Stimulus Package: Separating the Democrats from the Republicans

Like no other legislative event in our lifetime, the ideas about what should go into the stimulus package clearly delineate the major differences between our two political parties.

The bill that was passed by the Democrats in the House of Representatives was filled with social programs and with hardly any real stimulus to the private sector. The job creation aspects of that bill were aimed at union workers and could easily be viewed as political payback for help in winning the recent election. Almost all of the job creation is through government contracts. There are no mechanisms to stimulate business in the private sector so that those who lost their jobs from a company like Circuit City will find new work.

The Republicans, on the other hand, want to see loan guarantees and other mechanisms for stimulating jobs in the private sector. They want to focus on rebuilding the housing market. They want substantial tax cuts for those making less than $65,000 a year so they will start buying again. They want business stimulating tax cuts for small businesses and corporations.

The difference comes down to the old adage about teaching someone to fish rather than just giving someone a fish. The Democrats want to hand fish out. When they're gone, they're ready to give out more. But, they never want to teach people to fish so they can become self sufficient. It's never the hand up; only the hand out.

Even when our President talks about creating high paying green jobs that cannot be shifted overseas, that's just B.S. The motive of creating "green jobs" isn't to avoid foriegn oil imports and really create jobs but to satisfy the environmentalists who make up the Democratic Party. Those green jobs aren't aimed at creating new domestic jobs. Solar and wind technologies are aimed at eliminating coal and natural gas electricity production; both domestic and not foreign jobs and products. You might create a solar job on one hand but, on the other, you will kill a job in coal extraction, coal delivery, or some job at a coal-fired power plant. Solar and wind have nothing to really do with minimizing oil imports or keeping jobs in America. This kind of stuff is just a form of rearranging the deck chairs (as on the Titanic) and isn't really creating a larger job force and growing our economy to get us out of this mess.

I realize that, in times of trouble, people need safety nets. We don't want people starving on our streets. But, the goal of any stimulus package should not be just that. If you want a welfare package, then do that separately and call it that. The Democrats are trying to use this economic emergency as a cover to pass a whole litany of pent up social programs that they probably wouldn't have been able to pass into law if they didn't have this economic emergency to hide behind. The whole thing is a costume party being held by the Democrats. What you see isn't what you will be getting.

By the way. Friday will see the release of January's employment numbers from our Labor Department. There is no doubt that it be another horrible number of at least another 1/2 million in job losses. But, that is expected because jobs are a lagging indicator in terms of any economic recovery. By that, I mean that jobs aren't added back into the economy until and when the economy starts growing again. Expect Obama and the Democrats to use that number as evidence that this bill should be passed immediately, as is, and with no further scrutiny.

Remember. Haste makes waste. Especially in this case!