Stimulus Is Just Government Pork By Another Name

There is a trillion dollar spending plan being debated in Congress and endorsed by President Barack Obama to stimulate the United States economy.

We are being told that this government spending spree is needed right away to save jobs and the economy during this deep recession.

The problem with the passage of this plan is that it will have little effect on the economy during the next year. In additon, it is money that the government does not have since it already runs a over a trillion dollar deficit. The truth of this economic stimulus bill is that it is just more government pork under a new name.

Consider that the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only 7 percent of infrastructure money in the bill would make its way into the economy by the end of the year, and just 38 percent would be spent by the end of the 2010 fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the bill is loaded with pork and is a lobbyist delight. There is a $50 million outlay for the National Endowment for the Arts to help fund arts groups hit by a drop-off in philanthropy.

The bill has a $87 billion package to help states with the Medicaid costs of family planning which will result in spending millions of taxpayer dollars on contraceptives.

There is $200 million to rehabilitate the National Mall and $650 million to repair Forest Service facilities. There is another $1.8 billion to repair National Park Service facilities. Indeed the pork in the bill goes on and on.

Out of control federal spending will not end this deep recession. The current federal policies do not represent political change. In Washington D.C., its just more of the same on a much larger scale in a new year under a different name.

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