Hypocrisy on the right

No one wants the government to waste money on the stimulus bill. Economists should look at the details of the bill and throw out anything that has less than $1 stimulus for every $1 invested. This includes most of the Republican tax breaks. USA Today reported that Bush’s stimulus tax cuts had a 27-cent return for each $1 invested. Mark Zandi of Moody’s testified before Congress that for each $1 of corporate tax cuts there would only be a 30-cent stimulus.

Both parties agree that less than 1 percent of the $830 billion is classified as pork. Wall Street execs gave over $18.2 billion in bonuses that were essentially paid by taxpayers because of lack of direction and oversight by Republican Secretary of Treasury Paulson and the Republicans involved, including Congress. No hue and cry from Republican congressmen about this “pork” to Wall Street.

Let’s see, 1 percent of $830 billion equals $8.3 billion. Even a fifth-grader will recognize that $8.3 billion is less than $18.2 billion. Yet Republicans are aghast at the $8.3 billion and only nod at the $18.3 billion for Wall Street. Do you suppose they even know how to spell hypocrisy?

Bob Carver

Moscow, Idaho