Comments:President Bush, Congress agree on economic stimulus package

Back to article

This page is for commentary on the news. If you wish to point out a problem in the article (e.g. factual error, etc), please use its regular collaboration page instead. Comments on this page do not need to adhere to the Neutral Point of View policy. You should sign your comments by adding ~~~~ to the end of your message. Please remain on topic. Though there are very few rules governing what can be said here, civil discussion and polite sparring make our comments pages a fun and friendly place. Please think of this when posting.

Quick hints for new commentators:

• Use colons to indent a response to someone else's remarks
• Always sign your comments by putting --~~~~ at the end
• You can edit a section by using the edit link to the right of the section heading

Click here to add a new comment · Add onto existing comments

See!

THIS is the power of the people!

IF we want more money we should continue not to spend!

They're GIVING us money cause they need us!

Dont spend what they're giving SAVE it for God's sake...keep this going

I like the way you think!

Of course, this is money they took from us in the first place... or it would be, if they hadn't already blown all that money. This is money borrowed from China.

I'm just going to go ahead and throw in another plug for Ron Paul here. He's been trying to stop the government from taking our money and borrow money from China for, like, 20 years in Congress.

Vote Ron Paul in your local primary election. DO IT.

And in the meantime, yeah, stick it to the government by not stimulating the economy with money borrowed from China. (Chances are a lot of it will find its way back there anyway.) -161.88.255.240 22:54, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Economic Malady – Stimulus Insufficient

The underlying problem with the economy is an extreme maldistribution of income between the working class and the capital owners. When a CEO can make 300 million dollars while an average worker's wages haven't even kept pace with inflation what results is a dysfunctional market economy starved for consumption spending. The average American has had to fuel his/her spending with debt obtained by borrowing on the equity within their home - that phantom equity has now evaporated.

In order to correct this out of balance condition there needs to be laws in place (similar to the anti-Trust legislation) that caps the annual income of all capital owners and their surrogates (CEOs, CFOs, etc.) at a specific federal percentage above that of the highest paid worker within their respective firm. Also, we need to eliminate labor arbitrage by canceling all Temporary Worker Visa programs (L-1, H1-B, etc.), and establish tax penalties for firms that expand their workforce above some threshold through outsourcing, or replacement hiring in foreign locations.

Essentially, FDR was accurate when he characterized the Great Depression as an out-of-balance Economic malady. Rural income prior to the Great Depression was significantly lower than urban income, now (overvalued home equity) as then there was unlimited amounts of overvalued phantom equity flowing into the stock market, the income differential between labor and capital while nowhere near the current astronomical level was still much higher than sustainable. There in lies the root cause of the out-of-balance condition that precipitated the Great Depression. Any system including the market economy that gets to far out balance does not function properly. Certain constraints need to exist to keep the market economy from slipping into a dysfunctional state. Balance is the essence of stability nothing short of this will guarantee permanence.

John Maynard Keynes –  If fiscal policy is used as a deliberate instrument for the more equal distribution of incomes its effects in increasing the propensity to consume is, of course, all the greater. Aggregate consumption depends mainly on the amount of aggregate income. Consumption – to repeat the obvious is the sole end and object of all economic activity.  We cannot, as a community, provide for future consumption by financial expediants [stocks, bonds, 2nd mortgages on home loans, etc] but only by current output. Capital is not a self-subsistent entity existing apart from consumption. Consumption is directly tied to the level of employment.

My Proposed Program • 2 year 800 billion emergency Infrastructure Investment Jobs Creation Program (IIJCP) aimed at building new interstate highways, mass transit systems, schools, bridges, public hospitals, libraries, and assorted public buildings. • Eliminate labor arbitrage by canceling all Temporary Worker Visa programs (L-1, H1-B, etc.), and establish tax penalties for firms that expand their workforce above some threshold through outsourcing, or replacement hiring in foreign locations. • Taxation of corporate profits in the amount of 95% for firms that exceed a threshold level of jobs outsourced to a foreign country. • Taxation at the rate of 80% on individual yearly income received from any corporation, not-for-profit organization, or any form of legal entity where the total income exceeds the U.S. average yearly median individual income by 200%. • Fair trade agreements that ensure nations will offer decent wages, humane working conditions, and sound environmental policies. • A nationalized health care system for all U.S. citizens. • An effective federally funded tuition assistance program for U.S. citizens targeted at professions in demand. • Repeal all legislation that inhibits the right’s of individuals to organize under labor unions regardless of position or any other currently disqualifying classification.

My Observations:

• An economy can only function when a large proportion of the populace is engaged in the economy thus able to purchase what is produced. • If price is inelastic and labor remuneration static demand will fall due to reductions by industries in their capital base (the most important being labor). • Firms forced to compete (those that are not oligopolies) in an economic environment where demand is declining will still compete on price but efficiency gains and operating cost reductions by nature have marginal declining utility whereby a point is reached when the firm's factors of production (land, labor, or capital) must be slashed. These cuts in factors of production will have a multiplicative effect throughout an economy resulting in an ever building 'wave' of economic decline. • It is important to keep in mind that an economy cannot continue to grow when long-term consumption continues to decline. This in turn ties directly to reductions in the factors of production to accommodate continual long-term reductions in consumption. • When geographical barriers, constraints to the free flow of labor resources, underemployed resource utilization, similar knowledge distribution across all nation state’s, and nation state governmental inconsistency exists no global free market can exist and thereby at the nation state level no significant corresponding opportunity cost for engaging in one form of economic endeavor over another. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.206.42.94 (talk) 14:15, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Stimulus Package Comment

I feel that the democrats in the senate and congress are both trying to buy votes by wanting to add unemployment benefits and other items to this bill. I believe that only those who work in the economy should benefit and those who don't should not be given free handouts. What is next give the stimulus package benefits to illegal aliens. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.193.1.100 (talk) 18:33, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

economic stimulus: where does the funding come from?

No one on this planet can give the US that much money. So, the US will be writing stimulus checks from a "bank" without backing. These checks will be accepted because the US is "good for the amount". At what point would the US no longer be "good for the amount"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 135.245.10.2 (talk) 17:49, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

comment

Shelly Smith..

================

MLS