Left, Right, and Center: The Daily’s political columnists discuss the economic stimulus package
February 3, 2009
Conservative
By Russ Wung
Back in 2006, Congressional Republicans were deservedly criticized for their egregious abandonment of spending restraint. Democrats gained a majority in the House. Since then, things have gone from bad to worse as the Democrats seem determined to outdo the Republicans in spending our money. The recent “stimulus” bill is the magnum opus of the new spendthrift Congress.
At least we’ll have lots of nice new bridges, roads and other infrastructure, right? Not so fast. Only $30 billion out of $825 billion in the stimulus is allocated for those purposes. $40 billion is given to airports, communications, electric grids and other such priorities. The Wall Street Journal aptly describes these as “arguably worthwhile priorities.” The projects have potential, but even Barack Obama’s budget director has said they won’t start soon enough to provide the intended stimulus when we need it.
There are also about $20 billion of tax cuts to businesses. Abolishing the corporate tax altogether would be better at promoting job creation and investment, but every bit helps.
That 12 percent of the total spending constitutes the stimulating part of the stimulus package. Unfortunately, these components only constitute a small fraction of the total appropriations, which also include many items that won’t help the economy enough to justify the cost. Whether or not you are concerned about global warming, an economic stimulus bill is no place for $400 million in climate-change funding. Amtrak, that epic failure of a state-owned enterprise, gets yet another $1 billion.
There’s $36 billion for unemployment benefits. Economists have known for a long time that greater unemployment benefits tend to push unemployment beyond what it would otherwise be. This means we are paying to reduce economic activity.
States that have botched up their school systems through mismanagement will be getting even more funding — good money after bad.
Then there are the refundable tax credits. Because they can be paid out to people who never had income tax liability in the first place, these are essentially robbing taxpayers to give handouts to non-taxpayers. Calling a refundable tax credit a tax cut is like referring to theft as borrowing.
Where is all this money coming from? Borrowing, which is ultimately deferred taxation. The debate over the efficacy of Keynesian fiscal policy, which prescribes temporary government deficit spending as an antidote to recessions, still rages among economists, but one thing is clear: Keynesianism, regardless of its theoretical merits, provides the perfect excuse for the government to go on a bait-and-switch spending spree with our money.
Closing down government programs or cutting state and federal payrolls is notoriously difficult. As with the New Deal, when the recession ends, the extra programs and spending won’t, and the size of the government will have permanently increased. That means either more borrowing or higher taxes in the next few decades.
Congress is paying for this spending with the assumption that it can soak future taxpayers for the bill. That would be today’s college students — us. Where is your hope now?
Reach columnist Russ Wung at opinion@dailyuw.com.
Liberal
By Chris Jordan
“Barack Obama plans to stimulate the economy with money for condoms!”
This has been the rallying cry of the onslaught of Republican lawmakers who have taken their case against Obama’s stimulus package to the airwaves in the last several days.
The way they have cherry-picked lines out of this economic recovery package in order to discredit the entire effort has been dishonest and has clouded what good investments actually are in the bill.
After examining the contents of this package, it’s clear it is meant to do more than just provide a short-term boost to the economy. It’s a bridge to the future; much of the spending is aimed at giving the economy a jolt while beginning to transform it for changing times. There’s $275 billion for tax cuts, but these tax cuts are aimed at the poorest Americans and the middle class. There’s $24 billion for health care modernization and $22 billion for making homes more energy-efficient. All of these investments will ultimately pay off and help Americans save money, as well as move the economy toward a more green, efficient and bottom-up system of wealth generation. If the middle class is strong, the rich will be doing just fine. The stimulus is more than just government spending, it’s economic transformation spending.
While a new economy based on a strong middle class and new American energy will be necessary to help create future growth, this package isn’t going to get us there overnight and could use quite a bit of tinkering and retooling. Some economists have pointed out that, while it may contain good investments in economic reform, it doesn’t do enough hard job-creation in the short term to help us through the current crisis. Republicans and some Democrats have complained quite loudly that the $30 billion in highway and road infrastructure spending is not nearly enough for the number of jobs we need right now. I think they are right. At the end of the day, infrastructure is the best way to create jobs quickly, and the stimulus package falls short in that area.
Not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus package the first time around, and the party should pursue this opposition strategy at its own risk. A recent poll showed that 62 percent of Americans nationwide support the Democratic stimulus package and only 28 percent oppose it. If the Republican Party is viewed as standing in the way of the nation’s recovery effort, it could be in for a third-straight whooping on Election Day in 2010. Dishonest efforts on their part to portray this package as full of “pork” and money for condoms as an excuse to vote “no” simply aren’t going to work. The American people support this bill, and they want to see the government act.
President Obama has come to office with a full plate of global challenges, and with these challenges comes great opportunity. He should continue to reach out to those Republicans willing to work with him and not shy away from an improved package that both creates jobs and gets America on the road to the future.
Reach columnist Chris Jordan at opinion@dailyuw.com.
Moderate
By Katie Paff
As the economic stimulus package continues to grow in size, Senate support is waning on both sides of the aisle. As of this week, it’s more than $800 billion and growing — and that’s no small chunk of change. It’s bigger than the Pentagon’s entire budget, according to the Los Angeles Times, and more than we have spent on Iraq since the war began. It’s also got hundreds of provisions that cover almost every aspect of American life, including medical records, workers’ paychecks, local schools and more. At 647 pages long, it’s difficult to understand what’s in the plan — and that’s just the House version. The Senate version will undoubtedly be longer; we’ll find out later this week.
In addition to having the support of not a single Republican senator, the house version of the package, on its way to discussion in the Senate, worries many Democrats, including Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who say they will find it difficult to vote for it as is.
Should the package succeed, big government will be back on the table for many years down the line. Additionally, the most critical element of the package — tax cuts — is woefully inadequate considering the breadth of the economic downturn and how many people in a wide range of income brackets are hurting.
The stimulus package is heavily focused on trying to get the American public spending their money again, and thus it tries to give tax cuts to people in the lower- and middle-class brackets.
For 2009 and 2010, it gives a $1,000 tax cut for couples and $500 for individuals against their income and payroll taxes — with income limits on the low end. It shrinks for individuals making more than $75,000 and couples making more than $150,000, and those who make $100,000 (twice that for couples) get zip. Also in the taxes portion: first-time home-buyers receive a $7,500 tax credit if they make less than $75,000 a year; this limit does not increase for couples. For families making less than $80,000 a year, tax relief comes in the form of up to $2,500 credit for college tuition.
Obama’s income limits are far too low. There are many families whose combined income is in the low six figures but still risk losing their homes because they cannot keep paying their colossal mortgage and make the tuition payments for their college-aged children.
Unless government financial aid availability widens, there will be many middle-class families considered too “rich” to qualify for these credits, but still in need. These tax cuts are too small and the income range too limited. Indeed, the nation would benefit from a larger tax cut, if only to get people spending again. The nation as a whole is in dire need of tax relief.
Reach columnist Katie Paff at opinion@dailyuw.com.
4 Comments
Hey Chris, where'd you get those poll numbers from bro?
Could it have been from Democracy Corps, which is a DEMOCRATIC polling firm?
Hmmm....
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/d...
Btw, the most recent Gallup (aka, non-partisan) poll shows that just 52% of Americans support the stimulus package, while 37% don't.
And if you look on pollingreport.com, you can see just how quickly support has fallen for the stimulus package over the last couple of weeks.
I know that got posted in your comment section, Russ, but obviously it was intended for Chris.
my package is stimulated just for you russ.
I have an article in the sex edition this friday, you're getting stimulated prematurely.
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12 Comments
USA Today/Gallup Poll released today (2/3/09) of 1,027 adults:
Pass Stimulus package as proposed: 38%
Pass with major changes (Russ's kind of changes): 37%
Reject Plan: 17%
And overall, A whopping 78% of respondents are concerned that this bill won’t stimulate the economy quickly enough to matter.
"After examining the contents of this package, it’s clear it is meant to do more than just provide a short-term boost to the economy. It’s a bridge to the future; much of the spending is aimed at giving the economy a jolt while beginning to transform it for changing times. There’s $275 billion for tax cuts, but these tax cuts are aimed at the poorest Americans and the middle class. There’s $24 billion for health care modernization and $22 billion for making homes more energy-efficient. All of these investments will ultimately pay off and help Americans save money, as well as move the economy toward a more green, efficient and bottom-up system of wealth generation. If the middle class is strong, the rich will be doing just fine. The stimulus is more than just government spending, it’s economic transformation spending."
Chris...THIS is the problem that conservatives have with the stimulus. The pointing out of the ridiculous parts of the bill, i.e. the condom jokes, is just for some good ol' fashioned fun and mockery. Its the, as you call it, economic transformation spending that is the problem. The country does not need to be "transformed" and we certainly don't want BHO doing it like FDR. Just because there is an economic crisis (which is equal parts Bush's/Barney Frank's fault) does not mean that BHO should be reshaping and "transforming" our nation into a bigger socialistic state. Transforming has NOTHING to do with economic stimulus. SO WHY ON EARTH IS IT IN A "STIMULUS" BILL? Let him propose these transformational ideas on THEIR OWN MERIT rather than sneaking them into a bill disguised as a stimulus bill.
Just wanted to post the source for the polling information so you don't think I made it up...
I know you didn't make it up, but what you DID do was take data from a DEMOCRATIC polling firm, instead of using a firm like Gallup or Rasmussen.
The bottom line is that 62% of U.S. voters do not support the stimulus package. That number is way too high, and the Gallup poll that was just released proves it.
Well all polls have their limitations based on the questions asked. It looks like if there are two options -- Do you support the stimulus or not -- the vast majority support it. If you break it down further, a good chunk of people would like to see it changed. I would probably answer "pass with significant changes" to the Gallup poll because I'd like to see some changes rather than nothing changed at all.
I wonder what the results would be if the question gave four possible responses...
1) Pass it as it as
2) Pass it with some changes
3) Pass it with significant changes
4) Don't pass it at all
There are many different ways you can slice the poll results...
Here's an additional poll that shows support for the stimulus 54-34%. I think the fact that a lot of people would like to see some changes doesn't change the fact that overwhelmingly the American people support President Obama and they want to see his stimulus bill passed.
The ones getting the refundable tax credits (aka free money) would be all for it, certainly. Bribing the non taxpaying half of the public with the taxpaying half of the public's money.
Chris, your use of the words "overwhelming" and "vast" just shows me how bad a case of Obamania you have.
Obama has a 61% approval rating, in-line (not overwhelming) with past Democratic presidents near the beginning of their term.
And no, a vast majority do NOT support the stimulus package the way it is now, as you claimed in your argument, when you cited the 62% figure.
Nick,
Actually, the Gallup poll that you used to refute my poll shows Obama with a 66-19% approval-disapproval rating. That is overwhelming and vast support. Pollster.com puts him at 63-24%. I never said his approval rating was something spectacular compared to past presidents, I said it was overwhelming and vast, which it is.
And again, as I mentioned in my previous comment, I concede the point that most Americans want the stimulus package changed in some way. I myself would like to see parts of it changed. That doesn't mean that they don't support the stimulus because in every poll we have brought up that asks yes or no -- do you support the stimulus package -- the majority says yes. 62% in one poll and 54% in another.
I still think there is a risk for republicans if they drag this opposition out too long because it's clear that Americans are almost unanimous in their belief that SOMETHING get passed to stimulate the economy. So I stand by the point I was making in my article.
And I didn't mean to say "most" want the stimulus changed, I meant "many"
Chris, bro, stop trying to re-write history. What you wrote was this:
"...recent poll showed that 62 percent of Americans nationwide support the Democratic stimulus package"
You were talking about the ORIGINAL package, not one with revisions in it.
And btw, a new Rasmussen poll came out today on support for stimulus package:
Favor: 37%
Oppose: 43%
Not sure: 20%
Maybe in next week's column, you can make a small note on that.
Here's a link, btw, to the new Rasmussen poll:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publi...
Exit question: Do you still think it's a risk for Republicans to oppose the stimulus package? The Democrats in the Senate don't even believe they have the votes to pass it.
The poll is a joke. Do you all think that most people polled have a clue on what the 600 pages contain? Also, when there is a general concept of receiving money and "doing the right thing", a lot of people would say YES. The polling houses are there to "make" polls. I am not saying that they make up poll numbers. But they have to generate a lot of poll numbers to justify their existence. The fact is that there is a lot of pork spending in the House bill that has nothing to do with economic stimulus. As a minority, Republican is right to challenge the majority. The House Democratic did not allow the Republican members to participate (very wrong)and now the left want to say that the Republican is "obstructionist"? The Democrats seem to be following the same footstep of the Republican that eventually lost the House, the Senate and the White House. What a lesson they did not learn! Leave Obama alone, he is not the like of Pelosi and Harry, as least for now. If he is not careful though, the P and the H will doom his presidency.
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#1 Nick J.
(UW Campus)
on February 2, 2009 at 11:55 p.m.