Thursday, February 19, 2009

Stimulus Excuses

Having written to Senator Kohl about the (then) upcoming stimulus package vote, I was not surprised to receive a reply from him. He voted for the stimulus package. I am posting this here because there are residents of other states who are no doubt receiving similar correspondence form their legislators regarding their votes on this matter.

Among other gems in his excuse missive were these:

  1. "Consumer confidence is at or near an all time low." Perhaps that's because the average consumer is aware that it is impossible to spend one's way out of debt.
  2. "The average Wisconsin family would receive a $900 tax cut this year from the legislation." Perhaps the good Senator would like to tell us how much this package is going to cost each average WI family to pay it back too? Essentially you are saying that you, in your wisdom, have exchanged $900.00 this year for untold thousands to be paid back by our children and grandchildren. I would have preferred magic beans.
  3. "I support the economic recovery package, but I do have reservations. The price tag on this bill is enormous, and I understand the opposition to this legislation by those who feel it costs too much money. To address these concerns, the Senate voted to reduce the cost of the legislation by over $100 billion through cuts in education, modernization of federal buildings, health information technology, and other areas." Well, wasn't that nice of you, a whole 100 billion. Is that sort of like when retail stores raise all their prices 30% a few months before Christmas and then declare a 20% off sale after Thanksgiving? I fail to see the savings.
  4. "I supported this compromise to help keep spending under control " The 100 billion dollar reduction in a bill that is egregiously beyond the bounds of common sense is not really a compromise. It looks more like a way to allow those legislators such as yourself a way to make yourselves still have an appearance of respectability. It failed.
  5. "This plan is not perfect, but it is a bold and responsible action " This plan is so far from responsible that you should be required to spend remedial vocabulary building time with your dictionary sir. If you had a child attending college who, with his first credit card, had amassed $100,000.00 in debt and he told you he was going to get another card that would let him spend $1,000,000,000.00 to get him out of that financial prison, would you call that responsible?


Senator Kohl, I appreciate that your response was polite. In my opinion, you and your fellow democrats have betrayed not only your home state constituents, but the nation in voting to pass this monstrosity. I think you have taken this action more out of concern for partisan politics than for the good of the country as a whole. I think each and every one of you should be recalled and replaced with people who know the difference between party and nation.

10 comments:

Call Me Mom said...

I have since received a similar missive from Mr. Feingold who cites the need to act "quickly and responsibly". I tend to think that actually reading something before you sign it is responsible. Apparently, that is not an opinion that is shared by my elected representatives.
How about yours?

Terry Morris said...

A few governors of the various states - Perry, Jindal, et al - are trying to be responsible per your definition of responsibility. But then they have to contend with their legislatures, their mayors of towns and cities, the Chambers of Commerce, and so on and so forth. The end result being that they will all fold under the pressure.

We're headed for an event, the likes of which this country has never seen.

Anonymous said...

They didn't read the Patriot Act either.

But it did have a catchy name.

Call Me Mom said...

I was taught throughout my childhood and have taught my son that you never sign anything without reading it. It seemd like common sense. Why are we not holding our legislators to the same bounds of common sense? Isn't it their job to read legislation before they vote on it?
Howdy GOB. Nice to see you here.

Anonymous said...

I generally, like to poke fun at this new occupant of the White House thinking like most that this is only another president and that things will change after the next election, however things have changed and I'm beginning to face the stark reality that this maniac, this madman, could in just a few years destroy what its taken this country hundreds of years to build. I suppose the final straw for me was the new budget plan. Obama with his twisted understanding of history and his alien social and economic ideals, many of which he learned from the years he spent in the pews of Pastor Wrights church; will in the end not only change this country, as he has promised, but will destroy the very fabric of this great nation. He plan represents a threat far more formidable than any invading army could mount. Great nations generally fall from within, their fate sealed by the common masses who fail to see or understand the unrush of events. Events that are obvious to a few and invisable to the many. Such is the position we find ourselves in now. This man, this misguided fool, must be stopped. I beg, I plead, I pray that each of you raise the alarm---the enemy is not at the gates, but in the house; its not the Russians, its not the terrorist, its not the Iranians--its a charming, likable, young man who wants change. Unfortunately, its a change that will destroy this nation and its way of life. All despots think theirs in the road to greatness for their peoples and this leader is no different. No doubt about it, he is a leader and his followers love and adore him and they wait with eager antipication for his next words and the next words come and flow over the masses and they believe. They compare him to past great leaders and look to him to provide them with a better life. He promises more and more and the people believe and revel in the changes he trumpets. Changes that will give birth to a new nation, changes for a new millennium. A casting aside of the old order and the establishment of a new utopian-like society where all the needs of the common man will be met. He tells the masses that our problems are so great that only government can solve them and he will lead us to greatness again. His vision of American is a dark one, remember he sat in Pastor Wrights pews for years and was completely indoctrinated by his message of an evil and corrupt nation. He disavowed him when it suited his purpose, but gradually we are seeing his true feeling about the Pastors teachings emerge. Obama, in the end will reveal himself, but by that time it may be too late for this great nation to recover.

Call Me Mom said...

Very well put Mr. Russell. The thing I find truly fearsome about Mr. Obama and his minions is their level of organization and planning. He came into office with a plan to shove as much reform through as he possibly could on the road to what he thinks (or his handlers/financial backers think)America should look like. I think he believes America should be a socialist utopia and we have no one on the conservative side to offer an organized opposition to him.

Mr. Gingrich is making an effort with his American Solutions movement, but I'm not seeing any "bite" to that organization's actions.
I think we do need to recall our elected representatives and replace them with those who will hold America's interests above their own.

And we must support the tenth amendment resolutions in all the states that have them. I think they have a real potential for reining in the madness that has taken over Washington.

"The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is." -- Horatio Bunce

Anonymous said...

Those who gave some support to the first stimulus bill can to a small degree be excused (but not by this writer). Those on the other hand who continue to support these massive spending bill can in no way be excused. Either they are total fools or their agenda is something alien to America. Obama does NOT want the economy to improve, because his hates the free market system, and the only way he can bring about his socialistic utopian liberal dream, is for things to get much worse. Those who say, if would be foolish for him to help bring on an economic armageddon, simply don't understand what this man is really about. He not a socialist (in the European sense), but a radical socialist in the Mugabe (African) camp. He knows he can sway the masses with his soaring rhetoric and that the masses will wait for his next words to flow over them and solve their many problems. He is a modern day "snake-oil" salesman and the fools are beating down his door for a taste of the magic elixer. He offers up "hope" and "dreams" as some commodites on his endless shelf of wares, and the people come, they press against the doors, their faces pushed and flattened against the glass by the multitudes behind them; for a chance to see and touch this miracle man and to taste the wonders of his fruits.

Few times, in the history of this great Republic, have we faced such a threat to the survival of this nation; this is one such time and we must fight back or give up not only our freedoms, but that of our childern.

Call Me Mom said...

I agree with you Mr. Russell. Perhaps you would be interested in this.
I am saddened to note that no one has even bothered to correct my error in suggesting that we recall those Federal legislators who have so egregiously erred. There is no way to recall our elected representatives at the federal level. We simply have to replace them in the next elections.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the link........

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