10 Absurd Conservative Myths About Obama's Recovery Plan

Hello all,

Just thought i'd post this to see what you're thoughts were on this ... some, if not most of it i don't agree with because it's full of ignorance and completely one-sided, but hey that's just my opinion .... what do you all think?

1. The proposed recovery package is too big.
False. Most progressive economists agree (and Paul Krugman is downright emphatic) that it's going to take a minimum of a trillion dollars of well-placed investment to pull our economy out of this ditch. This is no time for half-measures, blue-ribbon committees, pilot projects, or trial balloons: this is a life-or-death crisis that requires immediate and massive intervention.

CAF Senior Fellow Bernie Horn puts it this way: "The American economy is huge and it’s at a standstill. It’s like a motionless 100-car freight train -- or one going backwards slowly. A small locomotive simply can’t pull it forward. We need an engine large enough to work, one that can create millions of jobs. If anything, a $775 billion 2-year plan may be too small rather than too big."

Dean Baker of the Economic Policy Institute echoed this same thing on MSNBC's "Countdown" last Tuesday night. It's got to be big. And it's got to be now. Anything too small -- or too late -- and the American economy will be at serious risk of stagnating the same way Japan's did in the 1990s.
Article

There are explanations for each answer in the article

Post thoughts ... please don't bash me just the read the article ... i'm not saying these views are my own ... i just wanted to see what you all thought ... if you agree or disagree .... thanks.


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[edit on 9/1/2009 by Mirthful Me]

[edit on 9-1-2009 by baseball101]

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[edit on 9/1/2009 by Mirthful Me]

HAHA!!!!

Keyword in the source that you cited just from your post "progressive." Or better known as socialist economist people who think the government will save us all.

The facts are that government getting involved in the market will prolong whatever we are going through. Back in 2004 UCLA found out that the 'New Deal' prolonged the depression and the only thing that got us out of it was WWII.

The article is nothing more than partisan trash. The same ole my economist are better than your economist, Progressive vs Conservative. Truth is that every time a major economic crisis has happened we have always done "something" how bout going down a different route and do nothing and see what happens then.

We've tried the progressive route before lets try the conservative route this time and do nothing.

edit to add - I'm not bashing you I just find it funny that progressives keep wanting to try the same failed polices over and over again.

[edit on 9-1-2009 by Hastobemoretolife]

I have put the questions and their answers and stated whether or not I agree with their answer. I don't agree with the whole conservative-bashing bent of the article, but I find I agree with most of the answers.

1. The proposed recovery package is too big.

False.

short answer

democrats think

the government

can spend and print dollars

and it will resolve fundamental problems



[edit on 9-1-2009 by ConservativeJack]

reply to post by ConservativeJack


Sorry Jack but hat was Bush policies for the last 8 years, to help finance his war, now the roof is burning and is getting hot in here.

Obama plan will only works if he stop the leaching of jobs and the outsourcing of our industries, but right now our industries are already gone, so the biggest problem is to bring them back into the nation.

Betting on the infrastructure to create jobs is not going to win if the jobs are given away to illegal immigrants as they are the ones that are doing those jobs right now.

Then even our service jobs has been outsourced, and to make it worst we have companies in the US that while they are not outsource they are in sourcing jobs with workers visa.

So if Obama is doesn't stop the workers visa give away we are not going to be better off once the economic stimulus package is out that we are right now, just more indebted in an falling economy.

[edit on 9-1-2009 by marg6043]

Wow, I am actually agreeing with BenevolentHeretic on economics... I think I'm gonna need a doctor...

1. The proposed recovery package is too big.

Yes, it is too big, but that's what it is going to take if we are to create any lasting fixes. Perhaps ten years ago,this would be a prudent argument, but the problem has ballooned.

2. If we can't afford (insert pet project here), we certainly can't afford this.

Silliest thing I have heard yet. Those pet projects will dry up like bones in a desert if the economy completely collapses, which is exactly where we are heading.

I salute Obama for demanding that any stimulus bill be completely free of earmarks.

3. It's more important to balance the budget. Fix that, and the rest will take care of itself.

Yes, it is vital to balance the budget, but that will not fix the problem in itself now. It is actually much more important to bring our jobs home and start actually producing something as a country again. Someone take a walk through a Dollar General store sometime and try to find something, anything, that is made in the USA. It simply isn't there, or wasn't the last time I tried it.

We have changed our economy form one of production and efficiency into one of mandated service and inefficiency to maintain jobs. That has raised costs on the average person and decreased their ability to buy goods. That in turn has reduced the demand for goods and therefore the available jobs to make those goods, the raw materials required to make them, and the sales/transportation jobs to bring them to the store. This must change, or we will simply be pouring more oil under the spinning wheels.

4. The worst thing we can possibly do is raise taxes. Or borrow the money, God forbid.

True. As I insinuated above, the only way to keep the economy vibrant is to keep people working, which means there must be jobs for them to do. Inorder for them to have jobs to perform, there must be a need for the things they do or produce. In order to have this need, there must be people who are able and willing to spend money on the goods or services.

Taxes slow the economy; they certainly do not accelerate it. The government does not even need to raise taxes in order to be able to stimulate the economy; all they need to do is stop spending the money on silly pet projects that only benefit the few wealthy and connected. If there is still a need for taxes to increase, how about the multiple tax breaks given to companies who have most of their operations overseas or who operate via services from and for overseas interests? (I am thinking of the alcohol blending tax credit for the oil companies. It is given even though the oil and ethanol is shipped in and out of American ports from and to overseas operations, and via that tax credit, is financed by the USA.)

5. When you want to stimulate the economy, tax cuts always beat government spending hands-down.

It actually depends on how the money is spent and who gets the tax breaks. Without looking at those variables, this is a ludicrous statement, akin to comparing apples with an unopened box of unspecified fruit.

6. Large-scale government investment would inevitably turn into an orgy of waste, fraud and abuse.

Always has, always will. But the option at this point in time is to allow the coming Greater Depression. I only pray that when this is all over, we can see how our own policies on both sides of the political aisle have caused this mess.

7. We need stimulus now -- and tax cuts are the only way to get the money out there fast enough.

Nope, tax cuts work, but in a limited fashion. All present taxation rates should be frozen, at least on those making under $300K/yr, if for no other reason than to keep discretionary spending ability up.

But that will not be enough. Obama has a great idea about increasing/repairing infrastructure. That will add plenty of jobs in quick fashion, while performing a needed service that has been far too long neglected. Those jobs will equate to discretionary income for those employed, which will bring back demand for goods and services from other sectors. No, it won't happen overnight, but we took a half-century getting into this mess.

8. It’s wrong to bail out spend-thrift states. Let them stimulate their own damned economies.

Yes, it is. And while BenevolentHeretic has a point as well, it is foolhardy to keep tossing money down a well. If a state cannot stop being a black hole for cash, it must be forced to either change its ways or accept the consequences. Yeah, I know, there will be a coup in California. About time, if you ask me...

9. This whole Keynesian thing has been totally disproved. It didn’t work during the Depression. It didn’t work for Japan in the 1980s.

Won't work in any sense but a possible short-term response. The trick is to not rely on Keynesian Economics, but perhaps to use them in a limited sense to give the economy a quick jump-start. No government can make it's own economy. In the long run, the only thing government can do to an economyis to slow it down, not speed it up.

10. This is a partisan program that's designed to promote the Democratic agenda.

Duh? Of course it is! It always is! It would be designed to promote the Republican agenda if the Republicans hadn't made such a bigger mess out of the Democrats' mess and gotten their butts booted out of office.

But, it may be what's best for the country right now. It's high time we quit worrying about who gets the kudos. As a wise man once said:

"There is no limit to what a man can do or how much a man can accomplish, as long as he doesn't care who gets the credit."

I like Obama more every time the Demopublicans get mad at him, and smile even wider when the Republicrats do the same.

TheRedneck

The best was out of this mess is the addition of privately created jobs. Government jobs are always a drain on an economy.

The best way to create privately created jobs is to provide incentives and remove roadblocks.

Obama's policies propose gov't created jobs, and tax and spend policies. Exactly what we do NOT need.