Quote of the Day:
” … the problem with the U.S. economy, more than lack of regulation, has been government’s failure to control systemic risks that government itself helped to create. We are not witnessing a crisis of the free market but a crisis of distorted markets.”
— from an editorial in (surprise) the Washington Post
Subject: Too much is never enough for Congress
We’ve been hammering on the Republicans for years. They’ve richly deserved it. Soon it will be the Democrats turn, and they too will richly deserve it. We’re beginning to see what Democratic control will look like. It will look a lot like Republican control. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Economic stimulus, in the mind of the politician, means taking money away from productive purposes and spending it in ways that benefit politicians. They call it stimulus. We call it robbery.
The first “stimulus” package, earlier this year, was a classic example. The government borrowed billions of dollars that it then gave to taxpayers. The politicians got to look like Santa Claus. This was supposed to stimulate consumption. Perhaps it did. But the wave of consumption came and went, leaving taxpayers to pay the interest on the resulting debt.
Even worse, the money the politicians borrowed was no longer available to capitalize businesses, so now the politicians are doing that too. They’ve borrowed more money, upon which YOU will again pay the interest, and then invested it in major banks and auto makers.
Notice something about these “investments” — they’re mostly going to failed firms and losing propositions. Make no mistake — government is in The Failure Business.
Is this how you would invest your money? Wouldn’t you fire an investment adviser who did such a thing? Well, so much for prudence — most of the “investment advisers” in Congress are about to be rehired.
The result of this recent orgy of “political investing” has been the greatest expansion of the national debt in American history — all of it directed at rewarding failure at the expense of success. This is too much. But too much is never enough for the politicians. Now comes “Stimulus Package II.”
“Stimulus Package II” bears all the hallmarks of Democratic “investing.” Both parties tax and borrow to buy the support of major constituencies. You can tell whom these parties really represent by watching where the money goes. Look where the billions allocated in “Stimulus Package II” will go . . .
* Expanded unemployment benefits: Will this stimulate the economy or cause some of those who receive the money to lie idle on the couch for just a little bit longer?
* Expanded food stamps: Will this stimulate those who receive the food stamps to go out and get a job?
* Expanded expenditures on infrastructure: Will these be economically beneficial projects, or more “bridges to nowhere,” and more corporate welfare?
Is this how you would stimulate economic growth? We hope not.
“Stimulus II” is a recipe for economic stagnation and malinvestment. The stagnation will come from investing in idleness. The malinvestment will come from funding political infrastructure projects that lack the economic worth to find private investment. Meanwhile . . .
Other ventures that do have economic worth will lack capital because the politicians are borrowing so much money to invest in failure.
But the politicians are just doing what politicians do. The bigger crime here is what the voters do. Once again, on Election Day, most Americans will send a loud and clear message, “I like being abused. Please give it to me again, good and hard.”
Do you want to send a different message? If so, it CAN’T be done at the ballot box. The major candidates are the abusers, while the minor candidates are playing in a rigged game that renders them invisible. The only way you have to send a real message is by sending a real message. You must . . .
* Tell Congress that they do not have your consent for “Stimulus Package II”
* Also tell your friends and family that you do not consent, and that they should do likewise
Use our “cut spending” campaign to tell your elected representatives to oppose “Stimulus Package II.” Use your personal comments to puncture the fundamental silliness of this supposed stimulus using the bullet points above. You can send that message using our Educate the Powerful System.
Or, you can signal your consent by doing nothing, by remaining silent.
Second, forward this message to others. Proclaim your lack of consent far and wide.
Finally, make a contribution to help us grow. Hundreds of millions are being invested right now in “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” But for a few dollars pledged each month on a credit card — $3, $5, $8, $15 or more — you can help to recruit more Americans to withdraw “the consent of the governed,” and thereby undermine the legitimacy of what the politicians do. You can contribute on our secure web form.
Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army, which has added more than 400 new members over the last month.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
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