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Congratulations, Congressman, on completely missing the point.

by: Adama

Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 13:37:22 PM EST

(Missing the point or just repeating standard GOP spin? - promoted by phillip anderson)

The following came out of an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle about President Obama's speech tonight.

Freshman Rep. Chris Lee, one of only three Republicans left in New York's congressional delegation, said he opposed the stimulus package because it didn't include enough tax cuts for small businesses.
"It's important that the president sets the right tone with regard to the economy," Lee said. "Unfortunately, his hope was that the stimulus bill would have a positive effect on the stock market. But it hasn't."

Adama :: Congratulations, Congressman, on completely missing the point.

No, Congressman, that wasn't the point at all. The hope was, and is, that the stimulus bill will have a positive effect on the economy, so that people can get jobs, and feed their families. Contrary to the assumptions of the ultra-wealthy, or junior members of the Financial Services Committee (or those who are both), the Dow Jones and hedge funds are not the only measure of prosperity. And in fact, the performance of the stock market doesn't matter much at all to you if you no longer have a job to pay into your savings.

Tags: stimulus bill, Chris Lee, (All Tags)

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Congratulations, Congressman, on completely missing the point. | 2 comments

I will go with Phillip on this one... (4.00 / 1)

And say that this is standard GOP spin. Tax cuts are the way into any Republican's heart, but tax cuts have also contributed to our current economic crisis.

Lee can whine about the lack of tax cuts, but about one-third of the package was tax cuts. So this isn't about tax cuts. Tax cuts make for a good talking point. But the truth is this was about spending.

Although, as President Obama told them, the goal of stimulus is for the government to spend (or invest) money so that the economy gets an injection of capital that it needs. If we wanted a "tax cut package", we would have done that. But we wanted a "stimulus package." So we limited the tax cuts and emphasized investment.

by: robert.harding @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 21:14:24 PM UTC