Sorry I have been away for so long guys. I just started school again, and I am extremely busy with my double major. However, this new "stimulus" package that is being unveiled called for a post. This is the biggest shift from a capitalist state to a socialist one that the country has ever seen. Under the guise of a stimulus package over a trillion dollars will be spent to increase the government's hold on our economy. The bailouts were one thing but to tax and spend, like typical liberals, to an extent such as this is abhorrent. We will be paying not only for the bailouts but for this transfer or wealth when we are older. The burden was unduly put on the young generation and we have to pay the price for it. Below is an article that does a great job of putting into perspective how long term a temporary government program can last. The answer is not very good.

As Stimulus Grows, So Does Task of Closing Whopping Deficit

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 14, 2009; A09

Economists may debate whether the $787 billion stimulus bill Congress sent to the president last night is big enough to lift the nation out of recession. But one thing is certain: It will blast another big hole in an already tattered federal budget.

Even before lawmakers began dickering over the massive package of spending and tax cuts -- the biggest dose of economic medicine ever conceived by Washington -- the federal government was headed for a budget deficit of nearly $1.2 trillion, a post-war record. The stimulus package will drive that number to nearly $1.4 trillion this year and to more than $1.1 trillion next year, according to congressional budget analysts, with expensive decisions about housing, health care and the banking system yet to come.

The budget outlook is likely to grow even darker: Liberal Democrats hope to extend big chunks of the stimulus package past their two-year expiration date, making permanent increases in funding for public education and health care for the poor and unemployed. Robert Borosage, a prominent liberal policy analyst, said creating an economy for the 21st century will require "a sustained expansion of public investment."

Meanwhile, President Obama wants to permanently extend a tax credit in the stimulus package for workers that costs at least $66 billion a year. Taken together, those goals would push the price of the stimulus package to around $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to a new estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Adding interest costs associated with borrowing the money, the tab comes to $3 trillion.

White House officials have pledged to offer a plan to pay for the president's tax cut, as well as any new spending initiatives outside the stimulus package, when they unveil their budget proposal later this month. For now, they said, they are treating the stimulus measure as an extraordinary response to an extraordinary crisis.

"If the question is what comes next, those judgments will be made when these programs expire," said Ken Baer, spokesman for the White House budget office. "At this point, these things are temporary."

Republicans and deficit hawks point out, however, that the most permanent thing in Washington is often a temporary government program. Few ever die. And with Democrats in control of the White House and Congress for the first time in 14 years, few budget analysts believe that lawmakers will trim back such longtime Democratic priorities as Head Start programs, Pell grants and the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax break for the working poor.

"There are people lining up who will be absolutely outraged if any of these things are pulled back," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "Many of them will be made permanent, without question."

The issue then becomes how to pay for it. The nation can't sustain trillion-dollar deficits without driving up the debt owed to private investors to dangerous levels that could undermine the nation's global economic dominance. That debt now stands at nearly $6 trillion.

Borosage recommends "progressive tax reform" that raises taxes on the wealthy. But Obama has pledged to cut taxes for most Americans, and other analysts argue that balancing the budget solely with new revenues would require oppressive levels of taxation.

"You can't tax your way out of this," said Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "You'd have to raise taxes by $8,500 per household in order to close a trillion-[dollar] deficit through tax increases alone."

Riedl noted that federal spending will rise to more than 26 percent of the nation's overall economy this year, driven by the $700 billion rescue of the U.S. financial system and the government's seizure of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the stimulus package. Tax revenues, meanwhile, are forecast to drop to about 16 percent of the overall economy, in part because the recession is reducing earnings and cutting people's tax bills.

Obama has pledged to close the chronic gap between the government's income and its spending, starting with a summit on fiscal responsibility planned for Feb. 23, the day before he addresses a joint session of Congress. Obama has said he wants to tackle the toughest issues in Washington: making a Byzantine tax code simpler and fairer, reducing the skyrocketing rate of growth in Medicare and Medicaid, and assuring that Social Security will survive for future generations.

White House officials have declined to say exactly what is on the summit agenda. But with the stimulus package out of the way, lawmakers and budget analysts said Obama needs to get specific about how he plans to go about the painful work of bringing taxes and spending back into line.

"They have a few more weeks to get away with all this great talk, but sooner or later there's got to be a real budget," MacGuineas said. "They need to put budget reform on a level playing field with reviving the economy if they're going to be taken seriously."

Well, the election is over and so goes with it all of the hype and fun that surrounded the most historical election in recent memory, not my memory of course I'm only 21 but I'm assuming in the last 100 years. It was a fun ride that provided for ups and downs and many new learning experiences. You may ask yourself, if McCain lost why am I in congratulatory mood?

Well according to Fox News and MSNBC the young voter turnout surpassed 50%. The young vote in this election actually made quite a difference. Although over 60% voted for Obama its still very impressive that the 18-29 crowd took the issues to heart and wanted to make a difference. If any message was gleaned from blog posts it would be that us young voters need to get out the vote and we accomplished out goal. Just walking around my campus of UCSC on November 4th it seemed that every other person was sporting a fashionable Obama shirt.

With that said, I'm still fairly disappointed in the outcome of he election. There are no fancy lawsuits to deal with but we have replaced those with the Russians. President Medvedev of Russia was the last to congratulate Obama on his historical election and even when he did he did not call him by name just, "the new administration". He then went on to blame the US for the world wide credit market failure. He went one step further by saying he is going to build new missile defense systems to combat the United States' new missile systems. I am sorry to say this but IT HAS STARTED...

    Just wanted to pop in and remind everyone that today is the big day. I hope that our country will make the right decision and choose the candidate that can do the most for our country. I am endorsing John McCain for president because he is the person that can handle this economic crisis and ensure that social mobility is still intact. If Obama wins nobody will want to succeed because of the heavy penalties for it. Thats unacceptable. Wish McCain luck!

I just got this in an email and I thought this relates Obama's tax plan pretty effectively.

Folks, it is really just this simple...

Bar Stool Economics
 
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
 
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to ...<< MORE >>

Joe Biden, America’s Gaffmaster, cautioned us this week that if Barack Obama is elected as president, “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, ...<< MORE >>