Just one more thing, Bob.
It
is being called the Obama Stimulus Plan by his own cabinet and party.
Whoever happens to be at the helm of this ship of fools really doesn't make much difference in the end. Each president has to deal with what they've been dealt. The baggage simply accumulates and, as stated above, is inherited by the next.
What matters is what is done today.
I am happy to see the pork being drug out into the daylight like never before. I can't imagine a better champion in the ranks of Congress like McCain at a time like this, either. Even so, I have this nagging feeling that the intention was to put tons of pork into it to begin with, counting on much Republican and public outcry, only to pare it back (leaving plenty to spare) to placate its detractors.
I, as many Americans are, am not convinced that the Government ever spends money as efficiently or appropriately as private industry. If more effort is not made to restore the fundamental machine of American industry, then no plan will succeed.
Investing in our own infrastructure is a great way to do this, IMHO. It's one of the things that I can really applaud in the proposed plan, and the platform that Obama ran on. One need only perform a cursory examination of our utility and transportation infrastructure to see just how close it is to catastrophic failure. If money is spent buying American materials and equipment, and putting Americans to work, it's a win-win.
The notion of using money to "rescue" portions of the economy I believe is nonsensical. Portions of the economy have failed because their business models and regulation have failed. Banks, automakers, etc., might well be allowed to collapse and be restarted anew, rather than flushing billions down the toilet to support what has already shown to be an inevitable failure.
Lastly, if we're really going to allow our government to throw around hundreds of billions of dollars, let's put it to work in areas of society that can really make a long-term difference. Take several billion of the hundreds proposed to bring our public education system back on a par with the rest of the world. I see and hear every weeknight from my wife how the constriction of money in education has allowed the system to fundamentally wither into a state of ineffectiveness. There is no way that this nation will succeed on a global level if our childrens' education is not brought back to the forefront of the needs of this country.
Take another chunk, and create (or support) health care designed for prevention of disease and unwanted pregnancy. I was surprised at the outcry about the STD prevention attached to the stimulus package. Although it doesn't fit the mold of economic stimulus, programs such as that can save vast amounts of money in a wildly overburdened health care system.
Anyway, we can laugh or bitch all we want. If we're not seriously looking for ways to improve things, we ought to just STFU.