What passed and what passes for fact.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been signed into law. There is a break down of how the money is to be allotted here and here ($288 Billion in tax cuts) and estimates of jobs saved/created by State here (Texas = 269,000). Now that it passed, some "just say no" republicans who voted against spending and tax cuts for Our Country are touting what their districts are getting. Even some very vocal opponent republican governors are starting to come around to accept the Federal funding allotted to their states. The latest to join this category was South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. Governor Jindal of Louisiana is still unsure about additional Federal funding going to his state for things like fixing levees. It's understandable though. He is in the running for the republican nomination in 2012, and is hoping the Country has completely gone under by then so he, and the hip hop republicans can run against the failure. The way Candidate Barack Obama ran against the failures of the past 8 years of their party's presidency, 6 of which had them in control of both houses of congress. Hell, they had congress for 12 years. Check out the Pork and Earmarks (there are no ear marks in this bill) from the 6 years of Failure 43 and his rubber stamp reds' appropriations bills from 2001-2006 (Where is that confounded bridge to nowhere?). Yup, tax cuts for the rich, increased spending to build other countries, increased domestic spending for things like "abstinence training" but not the poor to middle class here at home, and the market will regulate itself policy, really worked out. As the Rude Pundit put it "Do you remember who put us into this goddamn vortex of financial suck?"

There have been no shortage of pundits, me included, making feeble attempts at becoming Economic experts. The arguments ranged from the "stimulus package" should be bigger to the government should do nothing to help the Country's economy or the millions who have lost their jobs. There's even been talk of a complete tax holiday that would severely reduce the Government's revenue. I assume that the people proposing this would cut the non-existent funds to Our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (where $125 Billion US has been "misused"). 17,500 more troops were ordered to Afghanistan last week. However you slice it, opinions are one thing (Everybody's got one), but Out "right" lies, falsehoods, and "myths" are another.

1. There is no provision in the stimulus package for a mouse preserve in San Francisco.

2. There is no provision for a high speed rail in Nevada. Which would be bad because Harry Reid is the Senator there.

3. President Obama opposes, much to my dismay, any decrease in the defense budget.

4. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) said the bill's spending Would stimulate the economy.

5. The bill is not just for "Democratic pet projects" (See what States get what , relative to the size of their economy, at this interactive map)

6. The New Deal reduced unemployment.

7. ACORN is not mentioned in the bill.

8. Anyone , "illegal" or not, without an officially issued Social Security number is ineligible for "make work pay" tax credits.

There are more, but you get the idea. For those of us who didn't read the whole 1,000+ page document there remain some questions as to how and to whom it will help. There are portions of the bill I don't understand. There is spending that I am glad to see, but can not see the connection with economic stimulus (see NASA). Before you say it, red failure 43 gave NASA billions for his "mission to mars". Remember that doozy? We all knew there would be no grace period (Typically the First 100 days) for Barack Obama, who has put together an administration faster than any President. He has already passed several pieces of Major legislation. He has given his first presidential press conference (a feat that it took failure 43 nine months to do). President Obama's "kind of a" State of the Union after only a month in office is yet another sign of how his administration has hit the ground running, sprinting actually. If the stakes were not as high as they are, if the situation was not as dire, there would be greater faith/benefit of the doubt/mandate given to the Leader who received more votes than any other President, and won by a greater margin than reagan did in his first presidential election, not to mention Obama's current and start off approval ratings.

I hope the stimulus bill, with the housing crisis plan, whatever happens to the remainder of the bush bank bailout, and everything else helps to get us out of Our downward spiral of an economy that is getting worse by the day. We won't know for some time. My guess is a more stabilized economy will start building steam in the beginning of 2010. Until then I think we should do Our best to help the people that need help the most. We Are All Americans.

Topic for next week:
The Disconnection: A Lack of Empathy and Understanding