Okay - Time to get to work. First order of business, contact Obama about the stimulus bill

[debbierlus]

This is a must watch video & I am posting the thread from the video page.

Obama is caving to Republicans on tax cuts. Yes, tax cuts.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x264227

Please watch this and contact the whitehouse & your Senators & Congresspeople about this crucial issue.

[MADem]

1. He's not "caving to Republicans."

He's caving to Democrats, too. Democrats who have industries in their districts that they fear will up and leave.

Like it or not, some tax cuts DO stimulate an economy. They have to be targeted, though.

If you give that miserable corporation a tax cut that is sufficient to encourage them to stay in the USA and not move offshore to a country with cheaper labor costs, it DOES stimulate the economy by keeping people EMPLOYED. If you make it worth a multinational's while to locate in the US instead of, oh, Canada or Ireland, the jobs they generate go to Americans.

And all those employed people? They pay taxes.

This is an unpopular truth, but it is the truth. Not all tax cuts are bad. We can probably make up some of the difference by getting rid of all that bullshit bureaucracy that Bush created in the last eight years. It was CLINTON and Gore who shrunk the size of government down, but Bush bloated it back up again.

Further, this is really not surprising. Obama is a centrist, with a left-ish lean on some things, and a right-ish lean on others. He's not going to dance with the ones what brung him, at least not exclusively. The Warren business demonstrated that. He will not be The President of the Left, no matter how much people think they're entitled to that. He's going to go his own way and make his own calls, based on his own sense of what way he wants to go and what he feels is best.

And the rep in the video blames Larry "Woman Hatin'" Summers--not Obama, for this direction. Ain't THAT special! It cracks me up how whenever Obama does something that someone doesn't like, the blame falls on someone else, like the guy is stupid, or clueless, or out of the loop, or something. And then the calls go out to "warn" him, like people screaming at clueless characters in the film in the movie theater--"Don't open that door!!!" "Watch out for the cliff!!!"

Obama is in charge, not Larry Summers. He's not stupid. He's not clueless, and he's definitely in the loop. He knows what he is doing. He's dictated his priorites. They include tax cuts.

We'll just have to see how it goes. He said "I won." I think he's got a full appreciation of who's in the drivers seat so far as "setting the agenda" goes.

[Shiver]

2. Not completely

Have you read the bill? Most of what are described as "tax cuts" are more in the vein of "tax relief" or merely "tax-related". Here's a link to the in-house summary from the Appropriations Committee: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=8093752

And my summary on the tax items after reading the bill:

$87 billion for a temporary increase in the Medicaid matching rate.
$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training
$39 billion helping with healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.
$79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services
$4.1 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments
$15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500
$4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.
$27 billion to local school districts
$20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.


$275 billion total

Many of these are investments in public services (law enforcement, education, etc) that aren't coming from the taxes of the middle class. It also includes many of the middle-class tax cut and relief items he spoke of during the campaign.

Now, Rachel isn't wrong when it comes to infrastructure. There does need to be more spending. A lot more:

$32 billion to transform the nation's energy transmission, distribution, and production systems
$16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits.
$6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes
$10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation
$6 billion to expand broadband internet access
$30 billion for highway construction
$31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure
$19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments
$10 billion for transit and rail
$14 billion for School Modernization and Repair Program
$6 billion for higher education modernization
$20 billion for health information technology


$200 billion total

The remaining $350 billion includes investments in research and development for renewable energy, health and other new technologies, electric transit, etc. There is also around $235 million designated for oversight, to ensure that the money is being spent properly by the various Department Inspectors General. I haven't properly compiled this list as of yet. Many, however, can also be categorized in infrastructure, in the sense that they are for bonds and other incentives.

I second the motion, though, that every contact their reps to insist on more spending; I've already done so myself. I just wanted to clear up the slight misconception that the tax-related items are all "tax cuts" - which people tend to believe, after eight years, are automatically for the rich.

Edited for spelling

Edited again to include some stuff I forgot