Limbaugh Addresses America Once More!

Rush Limbaugh addresses the nation... - watch more funny videos

Obama's First Presser...

Barack Obama held his first press conference this evening, and of course, the focus was on the stimulus package that will hopefully come up for a vote tomorrow.  My favorite part came in response to a question from conservative Mara Liasson, who asked what lessons the President has learned from this whole stimulus debate.  

Now, just in terms of the historic record here, the Republicans were brought in early and were consulted. And you'll remember that when we initially introduced our framework, they were pleasantly surprised and complimentary about the tax cuts that were presented in that framework. Those tax cuts are still in there. I mean, I suppose what I could have done is started off with no tax cuts, knowing that I was going to want some, and then let them take credit for all of them. And maybe that's the lesson I learned.

But there was consultation. There will continue to be consultation. One thing that I think is important is to recognize that because all these -- all these items that you listed are hard, that people have to break out of some of the ideological rigidity and gridlock that we've been carrying around for too long.

And let me give you a prime example -- when it comes to how we approach the issue of fiscal responsibility. Again, it's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package after they presided over a doubling of the national debt. I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

It seems a lot of people who attack the President for his lack of bipartisanship always fail to mention that Obama initially had 40% of his stimulus going to tax cuts because that is precisely what Republicans wanted. Rush Limbaugh, the de facto leader of the GOP, railed against Obama's bill and proposed his own "plan", which portrayed Obama's plan as 100% spending, and then Rush demanded that 46% of the stimulus go to tax cuts.  

The Republican side of the debate looks as if it's based entirely in the realm of intellectual dishonesty.  God bless consistency.

Obama's Weekly Address - Stimulus Package

Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis.  But I'm pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.

In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years.  Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January.  We've now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.

But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.

In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face.  That was, after all, what last November's election was all about.  

Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come.  But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary.  The scale and scope of this plan is right.  And the time for action is now.

Wait a Minute...

"A warning light is flashing on the dashboard of our economy, 

and we can't just drive on and hope for the best" 

George W. Bush (2001)

The primary argument Republicans seem to be voicing against Obama's stimulus package seems to be it's price tag, now hovering just under $800 billion.  While $800 billion DOES seem to be a hefty price tag, the Republican Party didn't seem to have any problems with the $1.3 TRILLION package proposed in 2001, when the unemployment rate was nearly half what it is today, and the foreclosure rate at 0.48% as compared to 1.19% today.

Paul Krugman on Thursday said it best on Thursday in the New York Times:

Count me among those who think that the president made a big mistake in his initial approach, that his attempts to transcend partisanship ended up empowering politicians who take their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh. What matters now, however, is what he does next.

It’s time for Mr. Obama to go on the offensive. Above all, he must not shy away from pointing out that those who stand in the way of his plan, in the name of a discredited economic philosophy, are putting the nation’s future at risk. The American economy is on the edge of catastrophe, and much of the Republican Party is trying to push it over that edge.

Stimulate Without the Stimulation, Please.

While her jokes are more often miss than they are hit, I believe that Rachel Maddow is likely the most informed political pundit on television.  Whether you agree or disagree with her conclusions, Rachel provides solid data and examples explaining her position.  Her response to the debate in the Senate tonight over Obama's stimulus package is no exception.  While it runs a bit long at 8 minutes, it's definitely worth the time:

Rachel does a wonderful job of illustrating the cost/benefit analysis of something like infrastructure spending compared to the Republican idea of tax rebates.  While rebates are barely stimulative at all (at roughly $1.02 put back into the economy for every $1 the government spends), infrastructure spending yields $1.59 for every  buck the government throws at it.  That is precisely what we are trying to accomplish with this package.  To STIMULATE the economy.

The Republicans, however, are being entirely foolish.  

Even though food stamps are the single most effective way the federal government can stimulate the economy, they pouted and threw tantrums until it was removed.  

Even though there is a mountain of evidence suggesting that the impact of tax cuts on stimulating the economy is negligible, Republicans were able to get a whopping 42% of the bill to be dedicated to them.  While Karl Rove claims no Republicans wanted nothing but tax cuts, 36 of the 41 Senate Republicans voted for just that.

Republicans are putting their party loyalty over their desire to actually address the problems facing America.  

Therefore, they are boneheads.

Netflix CEO Says "No, Thanks" to CEO Pay Cap

Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, came out against Obama's plan to cap executive pay yesterday.  Instead, he argued that instead of placing caps on executive pay for those companies that receive bailout money, a tax rate of 50% should be set on all incomes higher than one million dollars...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06hastings.html?_r=3&ref=opinion#

I'm not a real big fan of capping CEO pay, and this is a plan I can definitely get behind.