Ready or not, the spending will come

Well it’s good to be back home. You may have noticed I was gone, the joy of filing taxes is all I will say.

And on that subject let’s take a look at the final stimulus package that has been rammed through Congress. This is not a bi-partisan package. It’s not even a package that is considerate of the needs of the nation. This is a rushed conglomeration of Democrat spending hopes of the last several years.

Looking at the facts for a moment we see exactly what is happening. This started as a $50 billion dollar pipe dream of the frugal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Once it was clear that President Obama had won, and Democrats owned the Congress, it swelled to $800 billion, in about a week. But what does it do for you and me?

Well from July to the end of the year those making a paycheck will receive $13 a week, up to $400 for an individual, if you make less than $75,000. Let the spending begin. In most of New York State that equates to 2 packs of cigarettes (excluding New York City) or a 1 pound package of chop meat, a loaf of bread, a container of instant coffee, and a package of cheese. Put another way its roughly 4 – 5 gallons of gasoline. Yet another way, it is not enough to pay any single bill you might have. And that will stimulate the economy.

Mind you that this is an absolute necessity. The economy will fall into a depression if you don’t get the extra $13 dollars a week. Just as the $700 billion for the banking bailout had to be passed or the economy would fail (ignore that fact that only $350 billion was spent of the immediate need for it all, much of it wasted, and the economy has not fallen into a depression). Not to mention the $50 billion that the U.S. auto makers absolutely needed to have before the end of the year (2008) or they would fail (even though they received $15 billion and none have failed).

But if $13 dollars a week is not enough to get you out spending more money than you can afford, it might help you stay in more. And if you are in more you might try to enjoy a different process that could help you gain more money. Extra kids. Because even if you are too poor to pay taxes, or have at least 3 kids, you can get extra money for more children. That will stimulate the economy.

And since you have more kids you will need a new home (don’t worry about the fact you may not have a job in 6 months). And to help you there, you get an $8,000 tax credit. Of course that ignores the thought that you need to be qualified to get a home in the first place. Since you will need a car for this hoard of children you can get a new car too, and take off the federal tax on that.

All with an extra $13 a week, for half the year, if you make less than $75,000. Does this sound remotely like what got us into this problem in the first place?

But the joy does not end there. If you insulate your home or buy a new furnace, you can get back up to $1,500. The furnace will likely cost $5,000 or more up front and all you have to do is wait a year to get that money back And the insulation can cost up to $55+ per roll (you may need 10 or more rolls for an attic). Mind you that you shouldn’t do both as the credit is for one OR the other. All of this on $400 a year.

You might say that is all well and fine except you need to be sure to have a job. Not to worry if you work for the Government, and we all do right? There are plenty of jobs to build roads, and move offices, and take care of honey bees. You can even get work moving medium sized fish barriers in selected rivers, because we all live near one of those. Or you can get a job in ‘green’ energy, once the technology is created and made efficient. Who care if it’s estimated to take over a decade to create that, you can get a job tomorrow in that field – you do have a Masters in engineering, conservation, chemistry, and/or biology right?

Of course if you worked for say Circuit City and have no job now you still won’t after this package. But the unemployed will get an extra $25 (not per week) in benefits and extended time for those benefits.

All of this will mean that you will have a job and more money just in time for the mid-term elections in 2010. And if you don’t there is a bunch of money left over to spend in that year to tell you that you will get a job right after you vote.

Can you imagine why any fiscal conservative (Democrat or Republican) might not have wanted to spend money on this?