These stimulus checks - It was easy (one vote) and gets them TV time in front of the citizenry.

However, when you have people like Blumenauer who will never fund anything to do with a freeway, I don't think we are going to get the roads fixed at a Fed level real quickly either.

The political will isn't there to make needed changes and I don't think will be until the country hits rock bottom. So they might as well keep up this crap to help us along. The sooner we crash the sooner we can get about making changes.

I'll take the stimulus checks. Think I'll buy a new bicycle and/or take a Portland Community College course. I'd rather have the money than the likes of O-Bum-a. Yeah, the Great Society Programs were such losers we need to repeat them before we really hit rock bottom.

These are signs of desperation on the part of a country unwilling to face the hard economic truths that have begun arriving in droves.

A dead-on accurate statement. National debt well north of 9 trillion, on the way to 10 trillion, no plan to pay it off. That is only one small piece of the dismal economic picture. If McCain wins his new tax cuts will fix it all!

"These are signs of desperation on the part of a country unwilling to face the hard economic truths that have begun arriving in droves. The sooner we get real about them, the better."

What would you consider the proper way to 'face' these hard economic truths? Raising taxes, as the Democrats want to do, in an economic downturn is NOT the correct way to reverse this trend as it would drive us deeper into a recession. We need to cut spending, here at home AND with our overseas endeavors. I'm pretty positive neither the Democrats or the Neo-con's are willing to do that.

I do agree with you that the stimulus payments are wasteful and foolish. The un

"We need to cut spending, here at home AND with our overseas endeavors."

Case in point:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/clinton-2.3b-in-earmarks-2008-04-28.html

One way to "face these hard economic truths" would be to get out of Iraq's business. McCain sure aint gonna do it. The stimuli are the equivalent of giving methadone to a heroin addict. Meanwhile, Seven Feathers and the Oregon Lottery prepare for a windfall.

Agree and Agree. Obama's right on the gas tax holiday and right on the stimulus checks.

That said, when that stimulus check comes, are we going to spend it. Sure are! We don't earn much money, and we got bills to pay (I know they want me to spend it at the Wal•Mart, but bills come first). Yay stimulus!

There are a lot of reasons why ga$ prices are so high now, but the two biggest are greed and speculators. Fuel is national security issue but nothing can be truly sacred if there's Money To Be Made In It™. There's profit to be had? Yay! Let's go balls out bidding it to the sky, devil take the hindmost!

Obama=O-bum-a! HA! Comedy Gold!

Don't any of you realize that your liberal government takes from you $3 BILLION a year. You think your government can spend your money more wisely than you? If you do give them every thing you make and go on welfare.

Jimbo wrote:
> National debt well north of 9 trillion, on > the way to 10 trillion, no plan to pay
> it off.

If modern times have taught us anything, it's that deficiets do not matter. We have spent lavishly over the last three decades, and our economy has risen as prodigious rates. Should the money spent on goods and services and jobs have been sent overseas to China instead? No. Banks money by creating it, by going into debt. They hock themselves heavily so they can obtain income from interest rate streams. It no different from the federal government. No one is going to call in our loans -- we couldn't pay anyway -- so they will have to be content with the 5.5%/yr bond returns they agreed to.

Paying off debt is a stupid way to spend our money -- nearly every other way to spend it has a higher return.

Why do you think economists have not insisted our govt pay this deficit off over the last 30 years?

Because they know this as well.

Richard wrote:
> Don't any of you realize that your
> liberal government takes from you $3
> BILLION a year.

First of all, it's $3 trillion, genius.

Second of all, note that your "liberal government" left a budget of a mere $1.9T in 2001.

It is CONSERVATIVES, and especially Bush, who have ramped up our budget in the last 8 years, to about $3.1T.

That's right, it's the conservatives, who clearly lied in 2001 when they ran for president. Nothing "liberal" about it at all.

In fact, the last time we had a balanced budget was under the "liberal" Clinton administration, in the last 90s.

How can you call those people conservative? They're anything but.

As a service to my fellow readers who believe their "economic stimulus" payment is a waste and frivolous.. here is the location to return your check...

IRS
1220 S.W. Third Ave.
Portland, OR 97204

Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.