This is an encouraging sign:
Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy.
The legislation represents the first major test for President Obama and an expanded Democratic Congress, both of which have made economic recovery the cornerstone of their new political mandate. The stimulus package has now tripled from its post-election estimate of about $300 billion, and in recent days lawmakers in both parties have grown wary of the swelling cost.
Moderate Republicans are trying to trim the bill by as much as $200 billion, although Democrats working with those GOP senators have not agreed to a specific figure.
The Senate’s first vote on a stimulus amendment, a failed effort yesterday to add more infrastructure spending to the package, signaled the change in course. For weeks, the measure has grown to meet a worsening economic crisis with the largest possible infusion of government cash. Despite warnings of dire consequences if Congress does not act boldly, Republicans have become resolute in their opposition to what they view as runaway and unnecessary spending in the legislation. And as the total in the Senate version climbs to $900 billion, unease also is stirring among moderate Democrats.
via Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus – washingtonpost.com.
I am glad to see that the Republicans and some of the more saner elements of the Democratic Party are ridding this Economic Stimulus Bill of unnecessary pork. I think that it is a shame that the Far left wing of the Democratic Party would use this economic downturn to try and further their socialist agenda. I think the voters should remember this when they go to the polls in 2010.
Others: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Megan McArdle, Marginal Revolution, Balance of Power, Free exchange, LiberalOasis, The Washington Independent, The Plum Line, Associated Press, Reason, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The Caucus, The Corner, The Plank, D-Day, Gawker, Wonk Room, Outside The Beltway, AMERICAblog News, Wizbang and Shopfloor
(via Memeorandum)
Fact is the government really shouldn’t be dabbling in saving the economy via more spending anyway.
If most sane common sense folk were presented with a friend who was say 18 thousand dollars in debt and unable to meet his monthly expenses like, netflix, cable, season ticket costs, etc., we wouldn’t tell him to go out and get a personal loan and spend more money on a blue ray entertainment center and a sports car to get out of his problems. We’d tell him to work at cutting the luxuries, paying off debt, and saving. That’s what the government needs to do to. What it is doing is going to lead to inflation. I’ve been following the price of gold with the widget ExactPrice and I kind of get the feeling a fair number of investors are feeling the same way as gold is seeing some moves upward.
I can only figure this is because so many are looking at it as a safe haven from the dollar which a number of economists like Sprott and Schiff are warning against. Whatever happens I know that I’m going to work at saving and debt elimination.
Hello Hal!
Thanks for the comment, and pointing me to the desktop widget. I will check it out.
I also have a Gold Prices page on the blog here. Click here to check it out!
Again, come back again and comment often!
-Pat
Hi, Paleo! Thanks for the info on your gold page. I’m going to check it out and add you to my rss feed reader.
You might be interested in this article I just found this morning: Gary North On The Coming Inflation.
I’ve not had the chance to read the whole thing yet but I generally like what I read from Jutia Group.
Oh, and let me know what you think about the widget. I know one of the people in charge of it and their always looking for user feedback on ways to improve it.
Real time Gold, Silver and Platinum prices would be nice.
and, thanks, the more readers the better.
Well it is in real time so that parts covered
Well, the lowest graph is for 24 hours. Should be to like 1 minute, 5 minutes and so on.
Gotcha. I’ll pass that along. I would like to see something like that myself.