Cantor says Obama should amend stimulus package

Cantor at his best….all mouth, no substance. Anything to get his mug on the screen and his name in the paper.  No solutions, just posturing for a 2012 run. Noticed that he and Diana had front row seats for the Capitol Fourth celebration on PBS. More face time in the media, of course.

SSN, you can criticize Barney Frank and other Dems for pushing for equitable treatment in the mortgage loan industry where banks have unfairly courted and offered many benefits to their prime customers for years, while ignoring and exploiting the middle and lower classes. Make no mistake - the banks, investment and insurance companies who got us into this mess chose to follow that path, collect the proceeds, and were living high on the hog. They were given free reign by Bush 2 and abused it. Now, they want the hard working public to bail them out and are laughing their way to higher than ever profits, executive salaries, and golden parachutes, all on the backs of hardworking Americans who, facing the worst economic times in years, are tightening their belts and saving rather than spending.

The solution:  government has to step in. That’s the purpose of government - to prevent the powerful from abusing the common people. We had eight years of reckless power, absence of oversight, and an administration that thumbed it’s nose at the rest of us.

I haven’t heard the details of Cantor’s “alternate” plan re the stimulus, nor any meaningful proposals from Cantor or other Republicans for controlling health care costs. As usual, the “pubbies” are all criticism and no substance.

As for health care, while I’m not for a government run program, neither the AMA nor the insurance industry is offering any viable options. Everyone deserves a basic level of health care and to accomplish that, everyone is going to have to be willing to give a little. Studies have shown that if we moved from an illness-focused model to a preventative model, our health care costs would diminish dramatically and the general health of the our population would improve. But then, that would take money out of the pockets of physicians, insurers, medical technology companies (“If we create/build it, they will want it”) plaintiff’s attorneys, and others who thrive on an illness-driven model.

And why is Cantor mounting a campaign to “malign” Speaker Pelosi over her trip to Syria?  She did nothing wrong. This is just more of the partisan lip that Mr. Cantor has taken on as his mission and nothing more. Five Republican Congressmen made the same trip that Pelosi did but I don’t hear anybody making critical remarks about them. And, if anyone bothered to read, Pelosi followed the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which encouraged dialogue, not the mass destruction and destabilization for which Mr. Cantor’s party has continued to encourage and vote.

Were we not spending trillions on two unnecessary wars and stoking the coffers of the military/industrial/technological complex (from which Cheney et al continue to profit), we could be funding basic health care for all.  What a novel idea.

Better ideas, Eric???? I’m all ears as long as they’re based on facts, novel thought, and not simply criticism. How about doing what you were elected to do - finding reasonable solutions - instead of constantly undermining the efforts of others to do so.

“SSN,

It has only been a few months since the stimulus was passed… perhaps you are of the “NOW” generation?  Or maybe you just want it to fail?“

Oh, here we go again.  The old “since I don’t have anything of substance, I will accuse you of wanting it to fail.“  Bull, or at least gather some knowledge. Address the fact that the funds have not been distributed to any great degree and will not be distributed for years.  Address the fact of the Obama claim that only passing the bill immediately would prevent unemployment above 8%, and unemployment is already at 9.4%.  Address the fact that his free-wheeling spending will double the total national debt within 10 years.  Address the fact that inflation will sky-rocket with the usual rise in unemployment.  Or at least take a basic economics course.

//FYI, it took 8 years to get to ourselves in the mess we are in (not 200).  After Clinton in 2000, we were bringing in more than we were spending!//

However, reality is that is took considerably longer than 8 years and is based upon the the collapse of housing caused mainly by the efforts of such as Barney Franks and the other Democrats who pushed for lenders to grant loans to those who could not afford it because they wanted to attract them as voters.  It was Barney Franks himself who said that neither Freddie Mac nor Fannie Mae were in trouble.  Just before they both collapsed.  It was Bill Clinton who said that the Democrats fought the efforts of himself and Bush to regulate the process.

//Let us also not forget the PRIVATE SECTOR (you apparently hold so highly) got us in this trouble!//

Let us also forget that that is nonsense.

//Let’s consider the option of doing nothing:  When the markets started tumbling (due to our own greed) fear spread and everyone stopped spending.  Companies of all sizes saw their revenues fall so they stopped producing.//

It’s generally called since people aren’t buying and since we want to keep going, we have to cut back or else ALL of our employees will be laid off.

“We have to look to our government to stop the down cycle when no one else steps up!  No one will argue that spending ourselves into further debt is ideal BUT it was our best option.“

Nonsense.  The government you prize so highly is what got us into this mess.  And continues to do so.

Have any you commenters ever requested to your Congressmen or Senator to cut their own Congressional budget. There is very little oversight on Congress’s own budget unless it is someone that has been made a scapegoat. The government has picked up the tab for travel to vacation spots such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for our congressional representatives and their families. I do not hear anyone complaining about this. The House and Senate members enjoy the use of Walter Reed Army Hospital for their medical needs without payment while John Q. Public is paying up to $1000.00 a month for insurance. Talk about Obama all you want too but he is easiler to blame, start questioning your own representatives for their spending habits.

//Secondly, did I not read an article recently that said the first stimulus dollars had hit the pavement in Virginia.  Are we jumping to conclusions here?//

And just why have they not “hit the pavement”.  Perhaps because the largest part of the money is backloaded and won’t be available for another 2 years?  How much current effect is that going to have?  How is it going to slow the unemployment rate that we were promised would not go above 8% if the funds were passed immediately, but is now at 9.4% and going up?  What effect will doubling or even tripling within 10 years the national debt that took 200 years to reach the level at which Obama started, have on the economy?

//Third, all of the funds are going to private enterprise.  Sure, the money is channeled through the government… is there any other way?  But who ends up doing the work?//

That you believe any of that says more than you can realize.  “To private enterprise”?  As long as private enterprise does as one of Obama’s many czars commands.  “Channeled through the government”?  And the government has such a successful history of channeling our money doesn’t it?  “Who ends up doing the work”?  More than likely, the unions that are being paid back for providing $60 million to Obama’s campaign.

“Finally, GIVEN A CHANCE TO WORK… I am all for amending a spending bill if there is a better way!“

Excellent.  There are a number of proven ways to do so.

mrright, I’m with you.
The constitution is of no concern to BHO.
Stay out of my pockets, uncle sam.
Stay out of my pockets!