Spokane7
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July 6, 2009 in City
Weighing in
A weekly look at reader comments and reactions to the news
A July 3 blog post by HMOffsuite on Huckleberries Online questioned whether the multi-billion-dollar economic stimulus package has done anything to stimulate the economy, given swelling unemployment rates and other dismal indicators. Here’s some of the conversation.
Arpie: I am afraid I am not educated enough to hazard real thoughts on this, but I will point out that it is impossible to say precisely what things would look like without the stimulus plan or what things would look like if we had done something else instead.
Arch_Druid: Wonder where Hmoffsuite was over the last 8 years when Americans were shaken out of the work force and companies simply turned to foreign labor.
Charlie: If the BHO administration and the Democrats want to get out of this recession, stop spending what you don’t have. Do some cutting, don’t just talk about it. Congress talks a good reduction but NEVER does anything to stop it. The taxes on health care, energy and whatever is going to sink this country deeper IMO. Too much spending leads to bankruptcy and we are close.
Sisyphus: I think it’s laughable that in the Republican zeal to highlight these job reports they’re blaming an administration that has been in office for not even 200 days. The Republican Noise Machine (Drudge, Fox, RNC) on cue started the sheep bleating as soon as the numbers came out and in time for their nebulous tea bagging events. … From all accounts the financial sector is recovering nicely but the burden of this transitioning economy is falling to the shrinking middle class endeavoring to correct a situation borne from laissez faire economic theory, the very one Republicans continue to embrace. This steep decline in jobs began long before this administration started trying to turn it around and still the paradox of thrift is an elusive topic for Republicans, as is the Hoover administration, which let banks fail and tightened all government spending.
HonestGeorge: It’s beginning to look more and more like a leaky boat with plugs popping out all over. The cash that both Bush and Obama mailed out did absolutely nothing to improve the economy, and the job stimulus creation doesn’t seem like it can even keep up with the daily announced job losses.
spokelooneh: The current situation is 30 years in the making, massive private and public debt like we’ve never seen before. The problems will not be solved, if they even can be solved, in 200 days.
WSU police investigate third suspicious fire 
Ninch on July 06 at 7:38 a.m.
Ol’ Sisyphus follows Obama’s lead in bashing Republicans, but conveniently forgets that Obama sold HIS “stimulus” package to America as preventing unemployment from exceeding 8%… yet now unemployment is headed for 10%!
Those wanting to cut spending and reduce the federal debt are not exhibiting a “sheep mentality” but rather reflecting the primary concern of most Americans these days (aka fiscally conservate). In response Obama and the Dems are trying to disguise their exponential spending and extraordinarily large proposed tax increases to pay for their new expensive programs. In addition, Dems are attempting to stifle authentic debate (even among the fiscally-conservative in their own party). So much for Obama’s promise for “transparency” and “bipartisanship.”
Well, the latest news is that Americans are resisting the effort by ObamaNation to pull the “wool” over our eyes. Also reminds me of the Peter and the Wolf fable… Obama, Pelosi and Reid have LIED (cried “wolf”) to the public way too many times in these first “200” days… FYI: This is Obama’s administration now (and the Dems have been the majority in Congress for over TWO YEARS… so NOT ANY excuses there!). Blaming Bush, the GOP, and ANYONE who disagrees is a straw-man (FALSE) argument. Finally, the Obama-loving liberal press is even starting to ask hard questions because of the increasingly bad smell of Obama’s broken promises. Staging press conference questions and restricting open debate (faux town hall meetings) is bad enough, but Obama calling them open public debate formats is pure folly.