Rokkaholik Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 This explains the American Stimulus package as good as anything...... Shortly after class, a student approaches his economics professor and says, "I don't understand this stimulus bill. Can you explain it to me?" The professor replied, "I don't have any time to explain it at my office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help me with my weekend project, I'll be glad to explain it to you." The student agreed. At the agreed-upon time, the student showed up at the professor's house. The professor stated that the weekend project involved his backyard pool. They both went out back to the pool, and the professor handed the student a bucket. Demonstrating with his own bucket, the professor said, "First, go over to the deep end, and fill your bucket with as much water as you can." The student did as he was instructed. The professor then continued, "Follow me over to the shallow end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it." The student was naturally confused, but did as he was told. The professor then explained they were going to do this many more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pool. The confused student asked, "Excuse me, but why are we doing this?" The professor matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make the shallow end much deeper. The student didn't think the economics professor was serious, but figured that he would find out the real story soon enough. However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the deep end, the student began to become worried that his economics professor had gone mad. The student finally replied, "All we're doing is wasting valuable time and effort on unproductive pursuits. Even worse, when this process is all over, everything will be at the same level it was before, so all you'll really have accomplished is the destruction of what could have been truly productive action!" The professor put down his bucket and replied with a smile, "Congratulations. You now understand the stimulus bill." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire_storm Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Well explained. These Recovery bills have done nothing but been used to sell politicians campaigns to voters and to repay campaign favors, lobbyists and special favor groups. The first Recovery bill that came out a year ago was a complete waste of money cost like 150 billion dollars and gave everyone a one time check for $500-$2000 dollars (depending on the size of your family) was a nice chuck of spending money for a month but after that it did not help at all. The second recovery bill with the banks was a waste the big banks just took the money and used it to further there business rather then using it to un-freeze some credit or help people with bad loans. The auto maker recovery bill has yet to be seen weather or not it was just a big waste of money. This recovery bill that was signed last week seems like yet another wasteful spending bill most of the money is going towards wasteful projects that don't help the economy which are probably in there to repay campaign favors, lobbyists and special favor groups. What people don't understand is this problem can't be fixed overnight like they want it to be. If you break your leg you can't just go to the hospital and expect to walk out of the hospital in 1 hour normally. It's going to take time to heal and there will be pain and tough times. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InCrYsIs Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Things will get worse before they improve. All I see out of the new administration is business as usual. Not seeing much change at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 All I see out of the new administration is business as usual. Not seeing much change at all. There are two things that really bugged me about the stimulus bill signing. 1. During the election, Obama's main platform was CHANGE. One of the main things he touted was bipartisanship. So then we come to his first major action as President, the stimulus bill. Three republicans approved the bill in the Senate and none approved it in the House. IMO, if Obama was really about bipartisanship, he should have said something to the effect of, "Well, clearly this bill isn't pleasing both sides, so let's try and work some things out so we can move towards bipartisanship." But that's not what he did...he signed it. As Incrysis alluded to, same ol', same ol'. You call that CHANGE? 2. The stimulus bill was 1079 pages long. If that wasn't bad enough, because (according to Obama) it was SO urgent, the bill was rushed through (under his order). The congressmen had 24 hours to read the bill and cast their vote. I guarantee absolutely nobody read it in its entirety by the time they had to vote (and I'm sure most haven't gone back to finish reading it since). How can anyone approve a bill they haven't fully read? How can the President sign a bill he hasn't fully read? This isn't change I can believe in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turophiliac Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) IMO, if Obama was really about bipartisanship, he should have said something to the effect of, "Well, clearly this bill isn't pleasing both sides, so let's try and work some things out so we can move towards bipartisanship." lol that's because there's no such thing as bipartisianship. it's a gimmick, just like "Change" or "Hope" or "Woman Vice President" none of it really means they're gonna do anything, it's just so people don't see politicians for what they really are. Edited February 23, 2009 by Turophiliac Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verran Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 This isn't change I can believe in. That's because it's not change at all. The only thing different about Obama is his skin color. Everyone screams for bipartisanship and change, but that's just so they can get elected. The real crime is that people still buy it after all the countless times it's promised and not fulfilled. The stimulus plan is a joke anyways. What they really need to do is nothing. Sit back and let the economy right itself like it's been trying to do for a long time now. But they'd never do that because they and their constituents are all too short-sighted to see that the stimulus isn't a good solution. So they'll keep artificially propping it up and pretending it's fine and in the end they'll just make the inevitable crash worse. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 That's because it's not change at all. The only thing different about Obama is his skin color. Everyone screams for bipartisanship and change, but that's just so they can get elected. The real crime is that people still buy it after all the countless times it's promised and not fulfilled. Yep, and did you hear Obama's latest promise? He says he'll cut the deficit in half by 2013. chew on that for a second... . . . yep, that's right...2013 would be in his SECOND term (if re-elected). You know...that way, if it's not done by the election, he can just claim his time frame isn't up yet, thus he hasn't failed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kash Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 1. During the election, Obama's main platform was CHANGE. One of the main things he touted was bipartisanship. So then we come to his first major action as President, the stimulus bill. Three republicans approved the bill in the Senate and none approved it in the House. IMO, if Obama was really about bipartisanship, he should have said something to the effect of, "Well, clearly this bill isn't pleasing both sides, so let's try and work some things out so we can move towards bipartisanship." But that's not what he did...he signed it. As Incrysis alluded to, same ol', same ol'. You call that CHANGE? You can't be bipartisan with a group of people intent on being obstructionists. Somebody could discover the cure for every disease and Obama could try to pass a bill mandating that every American get a free dose and every Republican would still vote against such a measure simply to say that they did. They're all worried about primary challenges if they're seen "colluding with the enemy" and so instead of doing what's right, they're going to be spineless and just do what the party leadership dictates that they do. Obama tried to be bipartisan by taking into consideration Republican qualms, but eventually he came to realize that it was a fool's errand and decided to do what he thought was best for the country. You can't fault him for not succeeding, at the very least he tried. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flareback Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 I saw this over at world magazine and thought it was pretty good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xly15 Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 That's because it's not change at all. The only thing different about Obama is his skin color. Everyone screams for bipartisanship and change, but that's just so they can get elected. The real crime is that people still buy it after all the countless times it's promised and not fulfilled. The stimulus plan is a joke anyways. What they really need to do is nothing. Sit back and let the economy right itself like it's been trying to do for a long time now. But they'd never do that because they and their constituents are all too short-sighted to see that the stimulus isn't a good solution. So they'll keep artificially propping it up and pretending it's fine and in the end they'll just make the inevitable crash worse. He must be a Ron Paul Supporter. I agree with Verran because with government intervention all you get is a version of socialism, fascism, or communism. It has already been proven that none of these work because it requires military force to keep it in place when finally people start to realize what is going on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 You can't be bipartisan with a group of people intent on being obstructionists. Somebody could discover the cure for every disease and Obama could try to pass a bill mandating that every American get a free dose and every Republican would still vote against such a measure simply to say that they did. They're all worried about primary challenges if they're seen "colluding with the enemy" and so instead of doing what's right, they're going to be spineless and just do what the party leadership dictates that they do. Obama tried to be bipartisan by taking into consideration Republican qualms, but eventually he came to realize that it was a fool's errand and decided to do what he thought was best for the country. You can't fault him for not succeeding, at the very least he tried. In this instance, I do not see that as being the case. He didn't even try. And IMO, I don't care if the bill is awesome, everyone that voted FOR it are complete morons in my book. I don't want my congressman signing off on any bill he hasn't read. If they write a bill that says every American gets a free dose of a cure-everything vaccine, but the bill is 1000 pages and Obama says "you must vote on this in 8 hours, or this message will self-destruct", I would want it voted against. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flareback Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 I also like how President Obama said the it would "create or save 3.5 million jobs". Basically to me that means he doesn't know what it will do. Creating and saving jobs are two different things and you would accomplish it differently. But I guess the only way to prove him wrong would be for less than 3.5 million people to be employed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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