Stimulus Bill

Have you read the Stimulus Bill? I doubt it. This proves once again that surveys mean very little. The bill is 647 pages long. If you're interested, you can find the full text at www.huffingtonpost.com.  I perused it and it was too much for my little pea brain to understand. Page 427 has a section named "ONCHIT" This should not be confused with the last section, "OHSHIT" which gives the totals of what this bill will cost.

As slow as the wheels turn in Washington, it's amazing how fast they came up with such a mammoth document. The only logical explanation is that each of the 435 representatives pulled his wish list out of his desk drawer and submitted it. Throw in a few ifs, ands, and buts and a whereas or two and bingo you have 647 pages.

At $900 billion and counting there is plenty of pork to go around. One of my favorites is the $198 million for Filipino war veterans. The only way this could stimulate our economy is if they all travel to Disney World. The GOP may have some valid objections, but they also have no better ideas. And $900 billion is only a little more than we have already wasted in  Iraq.

I am encouraged with Obama's comments on executive pay for those institutions receiving Federal money. I am unable to wrap my arms around the concept of stimulating the economy by opening up credit facilities. Living on credit got  us into this mess. I don't see how we can spend our way out of it. My MasterCard bill this month was $2,000. The statement showed a minimum payment of $15. This encourages the same behavior that got us into this crisis. So do signs at used car lots that read "no credit, poor credit, no money down." If we don't learn from our mistakes we will repeat them.

The only levity  in this mess was the reference the other day on the news to Murray Bloom. Murray was the CPA in the movie Dave. He helped the President cut $600 million from the budget. I wonder where Brian Williams got this idea, maybe from the article I wrote in September 2008, Bailout, which appeared on www.gather.com and several other blogs. As usual I get no respect.

If you have read my book, Am I the Only One That Signals?, you know that my opinions are sometimes wacky. But, at least I have some. Neel Kashari, assistant treasury secretary, was recently questioned during a congressional hearing and he could not state whether or not a $3,000,000 bonus was appropriate for an executive of a failed institution that received Federal money. With people like this running our country, is it any wonder we are in such a crisis?