The "Bailout." How it will effect you, your kids, and their kids.

The House just passed the $787 billion dollar “stimulus” package by a vote of 246 to 183 and no Republicans voted for the bill. The bill was over 8 inches thick, 1075 pages, and was finished last night around midnight. That gives those members less than 24 hours to review it and well short of the 48 hours they were promised, or the 5 days that President Obama said he would require before signing anything into law. What does that mean to you? Well, that means that almost anyone who voted for a democratic candidate (minus 7 of your D-reps), the person you elected just voted to pass something that NO ONE got to read. This stimulus package was supposed to be about the creation of jobs, and instead it has spiraled out of control into a spending frenzy (not to mention a BLIND spending frenzy).
The big question is, where is all this money going? Just to give some idea of exactly how much that amount of money is, the GDP of Turkey in 2008 was $798 billion dollars ranking it as the 17th largest GDP in the world. In comparison the GDP in 2008 of China (3rd largest) was $4.2 trillion, France (5th largest) was just under $3 trillion, and the US ranked number one with a GDP of $14.3 trillion. The entire world GDP for 2008 was $78.3 trillion. What could our government possibly spend that amount of money on? The amount of pork in this bill is absolutely astounding but I will start with a break down of the good things this bill provides for the country. $46 billion is going towards infrastructure, some good and needed, some very pointless. $14 billion for Social Security as well as pension and disability for veterans. Only $2.8 billion for homeland security and another $4 billion for law enforcement agencies. About $210 billion is for tax cuts/breaks/credits for buying homes, cars, for small business, and tuition. This amounts to small tax breaks for people in college or with children in college, making sales tax deductible for home and car purchases, or $400 per-worker, $800 per-couple tax credits. This is all well and good, but how much is that amount of money really going to do for the average American in the span of a year? Now I will look at the less than desirable spending. Within that $46 billion for infrastructure most will be used for renewable energy, roads, bridges, and other needed improvements, but $7 billion will be used to provide broadband internet to rural areas. To say high-speed internet is infrastructure in and of itself is astonishing much like the $650 million for the DTV transition. If you cannot afford a $40 digital converter box or high-speed internet, get off your butt, stop watching TV or surfing the web, and get a job. Other pointless spending included a train from Disney Land to Las Vegas, shrimp and fish hatcheries, birth control for foreign counties, and $54 billion to states for education. I understand this could possibly help education and spending in the country, but that is not a job of the federal government. That is a job for the state governments, and that is clearly outlined in the Constitution, of which the legislature has clearly overstepped their boundaries. The federal government is supposed to provide infrastructure, national defense, and border security. Not only are they overlooking those areas they are supposed to provide, they are providing for areas that they have no right to provide for.
The supposed tax credits for hybrid and plug-in cars to help the environment and the auto makers would be good, if Detroit automakers had plug-in hybrids or electric cars. The real kicker is the money we are giving to people that are not contributing members of society. On top of the money we already give the unemployed, this spending bill plans to increase their weekly checks by $25. With more than 4.8 million people collecting unemployment that is over $480 million dollars a month along with the expansion of the time people can be on unemployment and a 13% increase in food stamp benefits.
I think I have said enough for one day. Tomorrow or sometime this weekend I post again with what this means for the future, some of my solutions, and just more ranting in general.