Quote Originally Posted by Lyle View Post
Quote Originally Posted by AdamGB View Post
What do you think will help the economy Lyle?
Having the government step back and allow businessmen to do business....I don't think we should let them (and by them I mean both business AND government) go around all willy nilly like Clinton and W did. I think there should be not new laws and regulations but more oversight and more transparency in business and government.

Sure our infastructure could use a bit of a tune up but looking at the rest of the bill, I really don't think that crap does anything but say "Thank You" to all the liberals that support Obama. $6 BILLION for University rebuilding....have you looked at how much it costs to go to college lately? Do you think they really need that? If there is price gouging anywhere it's in higher education.

We're eventually going to have to pay some of this back I would just hope that the government guys would be a little bit more cautious with that kind of money instead of yelling and screaming about getting this bill passed.
How is the government preventing businessmen doing business? Businesmen are currently slashing payrolls and have ceased investing, so business isn't going to dig the economy out of its tailspin. The only entity with money to spend is government, if they don't do it nobody else will and you'll get Depressed. But how is government preventing businessmen doing business?


Everybody agrees that the financial industry needs to be regulated. If the derivatives markets had been regulated the banks wouldn't have lost trillions in bad derivatives bets, the cause of the current financial crisis. If securities ratings agencies, mortgage lenders etc. had been regulated it would have prevented the crisis too. Would you seriously like the banks to be allowed to continue to be unregulated? If they're not regulated they'll only melt the financial system down again in the future you know. What's the difference between oversight and regulation?

Can you think of any better infrastructure spending for the future benefit of America than education? I can't.

Bush already put you on the hook for about ten trillion bailing the banks out. Obama will put you on the hook for trillions more. If the stimulus fails the Depression will cost untold trillions in lost growth and more spending to dig the economy out of it. Again, the private sector is slashing payrolls and has ended investment. The only entity that can stimulate the economy is the government.


• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

PLUS


World War II: Original Cost: $288 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $3.6 trillion

Total cost : $7.52 trillion.








Nov. 24 2008 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.





The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.





When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. Now, as regulators commit far more money while refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return, some Congress members are calling for the Fed to be reined in.





Bloomberg.com: Exclusive