 billion. Agriculture is $20 billion. Department of Interior is $10 billion. Department of Homeland Security is $120 billion. That's $286 billion for all of those: NASA, post office, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, EPA, Department of Treasury, Department of Energy, transportation, justice, agriculture, and interior, $286 billion. Obama wants a $1 trillion stimulus package. By the way, if you add in the defense budget, the Department of Defense budget for 2009 is $515 billion. Half a trillion dollars. Add that to all of the other departments I just gave you, that's $801 billion. You still have $200 billion left before you reach the new Democratic stimulus package of $1 trillion.
Please, Republicans, Democrats, independents, crazy people, sane people, where's this money coming from? Remember, this is a stimulus package. This isn't a tax cut. This isn't "Let's not take the money from the people. Let's spend the money that we don't have." This is such a disconnect from our founding fathers. This is such a disconnect from everything that America has always stood for.
Please, Republicans, Democrats, independents, crazy people, sane people, where's this money coming from? Remember, this is a stimulus package. This isn't a tax cut. This isn't "Let's not take the money from the people. Let's spend the money that we don't have." This is such a disconnect from our founding fathers. This is such a disconnect from everything that America has always stood for.
This is a mind-bogglingly large number, and it has to come from somewhere. Guess what? It will come from your pocket. It will be straight national debt, which the Obama-Reid-Pelosi trifecta will demand that the U.S. taxpayer cover. Taxes will go up faster than the oceans, and you're just supposed to sit there and take it because they're smarter than you and know better than you how your money should be spent.
Here's another question: where is this mind-bogglingly large amount of money going? Will it be used to continue nationalizing other industries? Buy out toxic mortgages? Grease the palms of favored Washington lobbyists? Seems like kind of an important question to answer before we write the check, don't you think?
We have got to get a grip on our government, and it's got to happen fast. They're herding us toward a very, very tall cliff, demanding that we, the American people, jump off first, just because they say so.
What a great idea, huh?
There's my two cents.
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