Officials say tentative stimulus deal reached

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

I just sent a bunch of money to the IRS, am I going to get some of that back so I can buy a new HDTV made in China? Make that a new Honda if I could get all of the state and federal taxes we paid last year. A Lexus if we included all the hidden taxes we paid in anything we purchased. Help my son with his taxes, for what they paid he could have knocked off 33% off his home mortgage on his new home.

Here people on this board calling Obama a socialist, what about that last guy that was in? Got in my tax books in before he even became president. Besides taxes, utility bills went up 30% since last year, and these are all domestic energy sources? And we are seeing drastic increases in food prices at the grocery store.

So exactly what is this stimulus bill going to do for us?

Well, Nick. Imagine the economy is this big, flaccid #######. The stimulus bill is a bunch of hands caressing that faccid membrane in hopes to bring it back to life. The more hands caressing it, the more likely it will spring back to life.

So, Congress is like the men's room at the airport?

--Bullwinkle

[NickD 203]

I just sent a bunch of money to the IRS, am I going to get some of that back so I can buy a new HDTV made in China? Make that a new Honda if I could get all of the state and federal taxes we paid last year. A Lexus if we included all the hidden taxes we paid in anything we purchased. Help my son with his taxes, for what they paid he could have knocked off 33% off his home mortgage on his new home.

Here people on this board calling Obama a socialist, what about that last guy that was in? Got in my tax books in before he even became president. Besides taxes, utility bills went up 30% since last year, and these are all domestic energy sources? And we are seeing drastic increases in food prices at the grocery store.

So exactly what is this stimulus bill going to do for us?

Well, Nick. Imagine the economy is this big, flaccid #######. The stimulus bill is a bunch of hands caressing that faccid membrane in hopes to bring it back to life. The more hands caressing it, the more likely it will spring back to life.

So, Congress is like the men's room at the airport?

--Bullwinkle

Ha, our government is entering in every phase of our lives, might as well play with our private parts as well. We never had these problems with an equal trade policy, feel that is the only problem we have today. If that buck ain't here, government can't tax it.

Thanks to all the administrations that gave our country away.

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Senate Set to Vote Next Week on Stimulus After Accord on Cuts

By Brian Faler

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate is slated to vote early next week on an economic stimulus package totaling at least $780 billion that President Barack Obama said is needed to prevent the economy from sinking into a deeper recession.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, scheduled a key procedural vote for 5:30 p.m. Washington time on Feb. 9 after a dispute over the measure’s size was resolved yesterday. If the procedural hurdle is cleared, Reid said a vote on the bill would take place on Feb. 10.

If it passes, lawmakers will attempt to reconcile the Senate bill with an $819 billion stimulus bill the House approved last month. Democratic congressional leaders are pushing to deliver a final bill to Obama by the end of next week.

The agreement reached on the Senate bill’s size by Democrats and three Republicans prompted Reid to express confidence the Senate would approve its bill. “We are passing a bold and responsible plan that will help our economy get back on its feet, put people to work and put more money in their pockets,” he said.

Throughout this week, a bipartisan group of more than a dozen lawmakers has been demanding cuts to the bill as its size grew to more than $900 billion. Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who led the push to reduce that total, said after yesterday’s accord was reached that he and other lawmakers worked “line by line, dollar by dollar” to cut more than $100 billion.

‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs’

The plan they produced is “about jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said.

The $780 billion compromise plan that Nelson and the other lawmakers announced didn’t include the cost of other changes that had been made to the bill earlier this week. Those amendments included tax cuts aimed at boosting the housing and auto industries.

Republicans estimated the bill’s cost would total about $827 billion. And the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said most of his colleagues continue to oppose the bill because, in their view, it emphasizes government spending over tax cuts.

“The president said originally he had hoped to get 80 votes” in the Senate, said McConnell. “It appears that the way this has developed, there will be some bipartisan support but not a lot.”

Earlier yesterday, the Labor Department reported an increase in unemployment in the U.S. and Obama stepped up his call for Congress to complete work on a stimulus plan. The jobless rate rose to 7.6 percent last month from 7.2 percent in December, the Labor Department reported, adding urgency to the congressional talks. Payrolls fell by 598,000, the biggest monthly decline since December 1974.

Delay ‘Inexcusable’

Obama said it would be “inexcusable” for Congress to get “bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as usual” over the stimulus legislation “while millions of Americans are being put out of work.”

Also before the Senate agreement was announced, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she was “very much opposed to the cuts that are being proposed in the Senate.” These included reductions in spending for education.

The Senate agreement pared from the bill $20 billion for school construction, $2 billion to expand broadband access in rural areas, $3.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient and $200 million for NASA. It also reduced a proposed subsidy that would allow the jobless to buy health insurance through their former employers.

Tax Cuts Dropped

Tax cuts worth $18 billion were dropped from the measure. The accord also reduced the income cap for workers who would benefit from Obama’s $1,000 payroll tax credit, to $140,000 for married couples and $70,000 for singles from $150,000 and $75,000, respectively.

“This compromise greatly improves the bill,” said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican. Republican Senators Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced they also would support the package.

Democrats, who control the Senate with 58 votes, need support from at least two Republicans to gain the 60 votes needed in Monday’s procedural vote and bring the bill up for approval.

During debate on the bill yesterday, lawmakers approved on a voice vote an amendment to fix the troubled HOPE for Homeowners program. That initiative was created last year to let homeowners struggling with subprime loans refinance into fixed-rate loans backed by the government.

Terms Too Tough

The program, designed to help 400,000 borrowers, has refinanced just two dozen mortgages since October because, lawmakers said, the terms to enroll were made too tough. The amendment would cut fees for borrowers and provide additional incentives for loan providers. It would also require the Treasury Department to devote at least $50 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program to stem housing foreclosures.

Another amendment adopted on a voice vote would require financial institutions that take money from the TARP program to repay the cash portion of bonuses topping $100,000 that were paid to employees for work last year. “This amendment makes it clear that it’s not enough to say that the excessive bonuses are wrong -- it requires that companies pay those bonuses back to our taxpayers,” said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.

Lawmakers also approved an amendment imposing tougher restrictions than the House imposed on how money in the stimulus bill could be spent. The House measure bars stimulus funding from going to casinos, aquariums, zoos, golf courses and swimming pools. The Senate amendment also would bar the money from going to museums, arts centers, theaters, highway beautification projects, stadiums and parks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...Jw&refer=us

[Reba 2]

I haven't seen a whole lot in this proposal that will actually create any jobs in the foreseeable future. It seems more like they're just tossing money up in the air to see where it'll land and hope whoever picks it up will do something with it

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I haven't seen a whole lot in this proposal that will actually create any jobs in the foreseeable future. It seems more like they're just tossing money up in the air to see where it'll land and hope whoever picks it up will do something with it

The hope is to get consumers spending again and banks loaning money again. Now that we are a consumer driven economy - our collective livelihood depends on that....for better or worse.

[Reba 2]

If they want us to spend money then why don't they just give *us* money to spend? The last handout to civilians didn't work, so how is a pittance of a tax cut going to? Or how is giving a few million dollars to the Smithsonian, or the Agriculture Dept for pet projects going to ge t*us* to spend money we don't have?

What the hell good is offering a $15,000 rebate to home buyers if they still don't have a job to be able to qualify for a mortgage? Or rebates to buy new cars, if they still don't have a job to drive to?

Where are all these magical jobs going to come from?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If they want us to spend money then why don't they just give *us* money to spend? The last handout to civilians didn't work, so how is a pittance of a tax cut going to? Or how is giving a few million dollars to the Smithsonian, or the Agriculture Dept for pet projects going to ge t*us* to spend money we don't have?

What the hell good is offering a $15,000 rebate to home buyers if they still don't have a job to be able to qualify for a mortgage? Or rebates to buy new cars, if they still don't have a job to drive to?

Where are all these magical jobs going to come from?

That's the question - what are the most effective ways to inject capital into the economy to boost spending and lending. Tax cuts, refund checks...all help but to varying degrees. Most of the leading economists though believe that its through infrastructure spending that will be the most effective in the long run, based on Keynesian Economics.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Did you cry when the banks got bailed out?

That was wrong too.

Steven, How do you feel about all the pork in the stimulus package?

Rich, you'll have to be specific here - you do realize that there are different views on what is considered wasteful spending, and what kind of spending will actually stimulate the economy. If I understand your overall position correctly (Libertarian), that would mean that you would regard any spending as wasteful, no?

90% + is pork and favors...... Billions for ACORN!!!! That's pure political payback. You can pretend you don't understand the question but I know you do.

EDIT: Don't you think it's wrong to spend Trillions we don't have? Bush was wrong and so is Obama.

Edited February 8, 2009 by LuckyStrike

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Did you cry when the banks got bailed out?

That was wrong too.

Steven, How do you feel about all the pork in the stimulus package?

Rich, you'll have to be specific here - you do realize that there are different views on what is considered wasteful spending, and what kind of spending will actually stimulate the economy. If I understand your overall position correctly (Libertarian), that would mean that you would regard any spending as wasteful, no?

90% + is pork and favors...... Billions for ACORN!!!! That's pure political payback. You can pretend you don't understand the question but I know you do.

Any money in the stimulus plan that goes to lower income families (food stamps, healthcare) will immediately be spent and thereby boost the economy. But don't take my word for it....just read what the leading economists like Nobel prize winner, Paul Krugman has to say about it. It's another case of letting the experts be the experts.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Any money in the stimulus plan that goes to lower income families (food stamps, healthcare) will immediately be spent and thereby boost the economy. But don't take my word for it....just read what the leading economists like Nobel prize winner, Paul Krugman has to say about it. It's another case of letting the experts be the experts.

You might have a better argument if you can find somebody else...anybody else! If not for the New York Times, this guy would be out of a job, and fading into obscurity! I mean, not even MSNBC likes this guy anymore!

[mawilson 2,133]

EDIT: Don't you think it's wrong to spend Trillions we don't have? Bush was wrong and so is Obama.

Exactly. You can't fix the problem caused by excessive borrowing and wasteful spending

by more borrowing and wasteful spending.