Tom Littleton wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
This stimulus bill and the TARP are the biggest spending bills ever
in the history of the planet, most Americans oppose them and Obama
is going to get it passed and signed in under a month. That, Mr. Bill,
is leadership.

Obama took personal responsibility for the failed Daschle nomination.
That, Mr. Bill, is "the buck stops here" leadership.

You appear to want Obama to abandon his principles, **** off the left
and do the things *you* think are right before you'll give him any
credit for leadership. That, Mr. Bill, is blind ideology.

It's only been two weeks, get back to me in two years Mr. Bill.

agreed, largely, Ken. I do wish he would get out and push hard to restore
the 46 Billion that was to go to the States, much of it for education. That
money would impact jobs, immediately, and prevent taxes and fees from rising
in states which are facing huge revenue shortfalls. In fact, that part that
the Republicans campaigned to cut might have had as much immediate
stimulatory impact as anything in the bill. $16 Billion was for school
construction projects currently on hold(hence, 'shovel ready', if one wishes
to use that detestable term).

The House - Senate reconciliation process ought to be interesting. Pelosi
was alleged to have told Obama, “I don’t mind you driving the bus over me,
but I don’t appreciate your backing it up and running over me again and
again.”
I'm hoping Obama will get over this bi-partisan crap and tell the GOP to
go straight to hell.

Also, I give Calif.Bill credit for one part of his argument, the
observations on PERSONAL sacrifice and responsibility. I note that Louie
chose not to respond on that matter, when I brought up the BMW driving food
bank patrons. A great deal of this problem was brought on by the conduct of
the citizenry, and a bit of sacrifice by us all will be needed to get out of
this problem.

We're all going to have to sacrifice but I don't buy into the notion
that this economic catastrophe can be attributed to the citizenry.
That sounds like George Will pontificating from on high and it's just
flat out wrong. This catastrophe was caused by a lack of regulatory
oversight. It wasn't the poor schmuck who bought more home than he
could afford, it was the bankers who called that 'C' rated mortgage
a 'AAA' rated mortgage and the so-called regulators who let them get
away with it that are at the bottom of this pyramid. Take thousands
of such mortgages, bundled them up, sell them as if they're 'AAA' nine
or ten times, leverage them some hundred fold as derivatives and then
stand back and watch Lehman Bros. bite the dust. Don't blame this on
the citizenry.

And yes, part of that, far down the road, should the economy
stabilize, is an increase in taxation to help restore some fiscal sanity to
the government. Obama and his team are well aware that we are nowhere near
the point where that is an issue to deal with, and hence(Louie, are you
reading?) they plan NO TAX INCREASES for the forseeable future. Except for
Dave LaCourse and his immediate family, which will be a rider that Barney
Frank plans to attach to the Conference Committee bill.g

Poor Louie, that damn Barney Frank really has it in for him. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry