Dear Senator Dr. Tom Coburn,
Honorable Sir:
Is it possible that you don't know that America is in the ICU?
How many of your patients have you counseled to refuse 40% of the ICU care because it would put their children in debt? None and never I would guess.
Who cares how much ICU cost when they are in there?
So when American is failing fast and we don't quite know why or what's happening, we are putting her in the ICU and attempting to keep her vitals up until we can find and directly treat the underlying problem.
You would never put together a deliberative committee to meet next week to decide whether to put a patient in the ICU. Why are we treating America any different?
The only reason I can come to, is that you don't believe America is that sick.
Can we have a second opinion?
You, your Republican Party, your ideology, won't mean nothing, if America dies or comes out of this feeble.
5 comments:
GOP cure-all: tax breaks..especially for those that don't need them. Just cuz it failed (spectacularly) the last 8 years is no reason not to trust them..:)
I don't think another week or two delay in passing the bill would matter at all, IF the Republicans were actually bringing thoughtful counterproposals that could be debated on merit. The "nothing should be done' and "nothing can be done" camps are relatively small. However, the Republican-proposed and currently included $15,000 tax credit to home buyers is pretty typical: they don't HAVE any principles, and the Senate never debates on merit.
Shame, though - the arguments that the bill is too small or wrongly designed seem to me pretty powerful - because if the stimulus bill fails in the eyes of the public, I'm not sure what plan B would be, and I'm sure the whole notion of a stimulus would be discredited.
Below is a table from a 2008 report at Moody Economics that shows what each kind of economic stimulus would return to the economy per each dollar spent.
Note the highest return, bang for the buck, is in Food Stamps (now cut from the comprimise bill). The lowest(actually a loss) are continuing Bush's tax cuts and Acceleration Depreciation tax cuts.
Table 1: Fiscal Economic Bang for the Buck
One year $ change in real GDP for a given $ reduction in federal tax revenue or increase
in spending
Tax Cuts
Non-refundable lump-sum tax rebate $1.02
Refundable lump-sum tax rebate $1.26
Temporary tax cuts
payroll tax holiday $1.29
Across the board tax cut $1.03
Accelerated depreciation $0.27
Permanent tax cuts
Extend alternative minimum tax patch $0.48
Make Bush income tax cuts permanent $0.29
Make dividend and capital gains tax cuts permanent $0.37
Cut in corporate tax rate $0.30
Spending Increases
Extending UI benefits $1.64
Temporary increase in food stamps $1.73
General aid to state governments $1.36
Increased infrastructure spending $1.59
Source: Moody's Economy.com
and
http://www.economy.com/default.asp?src=economy_mainnav
When does stupidity become treason I wonder?
The US debt is proportional to tax cuts
..thanks, GOP
Tell me again why we should be bi-partisan?
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