it's evolution, baby

Under the category of better late than never, Obama now taking a moderately harder line with the Republicans. He's likely ticked that the $275B worth of useless tax cuts that he floated got him very little in the way of compromise, so now he's just laying down the thunder. Nice to see. Bill still not so hot, but at least he's taking a more appropriate tone with the opposition party. He's learning to be the bear, you might say, and how to deal with all the little Republican bunnies...(some language below, so don't go blasting in the cube).



Not nice to see the "centrists" in the Senate working around the fringes of the stimulus package. Between tax credits for home and auto purchases (what? no tax credits for my metro pass?), and slashes of millions here and billions there, it's the equivalent of clipping your finger nails while bleeding out from a gut shot. Plus, tax credits for home purchases, like they did back in the 70s, were meant to spur new construction (which they did). Unfortunately, as they relate to the current housing market, it's the glut of existing homes that won't move, so tax credits won't do much to create construction jobs. Which, ummm, is the point of stimulus. I'm sure banks are all for it, just to keep up the smoke and mirrors act, but, let's not forget: you need to have an income to make use of a tax credit, and neither measure serves that purpose. Calculated Risk has some data.

Guess everybody wants some TV time. I'm sure that sits great with the record-setting crowd of unemployed. Good for those Senators, man, going after that boatload of money for STD research and putting in green toilets at the Justice Department. You've got folks stretching to see to food, shelter and health care costs for this week, and certain pols are looking to go to the mat on 10% or less of the overall bill? Gimme a break. Now, if you're of the mind that the $900B ain't enough, perhaps that too much of it goes toward tax cuts, not enough for infrastructure, by all means, have a go at it. Just don't go playing footsie-wootsie on the small stuff. The extra costs we're talking about don't even register relative to whether this bad boy gets turned around, and the lost time only takes from more substantive debate (which appears over, sadly), and much needed relief.