rufus
rock and roller
Re: Obama 6(...66)
And as I said, allocating spending toward certain areas can have a more effective long term benefit to the country. But in the short term, any spending is positive, no matter who's doing it, or what it's being spent on. Those contractors can then buy a week's groceries, get their car fixed, buy a new ATV, whatever. That money in turn flows to the checkout girl at the register, and the mechanic, who do the same. So can the nurse at the medical clinic that's able to stay open for another six months, or at the employees at the poverty counseling center, or extending unemployment benefits.
Yeah, let's build another strip mall, so that one can sit vacant like all the rest of them that have been closing down in this economy. Brilliant. Doesn't do a damm bit of good long term if you don't have tenants for it. Right now, there's about a thousand empty Circuit City buildings across this country, and I don't see any companies snapping those up to put businesses into.
And I think there would have been more money advocated for infrastructure, but the Repubs had to have their tax cuts. Likewise for all those employees that state government has laid off to balance their budget, since they didn't get as much direct aid in favor of those same tax cuts. What immediate stimulus does a tax cut have?
Oh, and BTW, my compliments on your "some of my best friends are black" comment earlier. That's nice.
Not really. Spending on certain sectors can have a positive feedback effect on the economy, getting more bang for the buck. I'll use an example which highlights both this and my second bullet from my earlier post, which you seem content to turning a blind eye on.
Of the hundreds (actually, isn't it thousands?) of earmarks in the bill, one that is easiest to remember, because of how shameful it is, is the 3 or 4 million dollar earmark to build a tunnel so turtles could crawl under a road instead of across it. While this was money in the pockets of the contractors and their employees, it's a pretty irresponsible building project to be included in a bill whose money is designed to stimulate the economy.
Money changing hands and cycling through, you say - I agree. Once the contractors walk away, how will this stupid turtle tunnel promote that. Why not have paid them to build a shopping center? Once they walk away, their efforts will have put X more people back to work as the new stores hire employees and created a new forum for money changing hands and cycling through. You see what I mean about feedback? Target the money that's spent on projects which will go on keeping the wheels spinning round long after the contractors walk away. Urban renovation projects, as long as they aren't politically corrupted, are good too. Build and expand highways to promote economic growth in areas poised to expand. It's all about commerce, baby.
And as I said, allocating spending toward certain areas can have a more effective long term benefit to the country. But in the short term, any spending is positive, no matter who's doing it, or what it's being spent on. Those contractors can then buy a week's groceries, get their car fixed, buy a new ATV, whatever. That money in turn flows to the checkout girl at the register, and the mechanic, who do the same. So can the nurse at the medical clinic that's able to stay open for another six months, or at the employees at the poverty counseling center, or extending unemployment benefits.
Yeah, let's build another strip mall, so that one can sit vacant like all the rest of them that have been closing down in this economy. Brilliant. Doesn't do a damm bit of good long term if you don't have tenants for it. Right now, there's about a thousand empty Circuit City buildings across this country, and I don't see any companies snapping those up to put businesses into.
And I think there would have been more money advocated for infrastructure, but the Repubs had to have their tax cuts. Likewise for all those employees that state government has laid off to balance their budget, since they didn't get as much direct aid in favor of those same tax cuts. What immediate stimulus does a tax cut have?
Oh, and BTW, my compliments on your "some of my best friends are black" comment earlier. That's nice.
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Bush was at around 
