it's only the largest spending bill in history because of inflation.  percentage-wise, it's broaching on previous massive spending packages, but only the largest when one does not take into perspective history.

"cloverfield" was the highest grossing movie in the month of january ever.  why? because ticket prices are higher than they ever were because of inflation.  percentage-wise it's just another hit film.

how about we call it the blackest spending package ever? so we can stick it to those people who created the backbone of the american economy during our formative years by completely willingly working for nothing under extra special indentured servitude.  yeah!   or maybe we can call it the most hawaiian spending package ever!  they weren't even a state until 1949!  so clearly something is wrong with it because it came to the u.s. late in the game.

but this is addressing a previous comment for the sake of a further explanatory exposition.

leave your twitter statements at the door, i have more than a soundbite to pay attention to when it comes to the news.  and for the record, what mexicans have been accused of doing to the american economy has been done exactly by canadians as well.  (insert "but canadians look like us and mexicans don't!" statement here), it's a product of being a wealthy nation bordering poorer nations, we're lucky to only border two.

johnnybegood, solid post.  thank you.

others... please check your hatred at the door.  as much as i LOOVE discrimination, differentiation, division, and hatred.  they have nothing to do with the bill of rights, and if any of you champion any beliefs based on those principles.  you are unamerican, much like imprisonment without a trial, cruel and unusual punishment, violations of human rights, wiretapping without warrant of average american citizens, imprisonment of the press, barring protests in order to cage dissenters in "free speech zones," corporatism.

i can't go on, because i believe in the constitution too much.  i'm embarrassed how often this country has rejected basic human rights for the sake of protecting our basic human rights in the past decade.  i'm sorry that i believe in taxation without representation.  i'm sorry that i believe in the separation of church and state.  i'm sorry that i believe that the minority should not control the majority.  i'm sorry that we call ourselves a democracy, but are actually a republic.  i'm sorry that the difference between a politician and a businessperson has become difficult to perceive.   most of all, i'm sorry that being a public servant, or conservative, or leader are no longer terms interpreted literally.  

i would adore seeing a leader dedicated to serving the public, conserving the union, and leading the people.  mostly because i love this country.

I wish more people were required to study economics.  But as an economist, I am biased.

Governing the US political and economic system is a large, complex and detailed task.  The study of failure shows clearly that one must pay attention to many details, carefully and on an ongoing basis -- or one will fail.  Not immediately, but it will happen.  In most simulations of neglectful management, things go well for a few years and then they fall off a cliff.  A president's first job is to make sure the organizational structure is in place to attend to a thousand-and-one details, assigning managers the resources to solve their problems, and the communications power to be heard on critical issues.  George W let Dick Cheney structure all lines of communication in the White House before entering office in Jan 2001, and the lines needed to manage the nation were largely blocked.  When W should have been paying attention to hundreds of issues, he and Cheney -- from the very first Cabinet meeting -- were watching perhaps one tenth of one percent of their job (in Iraq).  An implosion of the economy was waiting to happen -- W and Cheney pretty much assured themselves of self-destruction.  And we pay.

As for the stimulus, of course the money seems excessive and wasteful.  Of course the numbers boggle the mind.  We lost ten trillion in wealth from October to February due to the collapse!  If we have to pay three trillion to get it back, it will be a great deal.  So far, we've paid one (about a third of it under W to the banks) and we have seen about two trillion return. 

Unfortunately, we do need to prop up the financial system, and that means forking money over to those who helped get us into this mess.  But why be naive?  The hands-off market fundamentalism of the W era (reflected in the SEC, the EEOC, and the DOJ) meant that everyone with his hand on the till knew he could take take take without recrimination.  Sexual harrassment cases lingered for years in the EEOC and women who suffered from them suffered again as they lost their jobs.  Reports of financial fraud went unnoticed at the SEC.  Antitrust violations were ignored at the DOJ and FTC.  We should have expected widespread abuses once corporate officers were told that the law was looking the other way. 

I happen to think Congress deserves a lot of blame, too -- not only the 3 GOP Congresses, but the one Dem Congress.  They are high and mighty now, but that doesn't disguise their culpability.  They took their salaries and benefits and let Cheney scare them silly when they should have been fighting back ferociously. 

And in the end nobody is going to like every drop of pork in a stimulus bill.  But that doesn't matter.  The only thing stimulus money has to do to accomplish its goal is to get spent.  Of course, you'd rather have it spent on you, but as long as it gets spent it multiplies throughout the economy.  The great thing about stimulus money is that it doesn't much matter what you spend it on, as long as it gets spent.  The only stupid stimulus money is money that does not get spent -- and that would be money given over to middle class and upper class citizens who lost a lot in the stock market and will not spend, but will save, tax rebates.  (I am one of them.)  The only problem with the stimulus bill is that Obama wants to be liked so much he gave in far too much to GOP and middle class pressures to enact excessive tax cuts.  Those monies are indeed very inefficiently used. 

Finally, anyone who knows anything about history knows Obama is a centrist in the US but conservative by world standards.  If you want left wing politics, move to Europe.  No one can hold the center in this country without being a conservative centrist.  In contrast to Dick Attila the Hun Cheney, he seems like a socialist, but ask a European intellectual.  She's tell you.  Obama is conservative.

clearly not one single person who has replied to this topic has truly understood the tongue-in-cheek predicament personified here.  I come from a state surrounded on three borders by socialism (god save the queen).  and the electoral college here is divided (rightly so) based upon popular vote. maine is the first state ever to be senatorially represented by only women.

regardless of whether or not i agree with these women politically, i applaud their efforts.  they always try to rationalize the debate in a real context, and often break party lines in favor of their own opinions, in order to better represent their constituents.

because after all, it is about Representation!  I applaud when politicians actually represent their constituents, instead of bettering their own selves and respective parameters.

What is so comical to me is the overwhelming number of people that want to blame Bush for all problems with this economy. That's like blaming the owner of a sports team for it's losses. He is just a figurehead with veto power. We sit back and watch for years as big business has rapes all of us. Blame AIG, Fanny Mae, and others for writing junk loans to people who didn't have money to buy homes. It's not an American right; it's a privilege you earn. Then they defaulted, mortgage companies made their money, and we taxpayers have to pay it back. How about all the greedy bastards who moved their companies out of the U.S. to make even more profits, at the expense of American jobs. Keep driving those foreign cars, and supporting other countries. All the liberals who worry about big business getting tax breaks. THEY will always have the money. If you don't give them tax incentives to grow, they will take their ball and go home. They don't care if they have to cut a thousand jobs, they will still have their money, they just won't share it with people who need the jobs they could supply. This is economics 101.  So those of you socialists who expect personal tax breaks, you get it with Obama. Here's the formula: smaller percentage of taxes on 0 dollars, (because you have no job), still equals 0 dollars. And how about those sympathetic, (pathetic being the key word), to all of the millions of illegal immigrants in our country. bankrupting our hospitals and school systems. And you want to give them a free pass? Your forefathers would roll over in their graves after what they had to go through to EARN the right to be an American. Here's an analogy, let them live in your own home for a while, they work, then leave back to Mexico to give their families money without paying you. Then return a couple of months to do it again. If you don't think this is happening, you live in a plastic bubble. If you don't think now, with unemployment skyrocketing, that Americans won't do those jobs, you are not in the real work world.

Drama Queen.  Interesting.  I have not called you name or made assumptions about your intelligence.  You think you know all about my life outside of the one post I have made on your blog.  Sychophant. Obviously you disregarded the part of my post that says if you don't vote don't complain.  I voted. 

This will be my last post.  It is your blog but if you cannot refrain from unreasoned bantor then I am wasting my time.

I did not defend or laud any previous administrations.  I will not now since it would take too much of my time to waste on someone who has no desire to debate.  You did not answer to a single point on my post.  The only thing you stated was that the pork is only in the Millions.  Incorrect.  I also stated that the Hunderds of Billions included social programs.  Again, taking only part of sentence and warping it to say what you wish it to.  I don't know what news outlets you are using but you are factually incorrect. 

I have never been a teenage girl but I assume you have.  I take it your description of the missed period comes from personal experience.  I cannot argue that point.  

Passion is admirable in a debate.  I listed several concerns passionatly.  When an opposing side resorts to name calling then it is proof that they do not have an arguement.  You madam are a closed minded person.

i love the fact that no one arguing against this is ringing to light the fact the george (W.aste of a human body) bush created this debacle, with a little help from his nemesis slick willy and allies george (H.ey i'm not a W.eakling) bush and ronnie retarded (i say this in place of alzheimer's, or senility, for the sake of alliterative fun (i am not implying that he was actually retarded).  although during his second term he showed some similarities with one defined as such, overall he was a charmer.

obama is putting new skin over the bullet wounds caused by the last thirty years.  if you're worried about you're children paying for it, than you should've spoke up earlier, instead of playing the role of sycophant.

you're like a teenage girl who's freaking out because she missed her period.

until the doc tells you that you're pregnant (i.e. we are officially up the creek without a paddle) don't assume that you're pregnant with satan's offspring.

or better yet, focus on the few details that you disagree with ( the pork was less than half a billion dollars, not 200 billion, 'm' and 'b' are vastly different characters ) to make it seem like the world is over.

You Drama Queen, get over yourself.  this isn't about teams, this is about survival.

Stimulus package?  I don't understand how it was so important to pass the largest spending bill in HISTORY in two days.  We could not even read it.  It was too important that it be passed.  We should trust our elected officals.  The senate even flew a poor senater back from his mothers funeral in order to vote.  Remember it had to be passed in two days.  Then what....Obama takes four more days to sign it?  Why the rush....so we would not know what was in it.   The more I learn the sadder I am for my my 10 year old's future kids.  They will be the ones paying off this debt.  There are HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of pork and new social programs in this "stimulus bill".

It is going to get worse one way or the other.  I would rather take our lumps as a nation a suffer through it for 5 years, than to pass on a generational debt that cannot possibly be paid off.  They are already talking about a SECOND stimulus package.  Clinton was in China with a tin cup.  Our new leadership cannot pay THEIR taxes, but they expect the rest of us to "be responsible citizens and pay our fair share".  I make my living off other peoples taxes (remember the song) being a cop.  I don't pay a lot of taxes because I don't make a lot.  I feel sorry for the poor smucks that worked hard and suceeded.  They better hold on to their underpants because they are going to be stripped naked by a tax burden that will put them in my descretionary income state, ie.going to Arbys twice a month with the family.

Vote......then you can complain.  If you did'nt vote, then don't complain.  That was not directed at anyone who posted.  It is my mantra in politics. :)  I rarely post but I am looking at the deconstructing of my beloved nation.  If I wanted government to take care of me then I would move to a socialist nation.  My 89 year old grandfather who lived through the depression in dust bowl Oklahoma says it best, "the government man ain't ever done nothin right".

justice avocado.  umm, i made the ridiculous statement "all for one and one for all" because it's the motto of the 3 musketeers.  trying to tie it to founding doctrines was my attempt at being funny.  it made me laugh.

what a rook.  even a congress full of kosher jews would be full of pork, but you kinda already said that, so we agree.

my worries are the possible continuation of the last 30 years of being ruled by corporatists, republicans and democrats alike.  government should be defending us from powerful corporations, and not the other way around.

anyway, my whole intent was that i'm proud to be from maine, even though i disagree with some of susan collins and olympia snowes core beliefs, they are republicans that i can oftentimes stand behind.

i am independent.  i try to take the best from all parties and incorporate them into my ideals.  i feel that is what makes the united states incredible, the acceptance of reamarkably different systems of perspective.

I admire the intent behind the bill, but I'm disappointed that Democratic senators have hijacked it as an excuse to attach pork. As I read the situation, I think Obama is a bit disappointed too. There should be better oversight, and there is too much pork. If it were built up where it needed to be and stripped down where it could be, this bill could potentially get our economy moving pretty quickly. But neither of those things is going to happen. Obama should have been tougher about it. I didn’t vote for a nice guy. I voted for a guy who I thought had the backbone to stand up to the cacophony of outstretched hands. On the other hand, what is he supposed to do? The longer they argue about it while the bill sits in committee, the harder it will get to dig ourselves out of this hole.

This is a perfect example of the evil of altruism. (Ie. doing something to help someone else at the expense of your own well being.) Many of the senators claim they are tacking on pork to help their constituents. Instead they put undue burden on themselves and everyone else. They become characterized as the greedy, corrupt or even selfish politician who bogged down a bill for their own political gain. But in fact their intentions are often quite the opposite. Many people get a bit confused about the nuances of it philosophically. But if the politicians were truly selfish, they would just do what they thought was right, regardless of whomever's good graces they risked falling out of by their actions. Then the bill would be nimble, and able to achieve what it was intended to do. Of course, then the politician who had the stones to stand up for what they thought was right would be characterized as being selfless, when in fact having integrity is the exact opposite of selflessness.

We exist in the time of a declining civilization where even our politicians don't understand their own motivations or the meaning of the things they say. How then could we possibly hope for anything more than the desperate, flailing stabs in the dark of a clumsy government playing pin the tail on the donkey with our future? And most of our citizenry is no more philosophically inquisitive than their representatives. Collectively, we have no one to blame but ourselves. And we deserve what we get.

I voted for obama, but I see no change... trillions to all the banks first, no matter how mismanaged they were... I am disgusted... I would like to see real change... If a bank is too big to fail then it is too big too exist....  If the gov't paid off everyone's mortgage, then the banks would get their money and the toxic asset problem would be solved!!!!!

doesn't it say in the articles of confederation of the constitution of the declaration of independence "all for one and one for all!"?

no, it doesnt. the united states seal says, "e pluribus unum," which means, "out of one, many," meaning that out of many states comes a single nation.

incidentally, the articles of confederation, the constitution, and the declaration of independence don't have either phrase.

(ironically, the phrase you were trying to invoke, "e pluribus unum," supports the founder's belief that states should have sovereignty over themselves, and the federal government should be kept as minimal as possible. see the 10th amendment, which actually IS in the constitution. obama's stimulus makes it seem like he's intent on outdoing W in violating that amendment--which is not an easy task.)

The alternative to the stimulus package is more of the old same.  We all know that didn't work!  It's time to take decisive action.  There are no guarantees this will work either.  But rest assured, this will only get worse if nothing is done.  Is that an alternative we can afford?

so that's equal to... about six months in iraq.  except the stimulus money is actually accounted for, and it actually benefits people who live here in america.  responsibility for the hiring of illegal citizens cannot possibly be controlled on a federal level.   instead of using all our money to clean up iraq, afghanistan, and wall street and useless nsa guestures, it's to make america more efficient.  i know it's been awhile since a brigde or levy collapse, but it's still very clear that our basic infrastructure is in decline because of previous mismanagements.

Lets not forget that this "stimulus" package is a very poor program.......there is about 200 billion in uneeded pork and there areno checks and balances for how the money is spent. The way the current bill is set up we could be generating 300,000 jobs that could be filled by illegal aliens!