Top seven things to hate about the stimulus bill

As the solons of the US Congress (and currently the Senate) debate the pending porkulus bill, (also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), I thought I would take some time and develop a short list of the really big things that are wrong with this thing.

With that I give you the "Top seven things to hate about the stimulus bill":

1) It's over at least 647 pages long.

Anyone who pays any attention to what goes on in Congress (or any state legislature for that matter) knows that the longer the bill, the more things there are hiding in there that the authors don't want people to see. Not to mention the fact that, when a bill is this long, the people actually VOTING on the bill rarely know everything that's in it...much less can fully debate it.

2) The fact that they're in such a hurry to pass it.

Anytime politicians use a crisis to say "hurry, up...hurry, up...we have to do something NOW", watch out. It means they don't want you to pay attention. It means they're trying to use the "crisis" as cover to do things that have nothing to do with the "crisis".

3) It won't actually stimulate the economy.

One would normally expect a "stimulus" bill to stimulate something...besides the national debt that is. But even the Congressional Budget Office itself admits that the bill won't have much of an impact when it comes to actually "stimulating" the economy...especially not in the short term.

4) It will add roughly another TRILLION dollars to our national debt.

A national debt which is now over TEN TRILLION. I mean, really... It's approaching the point where we can forget about criticizing bills that "mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren". It's getting to the point now where we won't have to wait that long to find out what happens when the bill comes due.

5) Funding for ACORN.

Yes, that ACORN. You remember those guys...the community organizer types that live off the federal teat and/or by shaking down banks. The guys that use the cover of "neighborhood stabilization" to ID, register and turnout votes for Democrats, (with a healthy dose of voter fraud in the process). Well, thanks to this bill, they'll become eligible for over four BILLION dollars of your tax money. (Never let it be said the Democrats don't remember their friends)

6) It creates at least 32 new government programs.

Yes, the bill that's supposed to stimulate the economy will instead stimulate the growth of new government programs...(statement from GOP House here) which will of course return to the federal teat year after year hereafter. As Ronald Reagan said, government programs are the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth.

7) It's full of pork.

OK, you probably already knew that, but I mean really, really full of pork. I won't try and go through it all here because there's not enough time or space. Instead, I simply suggest you go to Stimulus Watch and check it out for yourself. It's a great site which itemizes all the garbage in this bill...what it is, where it's for, how much it will cost, etc. (chalk one up for the power of the Internet).

Of course, add all these reason to the fact that it doesn't do what it should/could do, if these people had any sense. As in say, cutting the payroll tax, cutting the corporate tax, allowing businesses to expense 100% of new equipment purchases in one year instead of depreciating them over 15 years, etc... And that's just a few examples. But, alas, elections have consequences. And buddy, we're all going to find out the hard way.

(By the way, feel free to offer your own lists of "things to hate" in the comments section. I add them to a follow up post)

So what can you do about it?

Well, as Yogi once said, "It ain't over, til it's over". But we're about as close as you can get. But that doesn't matter. Contact your members of Congress and let them know how you feel.

Contact your senators ASAP.

You can use our "Stop the Spending" campaign to send a personalized fax to your members of Congress.

Whatever you do, don't let them be able to say they never heard from you when the bill comes due.