Where Did Congress Get the Economic Stimulus Money?

"Donuts verses Doughnuts; it's all the same. The economic stimulus money will be gone but the debt will be with our grandchildren."
Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: Arkansas U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (D-Dist 4)is known to some to be Blue Dog and to others to be a liberal. He is known in his district as the man who can bring home the "bacon." Not being pro limited government, Ross brings home more Federal funds to Arkansas Dist 4 than any of the three other Arkansas U.S. Representatives.

Last Friday, Rep. Ross spoke in Arkadelphia to the Arkansas County Assessors at DeGray Lake State Park Resort. Ross relating to the Assessors they were important because they they were the avenue for increased property taxes. And we know this congressman likes taxes. Someday, it would be nice to hear a public speaker acknowledge that assessors are important because while assessing people they stand between the government and the property owners to assure that each person is treated equally and fairly.

Obviously, to a Congressman, available taxes are very important. Although having available taxes before spending them in Washington DC is not always required. Ross touted the House Democrats' "paygo rules" claiming that each bill has to include funding before it can be passed. On the surface "paygo rules"appear to be reasonable, but they are in a big confidence game. Learm more about the Democrats PAYGO Face. Ross related that 70% of the bills passed by the current session were funded by cutting wasteful spending. What was that wasteful spending? Wouldn't you like to know which programs or services were cut. No, it wasn't congressional trips and unnecessary congressional hearings.

Rep. Ross said that two bills recently passed that did not meet the "paygo rules." The first was the bill to pay tax rebates under the economic stimulus package and the second was to revamp the tax code to make wealthy persons pay more taxes. Taking the second bill first, although he did not discuss this bill, he was addressing the AMT tax which was established only for the very rich and would be used as bludgeon on middle income families for whom the AMT tax was never to have been applied. The "paygo rules" were not appropriate in this situation because the tax from the AMT was never intended to be collected on the middle class and therefor no offset needed to be considered. It would have been like saying, we plan to steal $50 billion from a 20 to 25 million hardworking middle income taxpayers but since we can't steal the money and we still wish to spend this money, we need to find another way to get the $50 billion because we still want to spend it. Learn more about the AMT issue.

With regard to the economic stimulus package, Ross admitted, "We [i.e, Congress] had to borrow the money" for the economic stimulus rebates." In other-words, they did not have the money, so they borrowed the money with interest to give money to American (and many non-American) taxpayers and non-taxpayers. This one time check expanded the National debt. From whom does Congress intend to get this money in the future to pay down this additional debt? And who did they borrow the money from - China, Japan, EU Banks? Or are they just printing checks backed by the declining good will of the U.S. Government. Doubtful, y, they are robbing the social security funds because Congress has already done this previously. Wonder why they did not exempt themselves or their very rich friends from this economic stimulus rebate?

Rep. Ross encourages his audience to spend the money as fast as you can. Which is a good Democrat axiom. Being from Arkansas, Ross did encourage them to buy American-made products at local stores and shops. Last time I shopped, most local Arkansas stores were full of imported goods. And, what consumer does not wish to save money? Maybe I will spend my stimulus check on gasoline or whole lot of American made Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Donuts verses Doughnuts; it's all the same. The economic stimulus money will be gone but the debt will be with our grandchildren. What a country!

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Tags: Bill Smith, borrowed funds, economic stimulus, Mike Ross, National Debt, PAYGO, US Congress To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!