The same way Republicans beat it when Bill Clinton proposed a modest $35 billion stimulus in the teeth of the 1992-1993 recession. The GOP nit picked each spending item and highlighted midnight basketball courts and swimming pools that were funded in the package. Clinton, for his part, didn’t really care what the money was being spent on, he wanted to be sure it was spent to give the economy a boost before he cut spending and raised taxes to balance the budget. So the president accomodated all of the pet projects of Democratic lawmakers. The resulting publicity made the package radioactive.
Republicans should feature each element of the package — just as they have highlighted the contraception and global The package is losing support almost daily. According to Rasmussen, only 42% of Americans now support it. The key is for the Republicans to attack its specific line items to show how overblown it really is.
And it is terribly important to beat, or at least cut back the stimulus legislation. What we allocate in deficit spending and “refundable” tax cuts (i.e. welfare) today we will pay for in inflation tomorrow.
In the seven years beetween 2000 and 2007, the money supply rose from $600 billion to $800 billion. In 2008, alone, it more than doubled from $800 billion to $1.7 trillion! We cannot sustain this level of increase in the money supply without having way too much money chasing way too few goods and services, sending prices up into double digit inflation. While the economy is in shell shock, at the moment, we face deflation. But once it begins to come back and the dollars come out of hiding, we will find the resulting inflation intractible and very difficult to cure.
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Why on earth is there not a constant drum beat from conservatives out there explaining to the public precisely who is RESPONSIBLE for the current crisis?
I have sent the following package of links to at least 50 people, and so far I have gotten at least 20-25 replies asking “Where in hell did you get this? I’ve never heard this ANYWHERE!”
Please!! Use your influence to get FoxNews to run this stuff at least once per week until the American public gets it! It will return TONS of credibility to the Right!!
On September 30, 1999, a New York Times article included this early warning: “Fannie Mae … has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people…” The article, recognizing the risks of this policy, warns:”In moving…into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.” (Note that George Bush was the Governor of Texas at the time.)
–Google (including quotes) “NYT 1999: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending”
During a 2004 Congressional hearing on clearly needed improvement to regulatory structures for Freddy Mac, and Fanny Mae which was led by Franklin Raines, Democrats poo-poo a regulator from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (“Oh-Fey-Oh”) who is recommending improved regulations to make sure improper conduct is brought under control.
From the perspective of today’s financial crisis, this piece is profoundly disturbing. Franklin Raines is heard saying that “these assets are SO “riskless”…!” Democrats in Congress emphatically refuse to allow the consideration of more regulations. Afterwards, Bill Clinton is shown stating that “The responsibility Democrats have is resisting efforts by Republicans in Congress and by me to put some standards and tighten up a little bit on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
–Google (including quotes) “2004: Dems Fight Regulations on Fannie, Freddie During Illegal Bookkeeping Hearing”
On September 18, 2008, an obsequious sycophant interim CIO of Fannie Mae promises the Congressional Black Caucus that “Fannie Mae is determined to keep tearing down the barriers to deliver on the American Dream.” He promises no let-up in issuing more and more sub-prime loans.
–Google (including quotes) “Blog: Fannie Mae and Congressional Dems”
On September 25, 2008, Michelle Bachmann presents a succinct wrap-up of the nexus of today’s world-wide financial catastrophe.
–Google(including quotes) “Bachmann: How Did We Get Into This Mess? “
Every citizen of the U.S., no matter what party, should be exposed to these reports. There is NO news organization (including Fox News!) that is providing this information to the American public. We will certainly perish without an informed electorate!
[…] Dick Morris highlights in his column on Friday, the Republicans would do well to repeat their performance of 1993 — give the stimulus hot […]
[…] to Beat the Stimulus Package February 3, 2009 by ThomasFiled under: Bailout Dick Morris has an unparalleled insight into how the Executive Branch works and can be manipulated. He was, […]