We're in deep doo-doo!

The headline in yesterday's paper says Obama's stimulus plan may cost $850 billion. And you know how the government is -- if they say $850 billion, you can count on at least 50% more than that. The plan, Obama's aides say, is necessary to "jolt" the economy back to life. It is at least as much as what was spent during the Great Depression. Folks, though things look bad, we are NOT yet in Great Depression times. No one I know is going to bed with an empty stomach. No one I know is wearing rags. No one I know has been thrown out on the streets. In Great Depression times, everyone knew someone in those circumstances.

The plan is a "blend of new jobs, middle-class tax relief and expanded aid for the poor and the unemployed. " That sounds great, but Obama's middle-class shrinks everytime someone in his camp opens his mouth. It originally was anyone making less than $300,000. Then it was anyone making less than $250,000. Then it was anyone making less than $200,000. The last I heard, it was down to $150,000. Those are the people who will be hit with exorbitant taxes. Again, that sounds good, but think about where jobs come from. They are not created by poor people -- they are created by people who have money to invest in businesses. You take away their money, you take away some poor person's job. So let's look at the figures. Approximately four million people filed tax returns last year with adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or over. If you divide the cost of Obama's plan among them, their taxes will have to be raised $225,000 each to cover it. Doesn't sound very reasonable, does it?

Ah, you say, but the government will be providing jobs. When have you ever known the federal government to efficiently run a business? Look at Medicare, Social Security, and cost overruns on every project they ever attempted. Remember $1000 toilet seats and $150 hammers? And I'm sorry to say that people today are not like the people in the Great Depression. The vast majority of those people wanted to work. The vast majority of today's "unemployed" have no intention of working. They just want the government dole. I'll be surprised if Obama's "rebuilding the infrastructure" plan can find enough people to work on it.

Then there comes the "expanded aid for the poor and unemployed." Our "poor" already get greatly reduced or free housing, food, and medical care. Why should we give them more? Most of them are poor because they're having multiple babies out of wedlock while deadbeat dad is standing on the corner selling drugs or is being supported by the taxpayer in a prison somewhere. I promise you, when we "expand aid for the poor and unemployed," we'll expand the number of "poor and unemployed" as more and more worthless people get in line for their share.

Yes, my friends, I'm afraid that instead of "jolting" the economy back to life, Obama's plan may just be the shock that kills it.

"Stimulus plan may cost $850B." The Dallas Morning News; December 18, 2008; p. 1A.