Looks like Fat Tuesday has come a week early -- The Wizer
Now Continuing our public service of parsing the spendulus speech:
Because we know we can’t power America’s future on energy that’s controlled by foreign dictators, we are taking a big step down the road to energy independence, and laying the groundwork for a new, green energy economy that can create countless well-paying jobs. It’s an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years, and provide tax credits and loan guarantees to companies like Namaste Solar, a company that will be expanding, instead of laying people off, as a result of the plan I am signing. In the process, we will transform the way we use energy.
Companies like Namaste? Doesn't this signal a clear intention of the Obama regime to pick and choose the winners in the market? Why not let "countless well paying jobs" occur organically, by creating the environment where all companies, not just a select few can prosper.
Today, the electricity we use is carried along a grid of lines and wires that dates back to Thomas Edison – a grid that can’t support the demands of clean energy. This means we’re using 19th and 20th century technologies to battle 21st century problems like climate change and energy security. It also means that places like North Dakota can produce a lot of wind energy, but can’t deliver it to communities that want it, leading to a gap between how much clean energy we are using and how much we could be using.
Battling climate change? I thought Obama was all about change. In any case, if building windmills in North Dakota is a good idea, we should get out of the way and let the private sector do it.
The investment we are making today will create a newer, smarter electric grid that will allow for the broader use of alternative energy. We will build on the work that’s being done in places like Boulder, Colorado – a community that is on pace to be the world’s first Smart Grid city. This investment will place Smart Meters in homes to make our energy bills lower, make outages less likely, and make it easier to use clean energy.
"Smart meters"? If it makes energy bills lower, wouldn't the users themselves be motivated to install these "smart meters". It becomes less smart these installations are subsidized by all, yet benefit very few.
It’s an investment that will save taxpayers over one billion dollars by slashing energy costs in our federal buildings by 25% and save working families hundreds of dollars a year on their energy bills by weatherizing over one million homes.
There are 119,117,000 homes in the USA. Which "million" does Obama propose to start with? And, how do you determine whether they are working families or not? Obama talks a lot about helping the working families. Somehow, I don't think he means to exclude non-working families.
And it’s an investment that takes the important first step towards a nationwide transmission superhighway that will connect our cities to the windy plains of the Dakotas and the sunny deserts of the Southwest. Even beyond energy, from the National Institutes of Health to the National Science Foundation, this recovery act represents the biggest increase in basic research funding in the long history of America’s noble endeavor to better understand our world. Just as President Kennedy sparked an explosion of innovation when he set America’s sights on the moon, I hope this investment will ignite our imagination once more, spurring new discoveries and breakthroughs that will make our economy stronger, our nation more secure, and our planet safer for our children.
Feeding the bureacracy isn't going to get us back to the moon. What exactly are these institutions challenged to do? I don't see the big visionary scenario; the one big idea. Kennedy's goal was not controversial, so there were few people who thought it necessary to speak out. In retrospect, the goal was certainly expensive, and we got a few moon-rocks to show for it. Let's hope there is more to show after this money goes up like a Saturn V.
While this package is mostly composed of critical investments, it also includes aid to state and local governments to prevent layoffs of firefighters or police recruits – recruits like the ones in Columbus, Ohio who were told that instead of being sworn-in as officers, they would be let go.
Picking the winners and losers among the police departments in Columbus Ohio hardly seems like it should be among the priorities of a federal government. Ohio should be bristling at this presumptuous interference from the government. Further, if the recruits were worthy enough, they would eventually be hired by the same entity, and taxpayer subsidization would be unnecessary.
It includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis like the nearly 18 million Americans who will get larger unemployment checks in the mail. And about a third of this package comes in the form of tax cuts – the most progressive in our history – not only spurring job-creation, but putting money in the pockets of 95% of all hardworking families. Unlike tax cuts we’ve seen in recent years, the vast majority of these tax benefits will go not to the wealthiest Americans but to the middle class – with those workers who make the least benefiting the most.
Oh, so that explains it. All of our problems have been caused by the wealthy. There are 18 million unemployed. We want to help 95% of hardworking families, and then there's the middle class. Why not have everyone wear a label? Mr. Obama needs to understand that we are all Americans. We do not consider ourselves members of any group (wealthy, middle, hardworking, non-working, Italian, Greek, Green, or any other group). We want solutions that benefit everybody, and don't single out a so-called group for which it will or won't help.
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