Top 5 Stop Spending

So I have been trying to go through the full text Stimulus Bill line by line to pull out the dollars and what they are for.  It is 778 pages long and you need a Batman decoder ring for many of the items to even figure out where and what the money is going to.  This Bill is totally out of control and anyone voting for it should be ashamed.  Anyway I got about 10 pages into this and saw that it was going to take forever to go through the entire Bill.  So here are some of the items I documented before I quit.

At the bottom are links I found to the Bill and a document that line items the money from the Bill.

This is a bad bill people.  I hope all of you that voted for these idiots are by now wondering if you did the right thing…at a minimum.  You loaded up the House, Senate, and White House with Democrats.  Everyone warned you.  Now it’s time to pay.  Not only are you going to pay but your kids, your kids kids, your kids kids kids, and so on are going to be paying.  An you thought the Republican deficit was bad…

This shouldn’t be about Democrats or Republicans.  It should be about doing the right thing for the American people.  Unfortunately the American people are a side note in this Bill.  This Bill is about paying off special interest groups and their constituents.  See for yourself.

One final note, every Senate Republican is against this and about 11 or so Senate Democrats.

AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

200M - for necessary replacement, modernization, or upgrades of laboratories or other facilities to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary:

22.5M - for oversight and audit of programs, grants, and activities funded under this title

COOPERATIVE STATE RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC SERVICE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

50M - for competitive grants

FARM SERVICE AGENCY AGRICULTURAL CREDIT INSURANCE FUND PROGRAM ACCOUNT

400M - farm ownership loans

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE WATERSHED AND FLOOD PREVENTION OPERATIONS

275M - Watershed Rehabilitation Program

80M - Rural Development Salaries and Expenses

FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS

100M - to carry out a grant program for National School Lunch Program equipment assistance

500M - of which $380,000,000 shall be placed in reserve to be allocated as the Secretary deems necessary, notwithstanding section 17(i) of such Act, to support participation should cost or participation exceed budget estimates, and of which $120,000,000 shall be for the purposes specified in section 17(h)(10)(B)(ii): Provided, That up to one percent of the funding provided for the purposes specified in section 17(h)(10)(B)(ii) may be reserved by the Secretary for Federal administrative activities in support of those purposes.

PAYMENTS TO ELIGIBLE PERSONS WHO SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES IN THE FAR EAST DURING WORLD WAR II.

198M - to be paid to these people

Here is the full text Bill - http://michellemalkin.cachefly.net/michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/amdth1.pdf

Here are the line items from the Bill - http://senateconservatives.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/nelson-collins-stimulus-final1.pdf

Politics Obama, Obama Change, Taxes

Wow.  Now this is change we can all get behind.  Has this country completely lost its mind?!?

So here are the basics; local governments have been raking in truckloads of money collected from gas taxes.  That is a problem for a number of reasons.  People are just driving less which translates to fewer fill-ups.  People are buying more fuel efficient cars which translates to fewer fill-ups.   I know that I have been just slowing down, changing my driving habits to get better mileage out of my existing car.  I have heard a number of other people doing the same.  All of this means less money in the government coffers.  So this is the perfect scheme to continue squeezing money out of us regardless of how many fill-ups we have.

So the global-warming-alarmist-green-tree hugging-freaks of the country love the idea.  It will basically get people to stop driving their cars as much…which is, of course, good for the environment.  Government loves the idea because this tax has nothing to do with the price of gas.  It is a never ending source of revenue.  Oh, and guess what?  Once those GPS devices are in your car, be prepared for the automatic ticketing program to go into effect.  While we are at it, we may as well govern cars speed limits and levy massive fines if you drive over 55 right?

Where does this end?  People, wake up.  Two things are certain in life; death and taxes and as far as the government is concerned, the more taxes the better.  Taxing people out of their cars is an idiotic idea.  Taxation does NOT, I repeat, does NOT stimulate growth, it stifles it.  What do you think is going to happen to all those goods you buy from your favorite stores?  Chances are they got there by truck (still the cheapest way to ship).  Well you guessed it.  The prices are going to sky rocket.

Politics Taxes

So ACORN may get a part of the 4 Billion dollars set aside for “neighborhood stimulus”.  Are you serious?  Boy, this is change we can really stand behind.  Call your Senators and tell them this isn’t where you want YOUR money spent.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Politics Obama Change, Taxes

I am still dumbfounded.  How in the world could anyone with any measure of success and education vote for Obama?  I really don’t know but what I do know is that there were plenty of people that fit that description who voted for him.  Let’s look at a specifc issue.  The number one issue this country faces is the economy.  The McCain camp and the Obama camp would both agree.  So let me break this down for you.

McCain’s idea was to keep the taxes where they were.  He wasn’t planning on giving any individual a tax cut.  His plan was to keep the existing lower taxes in place.  I’m sure most of you don’t know how the brackets break down so I’ll lay it out for you.

10%  :  0-65k | 28%  :  65k-131k | 33%  :  131k-357k | 35%  :  357k+

So the majority of Americans would have been taxed at 10%.  Keep in mind that 40% of that bracket pay zero taxes to begin with.  My feeling is that these tax brackets are too steep anyway but why change this?  Why put an even heavier burden on the disproportionate burden the upper two brackets already carry?

One thing McCain was promoting was cutting taxes on companies by about 10% for large companies to possibly 20% for smaller ones.  This isn’t because he wants to give the rich more and give less to the poor.  To understand how this affects everyone, especially the poor, you need to understand how the market works.  When a company is faced with increased costs (including taxes) they have a few options.  They do one or more of the following:

• Raise prices
• Reduce quantity
• Stop Hiring
• Layoffs
• No Raises
• No Bonuses
• Reduce Benefits

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how this is going to affect the consumer, especially the poor.  We are already seeing the affects of a struggling economy on prices of everyday goods.  Look at the price of dairy.  In the last year prices have seen an increase of about 5% up to 11%.  So guess what.  When Obama starts taxing them higher what do you think is going to happen?  That’s right, prices are going to increase even further.  So instead of people paying $3 for a half gallon of milk we will pay $4 or $5.  Now this isn’t going to impact my family at all but it will certainly impact poorer Americans.

Let’s take a look at some other items.  Have you noticed that most ice cream packages are now about 30% smaller?  Guess what, Pepsi and Coke are going to be coming in 8 packs and 18 packs instead of 12 and 24 packs.  The best part is they will mostly likely be more expensive as well.  We are already seeing these changes.  I ask anyone, how is raising taxes on all of these companies going to help the middle and lower classes?  How?  A $500 check in the mail will be spent quickly but these high prices are here to stay.  What a joke.  How all you educated people missed this is totally beyond me.

Politics Auto Industry, Obama, Taxes

I feel like this election was more about a referendum on the rich than anything else.  I feel like there are millions of people out there that somehow feel entitled to my success.  This is exactly the type of mentality that is destroying this country.  What ever happened to hard work will pay off?  What ever happened to the American dream?  I guess the liberals in this country are just changing what that dream is.  Come to America and we will take care of you.

Taxation is becoming oppressive.  10.25% sales tax.  8.25% local tax.  39.5% Federal tax.  Toll roads.  Ridiculous property taxes.  Use taxes on vehicles. etc, etc, etc.  The list goes on and on.  I am sick to my stomach.  I have never felt more un-American in my life as I do now.

So I am doing something about it.  My family is preparing.  We are cutting all our spending.  I just cut my cable last weekend.  I lease my cars because I drive so much.  I have leased 4 BMWs since 2001.  I am up for a new car in January but I won’t be getting another BMW.  I will either rent a car or buy a cheap used car.  My family usually vacations twice a year.  Not anymore.  I love gadgets.  Always have the latest phones.  Latest computers.  Latest tech.  No more.  I’m done buying it.  I got rid of my phone and now use Skype.  I’ve never clipped coupons but I do now.  If there isn’t a coupon, I don’t buy it.  Basically, I am cutting back everything.  My suggestion is that you do this as well.

Politics Liberals, Savings, Taxes