Stimulus pkg--what's your take (Austin, Howe: insurance, house, layoffs)

[loves2read]

OK--so what do people in TX--where the worst of the housing crunch or the economy crunch has yet to hit--feel about what is happening with the Stimulus pkg...

just wonder if some of you that have been hit by the layoffs/financial market crash/housing problems ARE more concerned about this lagging (downright struggling) economy than some of our House/Senate reps seem to be...or if you think like those who opposed the Stimulus Bill that it will not work because it promotes "social" spending which will add govt debt and not revitalize the economy...

I guess you know that TX House and Senate members followed party lines and GOP members voted against the bill with House Dems voting for it...

I just know that I was sorry to see the part of the bill that would have required any company participating to use E-Verify to check the SSN of workers was taken out

some people said that meant programs could start sooner because the system does not work very well but some said that it will not prevent illegals from working (as so many are now) and taking jobs from citizens and those with legal status...

Kay Grainger was dismayed to see that tranportation programs were reduced because that has usually been good funding for TX
but others want to see programs funding that divert use of private vehicles into funding for solar power construction...
frankly--we could use some mass-transit funds in this part of the country--especially Tarrant county --were there is minimal public tranportation ... but don't think that is what she had on her mind--probably more on Hwy 114 or 377 that would benefit her district...
and John Cornym was absent to speak at large private gathering when his vote would have come in handy to keep the stimulus bill from being voted on--think he was probably interested in seeing who was interested in funding his next run for public office...

anway---
let's get some input

holding my vote until some others post up...

[piyf]

It's a joke to the people who actually pay taxes. Giving more money to the poor when they don't even pay taxes to begin with is stupid. There's no benefit but just more special interest money pit programs.

[texan55]

it's a waste, it's only going to briefly stall the inevitable.

[love roses]

I don't like this bill either. I think average Joe citizen could have done a better job. The Democrats put too much junk in it or things that don't have any immediate impact and Republicans cut out some actually good things like building more schools. I definitely think ACORN didn't need to get any of that money and the Arts, really?

[atxcio]

This is a bit of a weird poll, and not really Texas related... I find it difficult to express my opinion in one of the 18 or so different options.

That said, I think everyone will agree that government spending is always inefficient and less desirable than letting the free market operate on it's own. However, I can't help but think if our previous administration could hand out $700bn directly to banks with absolutely 0 accountability (and still the economy fails miserably), I would say that $780bn in tax cuts and spending is no worse... in fact, maybe a little better. At least we get some (however small) amount of infrastructure from it. Seems like the previous $700bn got us nothing more than $18bn in executive bonuses, payoff of some banks debts, money for some banks to acquire other banks, and that's it.

I say, if the current stimulus bill ends up giving the U.S. any additional highways, bridges, park land, or rail infrastructure, it's at least better than what we did with the previous $700bn.

But that's hardly a consolation prize when our kids and grandkids will be paying for it. Better that we'd left it alone in the first place, before the initial bank bailouts, and just taken our lumps when we needed to.

There is a popular daytime radio talk show host here in Austin who says:

"Capitalism without bankruptcy is like religion without hell."

I can't think of anything better to describe the futility of the "too big to fail" argument that has lead to these bailouts.

[WillysB]

The package seems to be a bit short on Libertarian values, therefore does not work for me.

[lonestar2007]

I read somewhere Obama signed an executive order using only UNION labor for federal jobs. I am not trying to derail this into a pro or anti union debate, but this is coming at a time when the American taxpayer is being hit the hardest and the economy in is a horrible condition. I say now, more than ever, the average Joe Blow American taxpayer needs to get as much bang out of the buck as possible, wouldn't you agree?

I would think at this stage of the game, even the fattest of the fat cats would be able to get an insight into the fact that if the entire system fails, they are in the same boat as everyone else, but yet, they persist in thinking they are exempt due to their riches. It is my opinion that if the economy fails, the dollar bill as we know it now will be as useless as the confederate dollar bill became, so it really won't make a difference how many of them you own.

It is also my opinion that the President of the United States and the Congress had better get their thinking caps on and tuck their own personal greed away for the time being and pull America up out of this mess. The entire world is involved, it is a huge global crisis and at this point, lawmakers should set aside their own personal greed and paybacks to those those put them into office and focus on getting us out of the mess we are in. If they would try to exercise any common sense at all, they would see that now is not the time for the regular razzle dazzle status quo political games they play.

People have gone their merry way for years, spending well over their means, always thinking if they do get into trouble there will always be some government agency, etc. to bail them out. Even now, people will say about the banks, oh, your money is safely insured up to $250,000.00 per depositer by the Federal Reserve. Wow! What a relief that is! We can all sleep better at nights knowing this. Insurance... what a great American commodity! Question..what happens when the insurer goes belly up and lets start with the top, to whit, the Federal Reserve. People think they can't go belly up. Why? Because the treasury dept. will feel sorry for them and just print up some more money? Well, that seems to be an answer.

Time will tell if our leader and lawmakers will be able to set aside their personal differences, their personal greed and pull this out. They can do it, but it's not starting out looking good to me, union labor, pork barrel projects, wow, will they never learn? Maybe someone can put a bug in their ear that they are not exempt anymore than the rest of us if our economy collapses.

[BobTex]

OK ... I need to choose at least a half dozen of your offered options.

[HappyTexan]

I didn't vote in this poll ..couldn't find anything in it I agree with.

Here's what I would pick if it were there:

"Read the bill..smell the pork"

It won't help. You can't throw money at debt and see it magically disappear.

[SaladoSam]

Do you think the media has made this situation worse with hype and biased reporting?

The media has made everything worse with its lack of honest reporting.