The Stimulus Swindle

Whenever Washington starts patting itself on the back - whenever politicians of both parties start praising each other on an economic issue - hold onto your wallet, because you are about to get fleeced. That's precisely what happened during the debate over the economic "stimulus" package, as I show in my new nationally syndicated column out today.

Though Democrats did win manage to include some progressive tax rebates in the final package, roughly $70 billion of the agreement is business tax cuts - yet another gift to K Street and the corporate interests that need help the least. Instead of strengthening the social safety net, which would get cash flowing in the economy the fastest, Congress is opting for tax cuts that experts say would not hit the economy for months.

The package shows just how skewed our economic and tax debate still is on both sides of the aisle in Washington. Despite the Democracy Corps' most recent poll showing that Americans are ready to embrace major progressive tax reform, Democrats quickly embraced the tax cut frame. Despite the Bush Treasury Department admitting that America has one of the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the developed world, Republicans are saying with a straight face that the way to make America more competitive is to cut corporate tax rates further.

The whole thing reeks of politics and payoffs - as usual. Here we have major health care, unemployment, public infrastructure and housing crises, and our government is once again stumbling over itself to hand over more of the federal treasury to private corporate interests - many of the same interests that caused the current financial meltdown. If historians does look back at this era as the beginning of America's diminishing strength, they will hold up this "stimulus" package as a pristine example of what went wrong.

Go read the whole column here. If you'd like to see my column regularly in your local paper, use this directory to find the contact info for your local editorial page editors. Get get in touch with them and point them to my Creators Syndicate site.

Comments

[OhPlease2007]

03:02 AM on 01/26/2008

David, don't you think this stimulus package is ass-backwards? Shouldn't the federal government be lowering the taxable rate for consumers, and giving business the 'rebate checks?' I mean, the tax rebate checks are counted as extra income and this extra income must be listed on many consumers' next IRS filing, right? So, in the end, BOTH consumers -and- the Federal Treasury take a financial loss. But because the amount in taxes coming back to the treasury will be far less than the amount of funds going out in tax-rebate checks, our national deficit plunges even deeper; not to mention the dollar eroding against foreign currencies, impending inflation, and no end in sight to jobs being outsourced overseas. How in the hell do the politicians expect to solve our nation's long term massive debt problems if the debt is plunged even deeper by tax-rebate checks being handed out like candy in an almost broke treasury??? Handing out rebate checks to consumers in an already financially troubled is nothing more than a 'jedi-mind-trick' to make the economy seem like it 'looks' good. The feds are telling people to quickly spend the money because the faster the money exchanges from hand to hand, the quicker the federal economic numbers will rise on the books. But when you have more money flying out of the fed coffers than they can realistically expect to come back in, this whole economic stimulus package is phony buy its very economic nature. It robs from our children's future and it is totally ass-backwards. In my opinion, the feds waited too long to finally wake up to reality, and unfortunately, I think it may be too little too late.

[Desiderata]

10:17 PM on 01/25/2008

We are not getting a gift of our own money in this "stimulus" package. It is nothing more than an unsolicited check(no different than those checks Visa, Mastercard and others place in your mailboxes) that tempts you to cash it before your brain can consider the future usurious cost. It is a loan that must be paid back with the hidden interest of higher inflation, a near worthless dollar, and an even worse standard of living for most of the American people.

The lure of a quick but short-lived fix has as it's ultimate goal a nation so emptied and desperate that it citizens will stampede themselves into the low-wage corrals of their Corporate Masters.

[cynara]

05:38 PM on 01/25/2008

Okay, I read your full length article. The problem with "urgent" bills is that they always seemed to be passed without enough scrutiny and, as a result, packed to the gills with corporate favors. I have no reason to suspect this one will be any less favor-packed or any better thought out.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

05:22 PM on 01/25/2008

No one is talking about where all this money is coming from......let me guess: we're going to borrow it from the Chinese or the Japanese OR we're just going to crank up the printing presses.

Yeah, that will help the economy. What a bunch of morons.

[mmckinl]

05:19 PM on 01/25/2008

The Swindle ?

The 100 million stimulus is designed to give the Fed another Trillion to bail out their shareholders, the Money Center Banks. Because our Government will have to borrow this money the debt placed in the Fed will be leveraged 10 to 1 using debt based fractional banking.

Where are the editorials and columns about the role of debt-based currrency and the viability of a privately owned and operated Federal Reserve?

The Panic of 2008 is all about debt-based currency and the role of the Federal Reserve in (not) regulating the financial system.

Who will ask the tough but necessary questions:

-Why shouldn't we fire the Fed? and,

-What is the role of debt-based money in the rapacious destruction of our environment?

The Libertariann Right have their position on these matters; Where are the Progressives and Liberals ?

[mmckinl]

05:09 PM on 01/25/2008

The 100 million stimulus is designed to give the Fed another Trillion to bail out their shareholders, the Money Center Banks. Because our Government will have to borrow this money the debt placed in the Fed will be leveraged 10 to 1 using debt based fractional banking.

Where are the editorials and columns about the role of debt-based currrency and the viability of a privately owned and operated Federal Reserve?

The Panic of 2008 is all about debt-based currency and the role of the Federal Reserve in (not) regulating the financial system.

Who will ask the tough but necessary questions:

-Why shouldn't we fire the Fed? and,

-What is the role of debt-based money in the rapacious destruction of our environment?

The Libertariann Right have their position on these matters; Where are the Progressives and Liberals ?

[RTIII]

01:21 PM on 01/25/2008

"Despite the Democracy Corps' most recent poll showing that Americans are ready to embrace major progressive tax reform, Democrats quickly embraced the tax cut frame."

Just stating the OBVIOUS: ALL the Republicans and FAR TOO MANY - perhaps half - of the Democrats are FASCISTS. Not all, but it's getting close to too late to change.

WE "PROGRESSIVES" MUST TAKE OVER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

[RTIII]

01:18 PM on 01/25/2008

"Despite the Democracy Corps' most recent poll showing that Americans are ready to embrace major progressive tax reform, Democrats quickly embraced the tax cut frame."
Just stating the OBVIOUS: The Democrats are _almost_ as bad as the Republicans. Far too many of them are actually Fascists. ALL the Republicans are Fascists and now perhaps more than half of Democrats are as well.
WE "PROGRESSIVES" MUST TAKE OVER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

[cynara]

12:44 PM on 01/25/2008

David - just a note, the link you provide for "read the whole column here", sends us to your article "Digging In the Right Place", which does specifically address the topic of this blog, not "The Stimulus Swindle" (which focuses on the stimulus package).

The link for your article "The Stimulous Swindle" is:
http://action.credomobile.com/commentary/2008/01/the_stimulus_swindle.html

[LeftRight]

12:37 PM on 01/25/2008

I still find it amusing that one of the leading GOP supporters of the "stimulus package" said that the worst thing that could happen from it is that people would use it to pay off credit card debt, or a mortgage payment, you know, anything but spending it where it MIGHT do a little teeny tiny bit of good.

[tjntn]

12:16 PM on 01/25/2008

I was very interested to see the reference that led Siroto (between plugs for his column) to conclude "America has one of the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the developed world". That is the kind of thing I can use against my conservative friends. But when I read the reference, nothing that could give that impression is in sight. In fact, the report states "Within the OECD, the United States now has the second highest statutory corporate tax rate (including state corporate taxes) – 39 percent – compared with the average OECD statutory tax rate of 31 percent". Did Siroto read his own reference? If someone can find what might have led Siroto to his conclusion, please respond to this. I am against big business control of our country but I am also aware that you better get your facts straight.

[ORSunshine]

12:14 PM on 01/25/2008

The most interesting thing I heard all day was a clip from a speech by Mike Huckabee... he actually said that the rebate won't work unless American consumers spend money on American-made goods and services (instead of buying crap manufactured in China). He also said that since the money to pay for the rebates was being borrowed from China in the first place that the only real beneficiary of this stimulus package... is China (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18409472 -- starting at 2:00 minutes). So I'm scared of Huckabee for his "values," but I'm glad someone has the guts to call a Spade a Spade.

[beef33]

11:49 AM on 01/25/2008

Yeah no shit. It is also funny how this big "stimulus" thing is framed by the media. The greedy corporations are running scared now and are desperately trying to get people to keep spending money they don't have. What a bunch of garbage. And as you say the washington elite members of congres regardless of party rubberstamping anything to try and help their rich buddies who have been showering them with money. "Stimulus" what a friggin' joke.

[hopeless277]

11:31 AM on 01/25/2008

The Shock Doctrine in action right in front of our eyes and we are all helpless to stop it. I guess that's what happens when it's the whole federal government ganging up against the population. Ah, well, just relax and enjoy it. What does not kill us makes us stronger. HA!!

[Snardius]

11:02 AM on 01/25/2008

Since the best help a poor person can get is a job -- and companies (especially small companies) provide jobs, why tax companies at all. Additionally, the tax paid by corporations is passed on to the consumer so why tax corporations at all? Giving a tax rebate will help the retailers for maybe one quarter...giving companies a tax rate reduction and accelerated depreciation would give companies the breathing room to expand and hire more workers.

But then, that would mean the economy would be in great shape just in time for the election and that's not what Democrats want.