My political post. Feel free to skip!
First things first...I didn't vote for him, but I'm not rooting for Obama to fail so that we can have a new president in four years. I want the opposite of that. I want to be able to whole-heartedly back him when he runs for re-election. If Barack Obama fails, that means the country fails. If anything, I want him to be successful and bring people together and jobs to be created and to have peace and security. I thought John McCain had the better plan for this and that's why I supported him, but I have to hope for the best during the next for years and hopefully we'll be a better country based on an Obama presidency.
One of the main things I didn't like about Obama during the campaign was that he said repeatedly that Americans will have to sacrifice to get through this ecconomic downturn. Sacrifice? After they voted to give corporations $800 BILLION, citizens that had nothing to do with the failure of these corporations have to sacrifice? I don't feel the need to sacrifice anything because of failed businesses and failed government programs. And then just throwing money at it and feeling like that will solve the problems is ridiculous (and this came from both sides of government)! How many jobs are created by putting $800 billion into these businesses? Zero. Sure, some might be saved, but there are none created. Now they want to borrow an additional $500 Billion to give rebates to people. I'm not in the financial position to say that I couldn't use that money, but is it the best use of it?
Here is what my plan would have involved (assuming that some of the money was going to be spent whether I personally wanted to). Take about $535 Billion, and split it up among the states according to population (I'm using 535 based on the number of members of the House of Reps., so its an easy number to work with). In this scenario, NE would get $5 billion, IA would get $7 billion, CA would get $55 billion, etc. The federal govenment would then say "you have 2 years to start using this money in a way that will create jobs and wealth. Improve roads, schools, send people to college, give small business loans, improve state parks...whatever you can do to make sure that people are employed and making enough money to support their families. After two years, show us what you've done in order to create jobs/wealth. If its satifactory, you keep the money, if not, you pay it back." Sure, its socialism, but its based on creating and increasing capitolism. Plus, when those jobs are created, people that currently aren't paying taxes will start, or they might make more money and pay higher taxes. That money will go back to the Federal government to help pay off the borrowed money used to create these jobs. The people will have more money to spend, which leads to purchasing things that will have a sales tax that will then create wealth for the state. These are permanent solutions, while a tax rebate is a very short term answer (as we saw with the last one).
One of the main things I didn't like about Obama during the campaign was that he said repeatedly that Americans will have to sacrifice to get through this ecconomic downturn. Sacrifice? After they voted to give corporations $800 BILLION, citizens that had nothing to do with the failure of these corporations have to sacrifice? I don't feel the need to sacrifice anything because of failed businesses and failed government programs. And then just throwing money at it and feeling like that will solve the problems is ridiculous (and this came from both sides of government)! How many jobs are created by putting $800 billion into these businesses? Zero. Sure, some might be saved, but there are none created. Now they want to borrow an additional $500 Billion to give rebates to people. I'm not in the financial position to say that I couldn't use that money, but is it the best use of it?
Here is what my plan would have involved (assuming that some of the money was going to be spent whether I personally wanted to). Take about $535 Billion, and split it up among the states according to population (I'm using 535 based on the number of members of the House of Reps., so its an easy number to work with). In this scenario, NE would get $5 billion, IA would get $7 billion, CA would get $55 billion, etc. The federal govenment would then say "you have 2 years to start using this money in a way that will create jobs and wealth. Improve roads, schools, send people to college, give small business loans, improve state parks...whatever you can do to make sure that people are employed and making enough money to support their families. After two years, show us what you've done in order to create jobs/wealth. If its satifactory, you keep the money, if not, you pay it back." Sure, its socialism, but its based on creating and increasing capitolism. Plus, when those jobs are created, people that currently aren't paying taxes will start, or they might make more money and pay higher taxes. That money will go back to the Federal government to help pay off the borrowed money used to create these jobs. The people will have more money to spend, which leads to purchasing things that will have a sales tax that will then create wealth for the state. These are permanent solutions, while a tax rebate is a very short term answer (as we saw with the last one).