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The Thrill Is Gone

By Robert Stacy McCain on 1.16.09 @ 12:36PM

Wednesday night, I saw Megan McArdle at an America's Future Foundation Roundtable event in D.C., where she explained that she had voted for Barack Obama, but also warned that we are in for a tsunami of "massive and stupid government spending." Here she is expressing her disdain for the House Democrat "stimulus" proposal:

The rest of the bill is about what you expected--a lot of probably useless green energy spending that I fairly confidently predict will come to nothing, some stuff we should have done anyway, and a bunch of pandering, porky highway spending. The better the projects are, the less likely they are to be stimulative, because they're complicated and time consuming, like healthcare IT and high-speed rail. If we do them on a stimulus timeframe, we'll screw them up, waste an enormous amount of money, and likely make American voters worse off in the long term by locking them in to bad solutions--we won't get a second bite at high-speed rail between LA and San Francisco. Mostly, Democrats took their wish lists, called them "stimulus", and look set to inflict them on the American people in badly done drag.

Ah, the yawning gap between Hope and reality! Well, if massive and stupid spending is going to be inflicted on the American people, at least let Democrats do the inflicting, eh?

View all comments (9) | Leave a comment

John| 1.16.09 @ 12:51PM

I had HOPED that she was SMART... I guess not. Just another Democrat TV Clone...

I guess that's the reality.

What next, pictures of Cavuto at a Young Pioneers picnic?

:-(

Heyduke| 1.16.09 @ 12:56PM

Looking for a fiscal conservative among the presidencies of Reagan, Clinton and W. Bush- it would appear the Dems have a much better track record, no?

Alexander A. K. Hoggsbuckel IV| 1.16.09 @ 1:17PM

President (elect) Obama flatly stated that there would be no earmarks in the stimulus bill. No, the entire bill is comprised of pork droppings.

Bob| 1.16.09 @ 1:27PM

"Ah, the yawning gap between Hope and reality!"

Are you talking about the Bush administration?

"Well, if massive and stupid spending is going to be inflicted on the American people, at least let Democrats do the inflicting, eh?"

After 8 years of Republican massive spending, why not let the Dems take their term? When are you guys going to learn there is no difference between the parties except for the religious zealots.

RSM, do you have any recommendations or do you just want to continue the negativity of Republican operatives? We need intelligent solutions, not complaints. Wake up!!!

Ruben| 1.16.09 @ 1:29PM

January 11, 2009

TO: President-Elect Barack Obama

FROM: Ruben Botello, Founder
AMERICAN HOMELESS SOCIETY

Dear Mr. Obama:

I have been in and out of homelessness since being honorably discharged as a USMC Vietnam veteran in 1969. I wound up homeless then, in and out of homelessness with my two sons in the Eighties, and homeless on my own again in the Nineties.

I started the American Homeless Society in 1987 while my sons and I were homeless in California. I have been in several hunger strikes, marches and demonstrations for homeless rights since then but have seen little progress.

My longest hunger strike was 58 days against President Reagan’s “trickle down” economic policies that created much more instead of less homelessness in our country. You now speak about fixing our nation’s economy from the “bottom up” and that should mean you are starting by ending involuntary homelessness at the bottom.

HUD Secretary Philip Mangano has been promoting 10-year plans to end homelessness in major cities across the country on behalf of the Bush Administration for the past few years. We would hope and pray you make a similar commitment to abolish homelessness but throughout our nation, not just in individual cities because there are far more homeless than these urban plans will ever reach.

Slavery was abolished in America over a century ago; why not abolish homelessness today, Mr. Obama? Homelessness is just as bad as slavery in several ways and much worse in others.

Men, women and children from all the races, colors, cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, religions and creeds in our diverse society find themselves homeless daily. They are forced to endure harassment, discrimination and persecution in our nation today much like the slaves President Lincoln’s armies fought to free in the Nineteenth Century.

America’s homeless are also forced to endure nature’s harshest conditions without warm homes or shelter for protection; without good food and nutrition; without essential hygiene, medicine and healthcare; and without the necessary education, training or experience required to qualify for the dwindling supply of jobs in today’s worsening economy. Many of America’s homeless today are even employed but underemployed and unable to afford existing rentals while thousands of others are altogether unemployable.

How can our great nation permit so many of these poor souls to continue to suffer and die needlessly on our streets? I joined the Marines to fight for my country in the Sixties so that all Americans could have a better life, not just the rich and well-to-do who are receiving all the bailouts today.

The list of barriers and obstacles facing today’s homeless goes on and on, Mr. Obama. Please, if you are serious about fixing our nation’s economy from the bottom-up, begin at the real bottom by making a firm commitment to end involuntary homelessness throughout our country without further ado.

Sincerely,

Ruben Botello, Founder
AMERICAN HOMELESS SOCIETY
http://sananda.tripod.com/homeless/ahs1.html

ruth| 1.16.09 @ 2:37PM

Ruben's got a point about the bailouts.

Thomas| 1.16.09 @ 3:36PM

Mr. Botell's letter tugs at the heart strings. But, it illustrates the problem with government stimulus programs in this country. That is that some problems are basically insoluble.

In the homeless community, there are two types of homeless, the temporary and the chronic. The temporary homeless person's, or family's, condition is usually due to the onset of economic problems. These people have a wealth social organizations available as a safety net, including, but not limited to, religious groups and organizations, private charities, community groups, government programs, family and friends. Those that fall into this category are usually homeless through pride or ignorance, not through necessity. And they are usually not homeless any longer than it takes to place them with a support service.

The other group is more tragic. The chronic homeless generally suffer from significant, and long lasting, mental, emotional and/or chemical dependency disorders. They drift in and out of the social welfare system for years. Due to their problems, they are basically incapable of holding down a steady job and in some cases their problems are so acute that they are incapable of caring for themselves. The answer to the problem that these people face has eluded society for decades. In the past, many [if not most] of them would have been institutionalized. Today, in our enlightened society, this is no longer possible. Somehow, I do not think that giving the "homeless" more money is going to provide it. Indeed, there may be no acceptable solution.

Unfortunately, there are no government solutions for most of society's problems. They have to be solved, if possible, by the members of the society; not simply through government regulation or money.

james23| 1.16.09 @ 9:07PM

"Well, if massive and stupid spending is going to be inflicted on the American people, at least let Democrats do the inflicting, eh?" Exactamundo. Enjoy your Change!