Dear Editor:
The recent stimulus bill is anything but. The trillion dollar plus price tag, soon to be followed by $2-3 trillion more in the next several months will fundamentally change our nation’s fiscal strength and our way of life. When completed, the government’s share of the economy will double from 20 to 40 percent. Socialism has arrived. Rather than concentrating on timely, focused relief this plan is a liberal wish list. The President and Congress assured us that the public would have at least 48 hours to review the package. Instead it was 15. Typically, bills are electronically transmitted to lawmakers, allowing them to type in words or phrases in a search mode. Not in this case! As usual, most congressmen didn’t even bother to read the document prior to voting. If timing was so important why did President Obama leave for the weekend without signing it? Is this the change we were told we would have? There are series of items such as “Scientific Research”, $2.5 billion. What type of research? Where? Who will do it? When will we do it? This 1,000 page bill gives no answers. Is this a limited, focused plan? How are we going to finance this pork? How high will interest rates have to go in order raise this massive amount of funds?
The list of pet projects is too large to list but here’s a few: An $8 billion maglev train from Disney World to Las Vegas? This makes Democratic Senate Leader, Harry Reid (NV) happy, but is far from a “shovel ready project”. $5 billion for Community Activists such as ACORN (Google: ACORN voter fraud) to bail out subprime loans that have an 80-90 percent default rate and should never have been made in first place. At least Speaker Pelosi’s Salt Marsh Mouse will be protected. $1.2 billion for youth activities, and $500 million for child nutrition. All are laudable, but is it stimulus? One time checks to people who pay no income taxes (welfare)? The Congressional Budget Office, with economists appointed by Democrats predicts in five years that this bill will probably harm our economy by “crowding out” private investment needed to finance this act. The list is endless.
The Republican alternative centered on a payroll tax holiday for all working Americans and tax cuts for lower middleclass workers at half the price to taxpayers. This alternative would have provided immediate, consistent, focused relief to 75 percent of Americans. Most people don’t know that employers match your payroll taxes. This holiday would have also helped corporations, small businesses, and even states and municipalities like New Jersey and Hoboken.
New Jersey has an out of control budget. We can’t stop spending money. We now live in the highest taxed state in the nation. Think of Hoboken on steroids. Last year we finally beat out California by having more millionaires leaving our state. The biggest reason was taxes! Tough to do, since California has four times our population. Will giving us aid before we try cutting the fat encourage our lawmakers to be thriftier? Why should they? This is change? I guess it is. Workers of the World Unite!
Scott Siegel
Ward1, 7th district Republican Committee Representative