You could probably have figured this out by now. The more liberal economist is saying the stimulus was not big enough and another infusion will be needed to get the economy fully on track. The more conservative economist is saying the stimulus has been a disaster and is not working, proving that big government is bad.
The snipping is all well and good. Those less likely to inject politics into the mix admit the stimulus is working to, um, stimulate the economy despite it’s failings:
But with roughly a quarter of the stimulus money out the door after nine months, the accumulation of hard data and real-life experience has allowed more dispassionate analysts to reach a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working.
Jobs savings and creation are on track. The recession didn’t turn into a depression. By all accounts we are beginning the slow – and painful – turnaround. Government spending did indeed prevent the Republican fueled economy from eating itself. The policies of 8 years of Bush are going to take some time to fix. You don’t turn such things around in 100 days, much less a year in office. As we pointed out in our recent Palin book signing camp out video, those who voted for George W. Bush fucked up the country and they can’t have it back…at least until we fix it.
One of the nice young fellas in the video (the one who duct taped over McCain on his McCain-Palin tee – duct tape boy we’ll call him) got into an extended argument with us about the cost of the stimulus being greater than the Iraq war. Again, the stimulus cost $787 billion. Cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars so far? $915 billion.
Now, if you want to argue the relative importance of such spending of taxpayer money, I’m all ears. I, for one, would much rather like to spend it on jobs for American families than bombs for Iraq. Especially when you consider the payback. Iraq and Afghanistan will most likely fall back into old patterns of rogue nations and failed states. The cost benefit analysis of such a fools errand in Iraq has always been highly questionable, even at the start.
The interesting thing about the stimulus is that a concession to Republicans took $70 billion of the impact out (emphasis mine):
Even the $787 billion price tag overstates the plan’s stimulus value given changes made in Congress, economists say. Nearly a tenth of the package, $70 billion, comes from a provision adjusting the alternative minimum tax so it does not hit middle-income taxpayers this year. That routine fix, which would do nothing to stimulate the economy, was added in part to seek Republican votes. But to keep the package’s overall cost down, provisions that would stimulate the economy — like aid to revenue-starved states and infrastructure projects — got less as a result.
Hey wingnuts. Want your country back? You can’t have it. You fucked it up. You might get it back just in time to fuck it up again after we fix it.
So let me get this straight. Iraq is sitting on nearly $80 billion in surplus while we spend $48 billion rebuilding their country.
Get a load of that middle America! Your tax dollars at work by the Bush administration. Wave your Americun flags high and proud while your government and President bend you over like a Buffalo Chip dancer!
In one comparison, the United States has spent $23.2 billion in the critical areas of security, oil, electricity and water since the 2003 invasion, the report said. But from 2005 through April 2008, Iraq has spent just $3.9 billion on similar services.
How’s that purple finger feel now?
There is money, from oil revenues (because remember we are paying out the ass for it), sitting in New York banks. Drawing interest. $435 million in interest. All while we run deficit spending to wage this war. I’m not sure how you ’splain that to Joe Nascar and Sally Minivan, but I sure want to hear John McCain try!
Joseph A. Christoff, director of the international affairs and trade team at the accountability office, said it was fair to say that a shortage of qualified officials in Iraq had diminished the capacity of central ministries to write contracts and carry out rebuilding.
But he said it was also true that with so much American assistance available, the Iraqi government may not have felt much urgency to increase that capacity and spend its own money.
“I think some people would contend that because we have continued to make a sizable investment, there hasn’t been a proper incentive until now for the Iraqi government to make its own investment,†Mr. Christoff said.
Tinfoil hats. Conspiracy theorists. That’s what people who argued this war was for oil were called. Um:
Influential former Pentagon official Richard Perle has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents outlining possible deals.
Mr. Perle, one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago, has been discussing a possible deal with officials of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan regional government, including its Washington envoy, according to these people and the documents.
Richard Perle, as everyone knows (or should know) is a far right Neo-con who was a member of the now defunct Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which among other things, published their “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” paper outlining a new American hegemony and the requirement for a “new Pearl Harbor type event” (published in 2000). They were a chief architect of plans to go to war with Iraq and several members of the group ended up in the Bush administration.
John McCain was struck with a bit of unfortunate timing on Friday when his speech touting the security benefits of the surge was preceded by news of the death of eight civilians, including a pro-American leader of the Sunni Awakening, in a suicide bombing in Iraq.
Whoops.
And speaking of message, this is stunning as well:
Earlier this week, the Arizona Republican’s campaign claimed that had “Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda.” Their reference — Abdul Sattar Abu Risha – had actually been assassinated by al-Qaeda in the very midst of the surge.
DENVER (AP) — A nearly 700-page study released Sunday by the Army found that “in the euphoria of early 2003,” U.S.-based commanders prematurely believed their goals in Iraq had been reached and did not send enough troops to handle the occupation.
President George W. Bush’s statement on May 1, 2003, that major combat operations were over reinforced that view, the study said.
Watching the McCain speech in the Atlanta airport. It got interrupted 4 times with war protestors. This guy is gonna get so hounded and tied to Bush it will be tough for him to get his message out otherwise.
Tinfoil hats. Conspiracy theorists. That’s what people who argued this war was for oil were called. 
