People are getting irritated and saying President Obama needs to just quit trying to deal with the minority Republicans and just push through the stimulus bill.  I like to remind these folks that 48% of the people did not vote for Obama. I only raise that to indicate that there is a need for the President to address the concerns of the entire nation. According to Gallop, only 52% support it and the vast majority have concerns that it will have any impact on the economy. http://www.gallup.com/poll/114097/Americans-Support-Stimulus-Major-Changes.aspx

I’m actually in favor of a stimulus bill.  I don’t like the idea of bailing out failing companies, but if we can help retool, retrain, better educate the workforce and help them through that transition, I’m ok with that. What I’m not in favor of is politicians using this as an opportunity to slip in pet projects and paybacks. I’m assuming you aren’t going to read through the stimulus plan.  I was only able to get through half of it before I started feeling ill.  Check out the details here:http://readthestimulus.org

There are several programs for construction projects, health care assistance, etc. that I guess might help the economy.  Below are items in the first 235 pages of the stimulus plan that I just didn’t understand why there were there?  Don’t these other federal departments have budgets?  Why are there stimulus $$$ to help the census, create nationwide wireless lawn enforcement network, have NASA build a climate monitoring satellite or any number of other things?  I’m not questioning whether any of these line items are important.  I want to know why they are in an emergency stimulus package?

[edit] Mitt Romney suggests in an article on CNN that moving up already planned Department spending is a valid way to stimulate the economy.  I guess that’s possible if those Departments dropped their future budgets to compensate for moving the funds “up”, but I’m skeptical that would take place.

1. $1b ‘‘Periodic Censuses and Programs’’
2. $650m ‘‘Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program’’
3. $200m ‘‘Tactical Law Enforcement Wireless Communications’’
4. $300m ‘‘Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Program
5. $1.5b OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE For an additional amount for ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’
6. $100m ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘‘Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’’ for the ATF Project Gunrunner. 
7. $300m  ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’’, for assistance to Indian tribes
8. $500m SCIENCE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SCIENCE For an additional amount for ‘‘Science’’
9. $250m AERONAUTICS For an additional amount for ‘‘Aeronautics’’
10. $500m EXPLORATION For an additional amount for ‘‘Exploration’’
11. $3.3b “Operation and Maintenance, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army/Navy/Marine Corps/Air Force Reserves, Army/Air National Guard”
12. $1.4b advanced to the Colorado River Dam Fund;  Reclamation Fund or the Bureau of Reclamation
13. $246m ‘Office of the Under Secretary for Management’’, solely for planning, design, and construction costs, including site security, information technology infrastructure, furniture, fixtures, and related costs to consolidate the Department of Homeland Security headquarters
14. $1.2b TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AVIATION SECURITY For an additional amount for ‘‘Aviation Security’’, for procurement and installation of checked baggage explosives detection systems and checkpoint explosives detection equipment
15. $14m  SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, ACQUISITION, AND OPERATIONS For an additional amount for ‘‘Research, Development, Acquisition, and Operations’’, for cyber security research
16. $7.6m OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL SALARIES AND EXPENSES For an additional amount for ‘‘Office of Inspector General’’
17. $20m DEPARTMENT-WIDE PROGRAMS CENTRAL HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FUND For an additional amount for ‘‘Central Hazardous Materials Fund’
18. $800m ENVIROMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE SUPERFUND (INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS) For an additional amount for ‘‘Hazardous Substance Superfund’’
19. $200m LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK TRUST FUND PROGRAM For an additional amount for ‘‘Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program’’, for cleanup activities
20.  $300m shall be for Diesel Emission Reduction Act grants pursuant to title VII, subtitle G of the Energy Policy Act of 2005
21. $650m WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT For an additional amount for ‘‘Wildland Fire Management’’, for hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire, of which $350,000,000 is available for work on State and private lands using all the authorities available to the Forest Service
22. $150m SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FACILITIES CAPITAL For an additional amount for ‘‘Facilities Capital’’
23. $1.1b DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES For an additional amount for ‘‘Health Resources and Services’’, of which $88,000,000 shall be for necessary expenses related to leasing and renovating a headquarters building for Public Health Service agencies and other components of the Department of Health and Human Services, including renovation and fit-out costs, and of which $1,000,000,000 shall be for grants for construction, renovation and equipment for health centers receiving operating grants under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act
24. $412m CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISEASE CONTROL, RESEARCH, AND TRAINING For an additional amount for ‘‘Disease Control, Research, and Training’’ for acquisition of real property, equipment, construction, and renovation of facilities, including necessary repairs and improvements to leased laboratories
25. $500m BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES For an additional amount for ‘‘Buildings and Facilities’’, to fund high-priority repair, construction and improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities on the Bethesda, Maryland campus and other agency locations
26. $700m AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) For an additional amount for ‘‘Healthcare Research and Quality’’ to carry out titles III and IX of the Public Health Service Act, part A of title XI of the Social Security Act, and section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, $700,000,000 for comparative clinical effectiveness research, which shall remain available through September 30, 2010: Provided, That of the amount appropriated in this paragraph, $400,000,000 shall be transferred to the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (‘‘Office of the Director’’) to conduct or support comparative clinical effectiveness research under section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act
27. $5b OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) For an additional amount for ‘‘Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’’
28. $870m  ‘‘Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund’’ to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic, for activities including the development and purchase of vaccine, antivirals, necessary medical supplies, diagnostics, and other surveillance tools
29. $20m TITLE IX—LEGISLATIVE BRANCH GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLIITY OFFICE SALARIES AND EXPENSES For an additional amount for ‘‘Salaries and Expenses’’ of the Government Accountability Office
30. $65m  NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION For an additional amount for ‘‘National Cemetery Administration’’, of which $59,476,000 shall be for capital infrastructure and memorial and monument repairs; and $5,485,000 shall be for energy efficiency initiatives.
31. $60m RELATED AGENCY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE—CIVIL CEMETERIAL EXPENSES, ARMY SALARY AND EXPENSES For an additional amount for ‘‘Cemeterial Expenses, Army’’
32. TITLE XI—STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS DEPARTMENT OF STATE ADMINISTRATION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR PROGRAMS For an additional amount for ‘‘Diplomatic and Consular Programs’’ for urgent domestic facilities requirements, $180,500,000, to remain available until September 30, 2010, of which up to $45,000,000 shall be available for passport and visa facilities and systems, and up to $75,000,000 shall be available for a consolidated security training facility in the United States
33. $524m CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND For an additional amount for ‘‘Capital Investment Fund’’, of which up to $120,000,000 shall be available for the design and construction of a backup information management facility in the United States to support continuity of critical mission operations and programs, and up to $98,527,000 shall be available to carry out the Department of State’s responsibilities under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative
34. $100m UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO THE PRESIDENT CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND For an additional amount for ‘‘Capital Investment Fund’’, of which $34,000,000 shall be available for information technology modernization programs and of which up to$35,000,000 shall be available for implementation of the Global Acquisition System
35. $200m FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FOR FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT For an additional amount for necessary investments in Federal Aviation Administration infrastructure: Provided, That funding provided under this heading shall be used to make improvements to power systems, air route traffic control centers, air traffic control towers, terminal radar approach control facilities, and navigation and landing equipment

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Now, the worst Congress ever wants to bail out the auto industry.  I don’t really blame the auto industry folks.  For years, the government has been propping up major airlines, so why shouldn’t they get a piece of the pie.  It’s perfect timing, too, since they just gave the most stable banks in the US blank checks with no real accountability on how it will be spent.  Take a look at this from a CBS news article:

The Treasury Department agreed to post every transaction on the Internet, but all it shows is the list of banks and how many billions they got. 

The brand new Financial Stability Oversight Board has met four times already but they don’t know how the banks are using the money. 

There’s no hint in the first official Treasury report to submitted to Congress last week. 

And Congress promised to create its own special oversight board, but more than five weeks later not one person has been named to the panel. 

They didn’t even give the money to the troubled banks, but to the stable ones who are using it to acquire smaller institutions.  That’s an awesome deal.  So why wouldn’t Detroit itself ask for $10billion from the federal government and the major auto manufacturers ask for billion$ out of the bailout?  It’s free money that you don’t have to be accountable for.  Seriously, they need it.  They are hardly staying solvent due to a decline in sales and the United Auto Workers union.  It was just over a year and a half ago, the United Auto Workers union were negotiating contracts with the big 3 and arguing they were no where near close to collapsing.  

Now, Obama, as part of the transition, asked Bush to solve their problems.  Bush and team have already granted some $25billion in low interest loans to help the auto industry retool and focus on energy efficient technology.  They don’t want to do it.

I understand that the auto industry accounts for some 3 million jobs, but those have been decreasing year over year due to the high cost of union workers and high compensation packages of executives.  I’m all for people trying to get paid what ever they can get, but if your company… your source of income is at serious risk of just going away… don’t you accept pay cuts?  Don’t you accept cuts in benefits?  What else is there?  loss of your job?  If you can’t get by on what you earn, get a different job.  If you can’t get a different job where you live, move.  

The government can not guarantee you a job.  It just can’t.  This is a free market capitalism moderately government regulated capitalism system.  Companies and industry rise and fall based on market demand.  If the automotive industry was proving products that Americans generally wanted, they would be thriving.  If they could successfully manage their costs, they would be thriving.  Neither is true so they should fall.  They will not all fail.  There will be collapse and combinations.  They’ve happened in the past and they’ll occur again.  it’s painful, but healthy.

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Someone (Thanks, Ben!) commented on my note listing out some quotes I like.  I had incorrectly attributed a quote by William J. H. Boetcker to Abraham Lincoln.  I’m glad I have the correct attribution, but am not too upset.  It seems Ronald Reagan made the same mistake.  Here is the full quote of “The Ten Cannots” and correct attribution:

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
~William J. H. Boetcker, 1916

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Sent from a friend…

Notice to All Employees

As of November 5, 2008, when Obama is officially elected into office, our company will install a few new policies which are in keeping with his new, inspiring issues of change and fairness:

1. All salespeople will be pooling their sales commissions into a common pool that will be divided equally between all of you. This will serve to give those of you who are underachieving a ‘fair shake.’

2. All hourly employees will be pooling their wages, including overtime, into a common pool, dividing it equally amongst yourselves. This will help those who are ‘too busy for overtime’ to reap the rewards from those who have more spare time and can work extra hours.

3. All top management will now be referred to as ‘the government.’ We will not participate in this ‘pooling’ experience because the law doesn’t apply to us.

4. The ‘government’ will give eloquent speeches to all employees every week, encouraging its workers to continue to work hard ‘for the good of all.’

5. The employees will be thrilled with these new policies because it’s ‘good to spread the wealth..’ Those of you who have underachieved will finally get an opportunity; those of you who have worked hard and had success will feel more ‘patriotic.’

6. The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don’t feel bad though, because President Obama will give you ‘FREE’ healthcare, ‘FREE’ handouts, ‘FREE’ oil for heating your home, ‘FREE’ food stamps, and he’ll let you stay in your home for as long as you want even if you can’t pay your mortgage. If you appeal directly to our democratic congress, you might even get a free flat screen TV and a coupon for free haircuts (shouldn’t all Americans be entitled to a flat screen TV and a nice looking hair?) !!! If for any reason you are not happy with the new policies, you may want to re-think your vote on November 4th.

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