[Azure]

Originally Posted by Stimpy

You want the government to stay the hell out of big business, but you also lament the fact that the government didn't place enough controls on the GM bailout.

Actually, I have said from the start that I didn't agree with the GM bailout at all. I think they should have been left to go bankrupt.

You want the government to create jobs and improve the economy, but don't want them to be a substantial employer.

No, I do not want the 'government' to create jobs. I want the private side to create jobs. I want the government to quit interfering.

You say you want the government to cut spending, but continue the military missions abroad.

There you go again putting words in my mouth. I have MANY times stated that the DoD budget should be cut. But not at the expense of just pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the US decided to go in and blow the place up, they should at least try to clean it up.

You sound like the archetype American conservative who demands services but wants them without cost.

???

The trillion dollars pumped into the economy could have been more effective, except the enterprises that received the money turned around and took it as profit, banking it or investing it offshore. The only way the government could have prevented this was by putting in place huge restrictions on how the money could be used, but if they did that you would have complained the government was overstepping its boundaries and it was acting in a socialist manner.

Uhh, no. The trillion dollars that was spent hasn't even 100% allocated to the various places it was designated to go. A huge portion of the stimulus was put towards 'green power', and it will take years upon years to see the results. In terms of where the money will go, and what it will do, I think the stimulus can work. But it will take a LONG time, and its money the US government/taxpayer does not have. Plus, because of how long it will take to create results, it won't help the economy is the immediate future.

The left-leaning Time Magazine ran a great article on the stimulus bill a while back. Once you got past the drooling over Obama it was actually interesting where the money from the stimulus fund was going, and what kind of results will be expected. Still, it will take years, perhaps even more than a decade.

Is it cost justifiable? Remains to be seen. It doesn't do anything to jumpstart the economy though, which is what a lot of people, apparently including Obama thought it would do.