The "stimulus" plan

The current "stimulus" plan moving its way through Congress strikes me as more pork than actually stimulus. I suppose it shouldn't be much of a surprise that all kinds of things are being attached to this massive level of spending. After all, if we are going to spend nearly 1 trillion dollars, what's a few more billion here and there to a Congressman eager to pass some pet project?

It looks as if the Democrats just plan on spending money left and right on things they favor. Nevermind that many of these things aren't remotely related to stimulating the economy and getting us out of this recession. To their credit, with Bush gone the Republicans in Congress appear to have developed a spine when it comes to resisting foolish and unnecessary spending. They do have a reasonable alternative plan that consist of taxes cuts for individuals and businesses as well as modest cuts in government spending. I'd like something more radical than that, but it's a start.

The problem is that not only are the Republicans in the minority, but after six years (2001-2007) of wasteful spending by a Republican controlled Congress and after eight years (2001-2009) of wasteful spending and a whole host of other bad decisions on President Bush's part, the Republicans simply don't have much credibility. Obama is in his honeymoon phase with the public, so with his high approval rating will get much of what he wants. Unfortunately, that means clowns like Pelosi and Reid will get much of what they want as well.

What does all this mean? It means that people won't start listening to the more reasonable ideas the Republicans are currently floating until a few years later. By that time, we'll likely be in even greater debt than we are now and all that "stimulus" may not have done much of anything to help the economy.