Economic stimulus package is a "bipartisan victory"? What About the Needy?

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: What About the Needy?
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, January 25, 2008

Is the economic stimulus package announced yesterday really a bipartisan victory? Both sides are certainly calling it that. But it's also a testament to how far President Bush has skewed Washington's political climate to the right.

Democrats and Republicans agreed last week that this would be a good time for the government to give away vast sums of money. And yet the Democratic leadership is considering it a victory that some small portion of the money will actually go to people who need it. The vast majority will go to the middle and upper-middle class.

What did Bush give up in the course of these tough negotiations? Well, originally he wanted the super-wealthy to get some of the money. He wanted the poor to get nothing. He also wanted his tax cuts, which heavily favor the rich, to be made permanent.

That is what we call a compromise in this day and age.

Because social justice is essentially off the political radar in the Bush era -- and because both parties are prone to pandering to the middle class during an election year -- Democrats never even tried to get White House agreement on a stimulus package that would significantly help the needy. An option that could have had a hugely positive social impact, while effectively stimulating the economy, never had a chance.

The Washington press corps didn't seriously consider what $150 billion might have meant to people living in the margins of our society. The closest thing I could find to a serious treatment of that question was in South Dakota....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/25/BL2008012501929_pf.html

[bdamomma]

1. they can take that "bi partisan" shit and shove it up their a$$

there is so much more that has to go in that Stimulus plan.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. A Temporary Band-Aid To Hold Off A Recession. . .

. . .is not a victory. It's merely damage control.
The Professor

[Rambis]

3. There is an old saying

"you can spend a fortune but you can't spend a trade" I can't think of anything more apt these days. If there is no work or prospects of work that pay a living wage things will not improve. Job training and protecting workers pensions would be a start. All we are doing is serving the rich fuckers through the service industry jobs * is creating.

[G_j]

4. social justice is off the political radar alright

as are we the people


K&R!!

[DeepModem Mom]

5. And the political climate skewed to the right. Pretty profound statements...

in this little piece.

[G_j]

6. I agree

Kick! :bounce:

and thank you for posting it

[erpowers]

7. More to the Poor and Middle Class

My first thought when I heard about the money being given out in the rebates was shouldn't more be going to the poor and middle class. It was reported that when the first rebates were given out a few years ago most of the people making large amounts of money saved their money instead of spending it. So, it seemed to me that most of the money should have gon to middle class and poor people since they would have used th money to buy things they needed.

[Vinca]

8. They are clueless.

Yesterday, while grocery shopping, I did a survey of peoples' carts. With the exception of one lady in a fox coat carrying a designer bag, people were buying those giant bags of house brand white bread and huge containers of house brand peanut butter. I swear almost every cart contained those 2 items. On the way out the door I overheard a conversation between a couple of store employees about how they were happy to be at work because their homes were so cold. A check in the mail is going to amount to a few overdue utility bills being paid. They need to address the problem - fuel costs - that is causing the price of everything to skyrocket.

[countryjake]

9. Thanks so much for posting that!

The rest of us can eat our bootstraps, I suppose.

[G_j]

10. kick

[nancyharris]

11. Anyone who receives a rebate check

and thinks that there are others more deserving of the money, need only to sign the back of the check and hand deliver it to the next homeless person they see.

[countryjake]

12. stimulating kick