If you’re not in the mood for a rant, skip this entry.
They say that there are two powerful emotions responsible for most of human behavior – greed and fear – with fear being the more powerful of the two.
Politicians know this and, as the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is no stranger to playing the fear card. She used the fear tactic this past week when urging action on the proposed stimulus package (probably more aptly named the proposed pork package). As I predicted, the proposed package got bigger once it got to the Senate.
Why?
Almost 100 politicians got their front feet in the trough and started adding pork of their own. Now, the Senate version of the bill as it stands today proposes that we spend another trillion dollars that we don’t have to stimulate the economy.
These politicians seem to have no idea as to how to how much money a trillion dollars is, something Speaker Pelosi aka “The Poster Girl for Government Pork” proved this past week when speaking about the stimulus package and advocating its immediate passage. I thought after hearing her defend contraceptives and birth control as economic stimulus, her handlers would help her put a better foot forward when making public statements, but I was wrong.
This past week she played the fear card by stating that unless the stimulus package was passed, “500 million Americans would lose their jobs.” (The entire population of the US is around 300 million)
I’m not making this up, here’s proof:
Can you believe her? She managed to say it with a straight face again.
This ‘stimulus’ package is simply out of control and in my view will only make our economic problems worse. The ‘corporate cheese line’ that started with the banks, then spread to the auto industry, now has states, municipalities and other industries getting in line with their hands out.
Here’s a brief list, as reported in the “Wall Street Journal” today:
Las Vegas wants $2 million for neon signs (more?)
Boynton Beach, Florida wants $4.5 million for an ‘eco-park’ to display butterflies and gopher tortoises
Chula Vista, California is looking to get $500,000 for a place for dogs to run off their leashes aka a dog park (7 jobs would be created – cost per job over $71,000 They’d have to be big dogs and eat a lot to keep 7 people busy cleaning up after them.)
Lincoln, Nebraska wants $3 million for an environmentally friendly clubhouse arguing that 54 jobs would be created (that’s a cost of $55,556 per job and what happens to the jobs when the clubhouse is built?)
Shreveport, Louisiana wants $150,000 for 8 police equipped Harley Davidson motorcycles which would create 1 job.
Austin, Texas is looking to get $886,000 to build a 36 hole Frisbee golf course (4 jobs created – cost per job $222,000)
Virginia Beach, Virginia wants replacement tennis courts at a cost of $1.8 million.
Does anyone else out there think this is insanity in action?
It’s unbelievable to me how out of control Washington has become.
Added to this lunacy is the appearance that many leaders in Washington have adopted the ‘do as I say not as I do’ philosophy with regard to paying taxes.
Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed in spite of the fact that he had not paid taxes that he knew were due until he was nominated for a cabinet post, former Senator Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination this week for a similar reason.
What ever happened to ‘change we can believe in’?
This is just more of the same –spending we can’t afford, pork projects we don’t need, and a whole lot of hypocrisy.
For a copy of Mr. Tubbergen’s complete first quarter market update visit:
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