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The Stimulus' Slow Emergency: Good Thing the Economy's Still in Trouble!
We couldn't stop to think for a second whether we needed a gajillion dollar stimulus bill passed right the hell now!!! last year; however, its tangible effects, whatever they might be (hint: much bigger tax bills in the future), can wait. Via MSNBC:
The idea behind the government's economic stimulus package was to get money flowing through the system, boost economic activity and create jobs. But an msnbc.com review of the latest federal spending data shows that the money is flowing at a trickle.....
As of mid-June, for example, spending by the Transportation Deptartment for so-called "shovel ready" projects represented barely 2 percent of available funds. The EPA has barely touched its $4.4 billion in stimulus spending. Same for the Defense Department.
According to our calculations, roughly $53 billion or one-third of the $150 billion in fiscal stimulus money available for this year has been spent as of June 19. As a percentage of the $479 billion in total stimulus funds, that represents only 11.1 percent.
smartass sob|6.30.09 @ 8:28PM|#
roughly $53 billion or one-third of the $150 billion in
fiscal stimulus money available for this year has been spent as of
June 19. As a percentage of the $479 billion in total stimulus
funds, that represents only 11.1 percent.
Perhaps they are attempting to postpone any possible
probable inflationary effects until after the 2010 elections.
Misha|6.30.09 @ 8:34PM|#
You anti-government fanatics are amazing. The quality of life is so much better in the European social democracies than in your gun-toting health-care Hell. That's the real existing free Market Paradise as opposed to your propaganda version of it. Quite a little mindless cult you so-called libertarians have.
JB|6.30.09 @ 8:43PM|#
Obama is a retarded monkey.
Though that is probably an insult to monkeys. I take dumps that are
smarter than him.
JB|6.30.09 @ 8:45PM|#
Misha, so where do you live you stupid cunt? I hope you live in
one of those socialist paradises and I hope you fucking stay
there.
We will soon be sending all sorts of dickless fucks to live with
you. They have the choice of moving there alive right now. In the
future they will be shipped as dead weight.
Misha|6.30.09 @ 8:52PM|#
JB
Your low-life vulgarity reflects the poverty of American culture.
Only your mostly oppressed national minorities have contrubuted
anything to the world. Aside from their cntributions, it's just
guns, teen preganacies, crearionist idiocy, and macho free market
fanaticism. Shame!
hammeredHead|6.30.09 @ 8:54PM|#
Misha, you need to stop watching Lou Dobbs and watch this
instead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvvuHREm5jg
Americans are doing better then ever because they are individually
responsible for their success. In Europe, your union or MP is
responsible for your success.
If things are not going well for you, I suggest that you get
training in auto mechanics (computer or fuel injection), Nursing,
or programming. Then you will be wealthier than 90% or the
Europeans.
Misha|6.30.09 @ 8:56PM|#
JB is a typical American racist who can't abide the notion that a Black man is in any way superior to him. Obama has more intelligence in his little finger than JB's entire family has in its puny brains. Genetics plays a big role. Sorry JB. It's not really your fault.
hammeredHead|6.30.09 @ 8:57PM|#
From the more recent posts it looks like you don't live in the US. Unless it is Switzerland, New Zealand, Hong Kong or Singapore then I guess you are doomed to live a lower middle-class life.
Misha|6.30.09 @ 8:58PM|#
HammeredHead,
Lou Dobbs is an American nationalist Know-nothing, much like you.
Why would I watch him?
hammeredHead|6.30.09 @ 9:06PM|#
How am I a nationalist? I have no belief that the US is better.
In fact, it sucks because it is getting more like Europe.
I've been looking in to retirement in New Zealand in 5 years. I
will be 46 then and I will have the money to do so because I was
responsible. Until recently governement hadn't taxed us as high as
it will to protect us from our irresponsibility.
Lou Dobbs sucks, at least we agree on that. I only said it because
he thinks the middle class is getting screwed.
hammeredHead|6.30.09 @ 9:09PM|#
Oh and I forgot to mention that Libertarians are not nationalist at all. Most including myself believe in open borders, are against US imperialism, and think our glory days are probably behind us.
|6.30.09 @ 9:13PM|#
typical American racist who can't abide the notion that a
Black man is in any way superior to him.
Actually I'm willing to bet that most white suburbanites (a very
large demographic) probably voted for Obama.
I have no doubt that Obama has some measure of intellegence, I
simply object to most of what he's doing.
And we haven't had a real free market in quite some time.
hammeredHead|6.30.09 @ 9:17PM|#
I have no doubt that Obama has some measure of
intellegence
His analytic intelligence is questionable. He really doesn't seem
to notice the obvious consequences of many of his policies.
He is a great speaker, but unfortunately I feel that is probably
his only ability.
hammeredHead|6.30.09 @ 9:19PM|#
I should add, before Misha thinks that I am a racist, that Bush was also a retarded monkey.
|6.30.09 @ 9:22PM|#
He really doesn't seem to notice the obvious consequences of
many of his policies.
Or doesn't care.
|6.30.09 @ 9:41PM|#
Misha is so obviously trolling that it's painful. Seriously, could its lines have been any more "stereotypical Euro-socialist that drives right-wingers nuts"?
B|6.30.09 @ 9:45PM|#
If hindsight is 20/20 then the Republicans who opposed the piece of shit stimulus bill claiming it would not stimulate the economy would be able to see a gnat on the moon. The stimulus bill is going to end up being such an albatross around the neck of Democrats that it may well cost them their majority in the House. If unemployment eclipses 10%, it will.
B|6.30.09 @ 9:50PM|#
"JB is a typical American racist who can't abide the notion that
a Black man is in any way superior to him."
And you are a pathetic piece of shit who labels anyone who
disagrees with this piece of shit president a racist. I can't
fucking stand Obama, he is bankrupting the country, he is so
fiscally reckless he makes Bush look like Suze Orman, and his
foreign policy gives aid and comfort to murderous tyrants and those
seeking to subvert the constitutions of their countries. And
frankly, I don't give a fuck if someone with less brains than the
corn in my shit accuses me of racism because I criticize a
worthless man who happens to be black.
P.S. To grasp how fucking retarded you sound, you should probably
look up Janeane Garafalo on youtube and watch one of her latest
rants.
Rhywun|6.30.09 @ 10:00PM|#
PS. What on earth does the EPA spend 4.4 billion dollars on...? That actually has any impact on the economy?
JB|6.30.09 @ 10:01PM|#
Misha, I'm not a racist, but I do hate stupid cunts like
you.
Plenty of people called Bush a monkey and chimp so I have no
problem calling Obama the fuck-bag, a retarded monkey.
I'm sorry that hurts your sensitive vagina. Actually I'm not sorry.
I'm glad it hurts your vagina.
You sound like a europussy. I'm tired of paying my money to defend
fuckwads like you. Fuck NATO, fuck Europe, and fuck you. I look
forward to the day when 70 muslims rape you silly. I will
cheer.
B|6.30.09 @ 10:02PM|#
"Aside from their cntributions[sic], it's just guns, teen
preganacies, crearionist idiocy, and macho free market fanaticism.
Shame!"
Yeah, and you European fuckwads have contributed Nazism, socialism
and communism.
But hey I would be jealous too if a nation that has only been
around 233 years is more powerful, wealthy and influential than any
shitty European country from which you hail. Germany has had double
digit unemployment for over 2 decades, our Salvation Army could
kick the asses of the French surrendocrats and England still gives
tens of millions to a fucking monarchy. In short go fuck yourself,
and get back to me when the French don't suck anymore.
P.S. Learn to fucking spell.
B|6.30.09 @ 10:04PM|#
Europeans insulting the United States is like Keith Olbermann insulting Bill O'Reilly, every fucking night. We all know the motive.
B|6.30.09 @ 10:17PM|#
And I forgot to add that the Europeans also "contributed" fascism. But hey, ideologies that provided the framework for the slaughter of millions are so much better than "macho free market fanatacism" and "teen pregnancy" (I think most would dispute the notion that teen pregnancy is a uniquely American phenomenon). And what is even worse, you fuckers still vote for communists and socialists. That is a whole new level of stupidity.
Xeones|6.30.09 @ 10:32PM|#
Folks, Epi's right. Misha is all y'all's mom, and she just drove you to troll school in the car of PAIN.
Mike Laursen|6.30.09 @ 10:50PM|#
I'm all for Congress passing huge, crowd-pleasing spending bills, then not actually spending the money. That would be wonderful.
BakedPenguin|6.30.09 @ 10:55PM|#
Should we really be complaining about government not fucking up as fast as possible?
B|6.30.09 @ 10:58PM|#
"Folks, Epi's right. Misha is all y'all's mom, and she just
drove you to troll school in the car of PAIN."
Nah. I like insulting idiots and using a whole lot of profanity in
the process.
Mad Max|6.30.09 @ 10:58PM|#
'The Stimulus' Slow Emergency'
On a more serious note, which do you prefer: Slow Emergencies or
Fast Emergencies?
B|6.30.09 @ 10:59PM|#
Shame the stimulus projects aren't quite shovel ready, because we need all the shovels going we can get in order to deal with all the bullshit coming from this "president".
B|6.30.09 @ 11:04PM|#
The most amazing thing about this article is the fact is was done by someone from MSNBC. During the debate prior to passage of the "stimulus bill", MSNBC touted the bill so much, they probably wouldn't have questioned Obama if he claimed one of the "shovel ready" projects was using leprechaun labor to build a unicorn farm in the Everglades.
smartass sob|7.1.09 @ 12:00AM|#
Misha is all y'all's mom,...
Huh, I thought "Misha" was a guy's name - Russian or
something.
|7.1.09 @ 12:40AM|#
This puerile canard again? I don't like the stimulus, and I
don't think it will work, but in theory yes, promised spending can
indeed produce reactions in the economy even before the money is
spent.
Imagine that we have irrefutable evidence that the world's
petroleum reserves will run out in 10 years. Even if the petro
countries kept pumping out petroleum at the same rate until it runs
out, don't you think this knowledge would have an effect on the
price of oil now, even though the current supply and demand remain
the same?
Triumph|7.1.09 @ 12:48AM|#
Xeones | June 30, 2009, 10:32pm | #
Folks, Epi's right. Misha is all y'all's mom, and she just drove
you to troll school in the car of PAIN.
Not me, I brought the pain, mano-mano, sock puppet to sock puppet.
Now turn that hind end around, got some sniffin' to do.
The Angry Optimist|7.1.09 @ 12:49AM|#
B - your hyper-rightwing schtick ain't all that amusing either, brother. "Surrdercrats"? What the fuck is this, Little Green Footballs a la 2004?
|7.1.09 @ 12:57AM|#
"I don't like the stimulus, and I don't think it will work,
but in theory yes, promised spending can indeed produce reactions
in the economy even before the money is spent."
Excellent point.
It would imply that the perfect stimulus program would be announced
with great fanfare and publicity, but quietly postponed, scaled
back, or outright canceled after the people's collective attention
span has timed out. Then the process would simply be repeated with
Stimulus II.
While I'm opposed to the pork-tastic spending plan in principle, in
practice, it appears to be playing out very well indeed.
In my ideal world, none of the stimulus money would ever get spent,
but it would keep being dangled as bait for useless leeches and
lobbyists, hopefully distracting them from the things with which
they might do some serious harm.
Triumph|7.1.09 @ 12:59AM|#
This puerile canard again? I don't like the stimulus, and I
don't think it will work, but in theory yes, promised spending can
indeed produce reactions in the economy even before the money is
spent.
Interesting correlation, the Wall Street Journal made roughly the
same argument before the passage of the historical Reagan tax cuts.
They believed that the idea of the tax floating out there was
having an early positive effect.
In either that case, where there was still uncertainty about the
final form and depth of the tax cuts, and here, where spending is
going to add on top of massive capital depletion, the extent of the
effect turned out to be vague, and hence, less than one would have
hoped.
What? Insult Comedian is not my only trick. Now watch me chase my
tail.
Triumph|7.1.09 @ 1:08AM|#
While I'm opposed to the pork-tastic spending plan in
principle, in practice, it appears to be playing out very well
indeed.
Don't count your chickens, before the dog is out of the pen.
Here is Warren Buffett last week:
I get figures on 70-odd businesses, a lot of them daily,'
'Everything that I see about the economy is that we've had no
bounce. The financial system was really where the crisis was last
September and October, and that's been surmounted and that's
enormously important. But in terms of the economy coming back, it
takes
a while. There were a lot of excesses to be wrung out and that
process is still underway and it looks to me like it will be
underway for quite a while. In the [Berkshire Hathaway] annual
report, I said the economy would be in a shambles this year and
probably well beyond. I'm afraid that's true...
|7.1.09 @ 8:30AM|#
I don't like the stimulus, and I don't think it will work, but in theory yes, promised spending can indeed produce reactions in the economy even before the money is spent.
Actully, I agree. The primary effect of a "stimulus package" is to
give the people the feeling that someone is doing something.
It's kind of too bad they can't just promise the stimulus
money but then not spend it. Under normal circumstances the
recession in well into recovery before a dime is spent anyway*. And
that money usually just ends up sowing the seeds for the next
financial crisis.
*Or in the case of Clinton's program isn't even enacted
until a year after the recovery began.
Xeones|7.1.09 @ 8:35AM|#
Huh, I thought "Misha" was a guy's name - Russian or
something.
True, it is the Russian diminutive of Mikhail, making it equivalent
to "Mike." I give somewhat less than a fuck, however.
Happy Canada Day!
Canada is not a real country.
Gilbert Martin|7.1.09 @ 8:37AM|#
"The quality of life is so much better in the European social
democracies than in your gun-toting health-care Hell"
You are physically incapable of proving a single word of that to be
true.
Rich|7.1.09 @ 9:02AM|#
"The quality of life is so much better in the European social
democracies than in your gun-toting health-care Hell"
And *your* mother wears Army boots!
|7.1.09 @ 9:43AM|#
Misha, have you ever been to Europe? I used to go every summer, I even have an apartment there. It has gotten so bad (especially in the last few years) that I only go now when my family needs something (they live in Europe). They usually prefer to visit me in america and see the doctors here than have me visit them there.
|7.1.09 @ 9:48AM|#
The trouble with the de-stimulus plan was that its immediate
consequences were all negative.
1.The huge and unprecedented spending plans spooked people into
fearing inflation when the money is actually spent.
2. The money for the spending has to come from somewhere: the plan
seemed to be that it would be extracted as more taxes on employers.
This discouraged employers and did not cause them to increase their
payrolls. Rather it suggested that they had better batten down the
hatches and start reducing payrolls.
3. There was absolutely nothing in the bill to encourage people
thinking of starting up businesses. The money all seemed to be
intended to go to increasing welfare, temporary government jobs,
and rewarding political supporters of the democrats. To reduce
unemployment in our economy it is wise to take steps to encourage
employment. This bill didn't.
|7.1.09 @ 10:03AM|#
Obama is very smart at getting what he wants. Either that or
lucky to have such an idiot Congress(who continue to be the real
problem, imho).
You can't fix the economy once the first fix is implemented and
didn't work. Better to leave the jury unable to decide whether it
worked while doing similarly idiotic things.
|7.1.09 @ 11:05AM|#
Obama is a retarded monkey.
Though that is probably an insult to monkeys. I take dumps that are
smarter than him.
I have to disagree, JB. For Obama, the stimulus was only
secondarily about economic improvement, which would happen, or not,
without the stimulus. It was primarily about (a) creating a slush
fund to pay off supporters, (b) increasing the economic role of the
federal government, and (c) increasing the size of the federal
government.
It is succeeding in those goals admirably. Ergo, Obama is not
stupid.
|7.1.09 @ 11:08AM|#
I don't like the stimulus, and I don't think it will work,
but in theory yes, promised spending can indeed produce reactions
in the economy even before the money is spent.
True enough, I suppose, but those reactions will be short-term
(only until people realize that the money to fund the reaction
isn't showing up), and the backlash will be worse than no stimulus
expectation at all (companies that created or held jobs depending
on the stimulus will be in worse shape than they would have been
otherwise).
Brian Doherty|7.1.09 @ 12:03PM|#
Actually, the most sophisticated and non-puerile version of government money magick says that not only can mere government paper create wealth; not only can the government merely SAYING it will make a bunch of paper create wealth; but that us merely IMAGINING that the government said it will make a bunch of paper will create wealth. Keep up, guys.
|7.1.09 @ 3:57PM|#
Misha is also sure - Michael Moore said so - that Cuba has
better health care. I stand with whoever broke out the c-word, and
not with those who want to bring European statist solutions to the
US. Too bad our genius president is a pure-bred commie (out of a
commie mom, by a commie dad) who goes around the world parroting
third world radicals.
By the way did anyone see the poll where 45% of white respondents
said they would be willing to pay higher taxes for Obamacare,
whereas 73% of black respondents said they would be willing to pay
higher taxes. Not paying taxes sure appears to alter your views on
whether we need bigger government and higher taxes. The teabaggers
are our only hope.
|7.1.09 @ 5:12PM|#
Patience please. Before anything else happens, there are lots of Obama supporters who have to skim their cut of the loot.
|7.2.09 @ 8:17AM|#
The stimulus is timed to start spending just in time for the
2010 election.
How says Obama doesn't plan for the future. There'll be somthing
else in 2012.
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