Doyle is an idiot!!!

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Re: Obama's stimulus plan.... The tax refund would help those who have lost their jobs as well as the still employed and the self-employed. Reducing payroll taxes only helps those that are still employed because the self-employed are already going out of business.

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1. Ok, edited to add

he's not an idiot but his suggestion as reported on WPR is idiotic!

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2. My comment in a Letter to the Editor

Hopefully Doyle does not let the road building lobbyist, etc. direct the money into short term busy work that will cost us later. But considering his history, I'm not too confident about that. Below is my LTE on the topic.

Editor:

Soon a national economic recovery package will be approved and will include money for states for infrastructure expenditures. This is an excellent opportunity to invest in a Midwest high-speed rail network and our public transit systems. Repairing our existing bridges and roads should take priority over the expansion and creation of new roads and projects. Our Wisconsin budget makes it clear we already have more than we can maintain properly. Money directed at new roads and projects will only leave Wisconsin with a greater future liability when the federal money is gone and any new highways will still need maintenance, plowing, salting, policing, mowing, and inevitably rebuilding.

Congressman Obey has the right idea in stating on his website that, “We need to try to invest those dollars in activities that will not just create jobs in the short run but will also grow the economy in the long run so that the incomes of average families will once more begin to rise.” Short term thinking as we saw with the so-called Home Land Security funds given to states should be avoided. A municipal department should not be allowed to buy a Hummer if two years later they can’t afford gas for it on their own.

At least 50 percent of funding should be for non-highway transit (rail, bike/pedestrian) use. Make it safe to ride a bike or walk when one wants to. Direct highway funding to maintenance and repair and implement a system of accountability for all disbursements.

The economic recovery money should be directed in a manner that helps those on the lower end of the economic spectrum the most. They are the ones most likely to need to ride a train, a bus, a bike, or walk to get where they are going. Special lobbying interests should not count more than individual citizen interests. We can clean the air and our political system at the same time.

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3. I know you corrected youself to indicate that only an idea being

discussed was "idiotic", but not sure if I understand the problem? Does the Gov. propose reducing payroll taxes? For those of us lucky enough to have work, we need more of it to pay the bills. I hope that is what he is proposing. But if that is not the problem, what is it?