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twitterEnsign’s hard line upsets some in GOP
Stand against stimulus aid for states puts him at odds with governor
Chris Morris
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., left, speaks as Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo, listens Sunday on "Meet the Press" at the NBC studios in Washington. Ensign criticized a stimulus plan that would give states money.
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Carson City — The battle for the future of the Republican Party has come to Carson City.
The Nevada Republican Party has become increasingly vocal on the state budget, pounding the anti-tax drum even as some Republican senators say tax increases may be necessary to balance state spending.
The division is a reflection of what’s happening in Washington, where Republicans struggle to find an identity as the minority party and weigh whether they’re best served by working with President Barack Obama or opposing him in a quest for ideological purity.
“There is absolutely a division” within the Nevada party, said Chuck Muth, a conservative activist who has advised party Chairwoman Sue Lowden to continue pushing the anti-tax message.
Last month Lowden sent an open letter to Nevada’s Republican lawmakers asking them to sign a pledge not to raise taxes. None is known to have done so.
“That was the first shot across the bow to indicate the party was going to be more aggressive,” Muth said.
The latest salvo came Sunday from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., on the Sunday talk show “Meet the Press.” Ensign blasted the portion of the federal stimulus that would go to states, saying it would allow them to continue overspending.
“Instead of just spending money, we should eliminate wasteful Washington spending and also require the states to have some fiscal discipline,” he said. “Here’s what this bill does. It sends the money to the states, and not only do we have them not have to make the tough cuts that they should be making, we actually encourage them to spend more because to be able to get the money, they have to spend more. And, and this just encourages more wasteful spending.”
Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, a longtime party leader, has said tax increases would be “a last resort” to protect vital government services. But he has consistently refused to sign pledges not to raise taxes.
Asked about Lowden’s recent push on the budget, he said: “What you’re seeing is Chuck Muth. I don’t want him speaking for the Republican Party. He’s an ardent libertarian. He should be writing things for the Libertarian Party.”
Muth, a registered nonpartisan, left the Republican Party several years ago, saying its politicians were violating conservative principles.
The fight over the Republican Party’s core principles has raged for decades. The debate has received new focus since the party’s electoral drubbing in November, when the Democratic presidential candidate won the state by a record margin and Democrats claimed a majority in the state Senate for the first time in 15 years.
Democrats have a two-thirds majority in the Assembly, but are two votes shy of a veto-proof majority in the Senate.
Ideological purists in the Nevada Republican Party watching the state budget debate want no tax increases to be considered and the state to cut the $2.3 billion needed to balance spending and revenue.
Such a position will give voters a clear choice between Republicans and Democrats, they say.
More pragmatic Republicans believe they would be better off leveraging votes in favor of tax increases to obtain long-term changes to public employee benefits and collective bargaining rules for government workers.
The pragmatists argue that the proposed cuts in Gov. Jim Gibbons’ budget, such as the 6 percent reduction to teachers’ salaries and 36 percent cut to higher education, threaten the future of the state more than any tax increase.
Those on the pragmatic side also note that the party’s leading ideological warrior, former Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, was defeated by seven points in November.
The risks are great for both approaches in Carson City. Consenting to a tax increase will anger the GOP base; opposing any tax increase while slashing services will make chasing Democratic votes that much harder in a state now trending Democratic.
The state GOP has clearly chosen the ideological approach.
On her blog Lowden recently criticized state spending trends. “To be honest, some Republicans are just as guilty as the Democrats for the situation we now find ourselves in,” she said in what could only be seen as a shot at Raggio and former Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn.
Gibbons, who’s mostly with the anti-tax crowd in Carson City, finds himself on opposite sides of a separate but related ideological fight with Ensign.
Ensign has argued that the spending by states has been “obscene.” Asked Monday whether he included Nevada in that, he said: “Oh, absolutely. It’s grown faster than population and faster than inflation over the past 15 years. It’s absolutely true.”
Meanwhile, Gibbons has led the call for federal aid to Nevada, a position that stunned some of his supporters. (This, some people note, is the same guy who came to Carson City in 2003 to blast Guinn’s proposed tax hike.)
“Gov. Gibbons really wants to make clear how serious and how deep the financial crisis is in the state,” said his spokesman, Dan Burns. “The notion that we have some kind of fat, bloated budget that can be trimmed is simply wrong. The budget we have submitted is bare bones. We make cuts we don’t want to make. We’re looking at the stimulus package so it does what it says: Stimulate the economy by sending money to the state government so it can be spent.”
Gibbons has also been attacked for including a room tax increase in his budget. The increase, approved by voters in an advisory question, would apply in Washoe and Clark counties.
Muth said, “He’s going out there saying, ‘I promised not to raise taxes,’ and he did. He’s trying to find a loophole that isn’t there.”
Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, says some of the division comes from a lack of understanding about the state budget and the services it funds. To truly understand it, people would need to sit through legislative budget hearings and interim committee meetings.
“I’ve been kicking around a long time,” he said. “Very rarely have I seen wasteful spending.”
Sun reporters J. Patrick Coolican and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this story.
Discussion: 47 comments so far…
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Ensign should be the one worrying about hes onwn re-election.
We need two new Senators.
Ensign = stupid
Reid = ineffective
Ensign has become a warrior on fiscal conservatism. He message is consistent and pure.
He is attempting to correct where the GOP strayed from its principles of individual responsibility and fiscal discipline.In a time when the states are struggling with their budgets, I just don't know whether Ensign's position will resonate in the long term with the voters. Time will tell. Personally I support Ensign, and believe he will stand up with a backbone in the Senate and always try to do the right thing. I strongly support his "no bailout" stance for the US auto industry.
Senator Ensign and GOP Chair Sue Lowden are pandering to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party - and to those so extreme they are not even in their party, and stand to its right. Their views do not represent those of mainstream Nevadans. While tax increases are, and should be, a last resort, the common-sense majority of Nevadans will simply not stand by and allow our state's education, safety net and quality of life to be gutted so that mining and other out-of-state-based corporations can continue to (literally and figuratively) give us the shaft.
LoL, Houston; your little BS rant has given me quite a nice chuckle.
If Ensign was fiscally responsible why did he support the biggest spender; George W. Bush in the history of the Presidency?
<I strongly support his "no bailout" stance for the US auto industry.>
Sadly it seems you would rather support giving tax breaks and bonuses to corrupt hedge fund financiers and shady bankers that engage in crooked swindling scams that have caused the fiasco we are in now over the Auto Industry.
I guess those bankers and swindlers produce so many tangible jobs in their up and downstream supply chains of parts and after market accessories that they are worth saving over the Auto Industry.
Shall we train our children in vocational school as Hydroceramic Technicians, Janitoral Mainetence Engineers and Fine Dining Cuisine Sales Representatives to serve your compatriots while they continue to fleece America and turn it into a Third World Country as well?
The Republican-Hannity-Limbaugh party of hate and racists is dead. The 2010 elections should put them and us out of our misery. Trickle down Reagonomics got us to this point, and they want to keep on with the same old bad policies. Give each Repub a DVD of Dumb and Dumber on the way OUT!!!!
This story is funny.
On the headline it says that some in the GOP are upset with Ensign's hardline stand.
Yet it mentions none of that in the actual story.
I would imagine that it is 101 journalism to have something in the story that supports the blaring headline.
The story is about the split in state Repulican politics.
If the Republicans go along with a billion dollar tax increase and get nothing big in return like massive changes to the government worker platinum program and help in reducing the giveaways in government employee contracts then the Republican Party is over in this state.
If they are marginal changes then they are toast.
It is sad that nobody is looking out for the average Joe's/Jane's that are losing their jobs, salary reductions, benefit reductions and hours reductions.
Adding one billion in tax increases will add more souls to that list that are suffering.
Perhaps one day we will elect people that will look after people like that.
They aren't actually cutting $2.3 billion in the budget.
The 2007-2009 budget will spend $17.5 billion. The 2009-2011 proposed budget will spend $17.3 billion.
That is $200 million in cuts...out of $17 billion!
The other $2.1 billion comes from wanting to spend more than 20% more than they will take in.
Government budgets backwards. First they decide they want to spend X then they look at their revenues. If the revenues are lower than what they want to spend they do "budget cuts." This is nonsensical.
jfnance are you referring to give aways as NO BID contracts that were awarded to KBR and Halliburton in Iraq. When the W. was running the show?
The Republicans are nothing more than a bunch of corrupt and crooked criminals that have created a culture of corruption that has fleeced America for 8 years.
vegasj: I agree!
Lets not forget that Ronald Regan was the president that signed adjustable rate mortages (ARM'S) into law. Before he signed it into law you could only finance with a regular loan. ARM'S are the root cause of the housing mess. And lets not forget how the Bush administration sided with the bank's to change the bankruptcy laws so that you and me dont stand a chance anymore.
Wow, how people don't get it!!!! Or just love to hate and bash maybe??
"Adding one billion in tax increases will add more souls to that list that are suffering".
Bush was on vacation for like 1 1/8 years of his 2 terms. He pretty much was AWOL (yeah, Lindsey Graham) the last 4 years. What, we spend a billion a MONTH in Iraq? Haliburton (Cheney boy) stock??? Go take a look at the chart in these "tough" times. Bush/Cheney are oil boys, RECORD profits for big oil companies!!!
There is no more debate, Republicans are FAILURES!!! What was the deficit after Clinton? After Bush? Time for somebody to take their colors and go to timeout.
LOL, I guess some didn't read the part which contrasts Ensign's opinion on the stimulus to Gibbons position on the stimulus. They are miles apart, and it's pretty obvious to this Nevadan that Jim Gibbons is desperate for bailout money.
But it's borderline slapstick comedy that NOW Ensign wants to be fiscally conservative, when he wrote Bush a blank check.
He wasn't fiscally conservative when he voted for TARP.
He wasn't fiscally conservative when he voted for Bush's budgets.
But now that the opposition party controls the White House, he's conveniently found his principles? Is he not aware that you don't have principles if you abandon them so easily?
John Ensign, fiscal conservative? Not in this world!
Nevada_Patriot,
Where are you coming from? Hedge fund managers???
More liberal BS on Ensign and Bush??
Regarding auto maker bailout--these nut cases have had their heads up in the rare air too long,and need to hit the stone wall of reality.
They will soon--all three of them. Maybe kids can learn to be innovators instead of UAW coffee clutchers. The ones who want to work in the auto industry can hike over to Toyota, Nissan, and Honda.
"Bush administration sided with the bank's to change the bankruptcy laws "
You do know that Biden was the Democratic cheerleader that guided that bill into law.
You do know that Biden's son made millions in lobbying fees promoting that bill.
You know now.
jfnance32: I know who signed it into law George W. Bush.
<<More liberal BS on Ensign and Bush??>>> LOL, Bush record speaks for itself. He was the worst President in the history of this country; and sadly that's not BS. But I guess you are one of those fake conservative NEOKOOKMEN; that supported the largest spending in the history of the country when it was convenient to promote your agenda of madness. A real true conservative would never have supported that kind of drunken sailor spending!
<<Regarding auto maker bailout--these nut cases have had their heads up in the rare air too long,and need to hit the stone wall of reality.
They will soon--all three of them.>>
Agree GM, Ford and Chrysler do not have the best management, but at least they MANUFACTURE THINGS in this country. Banks/Wall Street/Insurance Manufactures NOTHING!
And the real problem is that the USA has lost it's manufacturing base.
<<Maybe kids can learn to be innovators instead of UAW coffee clutchers.>> America is the most innovative country in the world. So quit blaming the UAW. They really are not the problem, but a convenient scapegoat.
<The ones who want to work in the auto industry can hike over to Toyota, Nissan, and Honda.> In case you hadn't noticed Toyota, Nissan and Honda are also in serious trouble and closing manufacturing plants and did not post earnings. So it's really not a case of USA Automakers being unable to compete.
Japanese and all other foreign Automakers enjoy considerable support from their governments. This is an unfair competitive advantage. Sadly we do not provide our Automakers that same level of support.
Why are you so against supporting American Manufacturing and Manufacturers?
Are you anti American or something?
John Ensign = Empty Suit.
I believe that if manufacturing is the best thing for Americans to do then we will beat the hell out of others doing it. Where our indigenous advantages lead to success, then we will not have to erect trade barriers to protect ourselves.We will succeed in competition nose to nose with other nations. "Buy American" only works when it the best for Americans to buy.That's not Anti-American--that demanding the best that America can deliver, and not protecting mediocrity. You really don't seem care about that. You are a "protectionist"
By the way, Bush kept this nation safe since 9/11/01, and had the same murdering Islamic radicals to fight as Obama does. Should we claim that Obama is a liberal socialist because he is planning to spend his way out of this economic crisis? No, you would blame Bush for that wouldn't you. By the way, the worst President was that spineless wimp Carter. He was a disaster!
<Where our indigenous advantages lead to success, then we will not have to erect trade barriers to protect ourselves.We will succeed in competition nose to nose with other nations. "Buy American" only works when it the best for Americans to buy.That's not Anti-American--that demanding the best that America can deliver, and not protecting mediocrity. You are a "protectionist">
Having been heavily involved in international manufacturing for more than 10 years; I would assert that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. China and most other countries in the world are extremely protectionist, while our Corporations are forced to compete without any help. This is not a level playing field and your "Value" argument does not seem to consider this. Did you know that China has a minimum 17% VAT tax on all imports. The USA duties are between 0% and 5% on most all goods imported from China. How can you compete against domestic Chinese producers when your products are subjected to 17% to 30% VAT before entering the Chinese domestic market. Care to explain and expand your uninformed argument or are you going to spew out some more regarbled crap from Rush Limbaugh, about fake free market competition?
<By the way, Bush kept this nation safe since 9/11/01, and had the same murdering Islamic radicals to fight as Obama does. Should we claim that Obama is a liberal socialist because he is planning to spend his way out of this economic crisis? No, you would blame Bush for that wouldn't you. By the way, the worst President was that spineless wimp Carter. He was a disaster!>
Bush spend more than all other Presidents combined! What do you think about that?
LOL, Carter did not support Iraq. Carter did not get us involved in Afghanistan in the 1980's and funnel Osama Bin Laden money from the CIA. And he certianly was not wrapped up with the Bin Laden family and Saudi Royal Family like the Bush's.
Oh, And I should say, and you can quote me, "I have a better chance of getting struck by lightening on Mars, before I will be killed in a terrorist attack."
50,000 + people die on the nations highways each year. Should we bomb the roads and round up reckless drivers and put them in Gitmo?
Peddle your fear argument somewhere else. Man you need to quit being afraid!
"50,000 + people die on the nations highways each year. Should we bomb the roads and round up reckless drivers and put them in Gitmo?"
Finally... a solution to dealing with crappy Vegas drivers!
You got to be kidding! You have been in manufacturing for 10 years, and are going to tell me that you are capable to tell anybody in an unbiased way that the manufacturing base in this country is competitive. It absoutely is not,
And this is not the first time that there has been a "Rust Belt" in the US. By the way, I don't listen to Rush. More of your bias popping up. Your total BS about traffic fatalities is a great example of your contorted liberl/ACLU views of the real threat of radical Islam. Right, 9/11 was a traffic accident. You have got to be kidding!
Carter was a spineless President--the worst.
We have a GREAT opportunity - reduce the size (and cost) of government!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, no Houston. Bush didn't keep us safe after September 11th; it's just that no one attacked us. The 9/11 attackers achieved their goal: they sent the country into economic turmoil and induced us to invade Iraq. After 9/11, there was no need to attack the US again, as we were cooking our own goose well enough on our own. Bush can no more take credit for preventing attacks after 9/11 than have responsibility imposed upon him for the 9/11 attacks in the first place.
As for Carter: he stood before the people and took responsibility for the failed hostage rescue attempt when every military professional knew that it was the fault of the mission commanders themselves. Marine and Naval professionals around the country knew that Carter was a more courageous man than most presidents for quietly taking the blame. He stood tall in our eyes then and still does now. You simply blow smoke out of an utterly ignorant orifice. You've perhaps forgotten Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" buttons? Your comments are offensively moronic.
I supported Ensign's Housing First Amendment to the Surplus Package. It was going to provide credit worthy homeowners an opportunity to refinace their homes at just 4% interest. It's the first real effort for stimulus money to go directly to the pockets of working Americans. The Housing First Amendment would have put an extra $300-$450 dollars into the pockets of working Nevadans every month to spend and help stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, Ensign's amendment was voted down by democrats voting along party lines.
As a registered democrat, I was extremely disappointed by the outcome of this vote.
Houston, no American company can compete toe-to-toe with $2/day labor costs. Level the playing field for cost of labor and American manufacturing can beat anyone. The only way to do this is with trade tarrifs that raise the effective cost of labor on goods coming into the country. In addition, this would give a HUGE boost to federal income and allow for much lower taxes on individuals and companys, which in turn would help relieve the pressure pushing wages up.
This can be especially effective now, as opposed to the past, because we are a net-importer.
Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to raise tarrifs on over 20,000 items to record levels to protect the American market.
It triggered a trade war and other countries raised their tarrifs against the USA.
US exports after the billed was signed into law dropped 33%.
It was one of the leading causes to the world wide Great Depression.
Another Ensign quote from Meet the Press: "... to get back to what Congressman Frank said, is that, you know, we're going to be laying off teachers and firefighters. You know, that's just fearmongering. We're not going to be doing that in any of the states." What world is he living in? A 38% cut to higher ed is going to mean a LOT of teacher layoffs.
Nevada Patriot,
Think about what your'e saying. If other countries are subsidizing their industries to sell us goods that means those companies are selling us goods at a loss...meaning foriegn taxpayers are paying extra taxes so we Americans can get cheaper goods.
That rocks for us.
Boftx,
Wage rates are NOT the only thing companies look at. Well in fact, what companies look at is PRODUCTIVITY. In fact, your pay is based on productivity. The reason most Americans earn a high pay relative to other people on the planet is that we are more productive.
So yes, companies can stand toe to toe in competition with cheap labor if their labor is more productive per dollar.
If not the company has to relign its priorities to make better use of its higher valued labor. This is what is happening in the United States. We are producing more valuable items for global consumption than we were 50 years ago and currently no one can compete with us in these areas.
"So yes, companies can stand toe to toe in competition with cheap labor if their labor is more productive per dollar." - KDR81
The operative word is "if". I don't think that we are more productive per dollar to the extent that we can offset our higher wages. Factories all over the world are just as automated, if not more so, than we are. With that being the case, $15/hr, hell, $7/hr labor simply can not compete against $2/day labor.
Again, tarrifs needed to be imposed that bring the labor costs of incoming goods to a level that allows true competition on a productivity basis (using your formulation).
esquared"Your comments are offensively moronic"
That's the way I feel about your assessment of Jimmy "Peanut brain" Carter and your statements about post 9/11. I'm sure you were in the head of bin Ladin who was pretty busy finding a new house to live in after Bush and the troops hammered the Taliban and al Qaeda right after 9/11.
...Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to raise tarrifs on over 20,000 items to record levels to protect the American market.
It triggered a trade war and other countries raised their tarrifs against the USA.
US exports after the billed was signed into law dropped 33%.
It was one of the leading causes to the world wide Great Depression
There is one critical difference between 1930 and today: in 1972 the US for the first time had a trade-deficit instead of a surplus, and it has had one ever since with the exception of 1973. Protective tarrifs today would benefit far more than harm us in terms of job retention/creation if done correctly. What are other countries going to do, stop buying what they are not buying already?
If we raise tariffs then we would get punished by the WTO.
I guess we could withdraw from the WTO.
I do not see Obama doing that.
They had a buy only USA steel and iron in the House bill with "stimulus" funds.
I think it got booted out in the Senate version.
A trade war would hurt companies like Ford, Boeing, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Dell and agriculture.
Ensign is right. Keeping up with the distribution and usage of three trillion dollars is mind-boggling. Just ask the Treasury department folks who watched the AIG execs throw a 400,000 dollar lawn party at the Florida resort where they were deciding how to split the bailout money.
<You got to be kidding! You have been in manufacturing for 10 years, and are going to tell me that you are capable to tell anybody in an unbiased way that the manufacturing base in this country is competitive.>
Yes,absolutely I am USA manufactures are competitive in production. Our workers and manufactures are extremely productive. As an USA manufacturer; I am competing against Asian manufacturers that are:
1. Heavily subsidized by their government: Legally and illegaly. Legally they recieve VAT rebates on exports. Illegally they recieve no bid inflated government contracts or are able to buy raw materials from SOE's at a loss.
2. They have access to much lower labor costs.
3. They do not have to pay insurance on the property, laborers, product liability, and Medical.
4. No environmental law.
5. No high priced attorney's on retainer.
6. Currency manipulation
So you please explain to me and everyone else on this board how USA manufacturers can compete against the 6 points I have outlined above. Is this fair and open competition?
<Your total BS about traffic fatalities is a great example of your contorted liberl/ACLU views of the real threat of radical Islam. Right, 9/11 was a traffic accident. You have got to be kidding!>
LOL, quit playing the fear card and don't be so cowardly. Your making me ashamed to be an American. I am not going to cower in fear of radicalism. Nor should the government have done:
1. Spend 1 trillion dollars on wars that have done nothing to address the issue of combating Islamic Fundamentalism.
2. Attack Iraq; the WRONG COUNTRY that had nothing to do with 9-11.
3. Failed to capture OBL.
4. Neglected the war in Afghanistan; while giving KBR & Haliburton + others NO BID contracts that RIPPED OFF the country. Now Taliban are back and Afghanistan is a big fat mess.
5. Bush left Pakistan alone and did nothing except placate them. Now Pakistan has serious internal turmoil and Islamic fundamentalists are stronger then ever in that country.
Bush and the "War on Terror," was an unmitigated disaster!
Did not keep USA safe and it has bankrupted this country both economically and morally---
But keep peddling your fear mongering like the rest of the Cowards huddling under their desks.
Houston---- DUCK AND COVER!!!!!!!!!!
<Carter was a spineless President--the worst.> This statement reflects your ignorance.
People need to start asking:
1. Why has the USA become a debtor consumer economy?
2. Why won't the Government address the loss of manufacturing do to unfair trade practices.
3. MOST IMPORTANT: Where is all this money coming from?
(The printing press LoL; the Municipal, State and Federal Governments are broke and so are most USA citizens)
4. Why are we subsidizing the same folks (Banks / Wall Street) that got us into this mess with no strings attached loans?
5. Why are Republicans and Democrats so incompetent and consistently fail to address the issues as the nation falls apart? (Republicans especially, unfortunately)
jfnance,houstonjac You two fellas have had way,way to much of rush's koolaid you should seriously seek treatment and I'm not talking about Betty Ford
LasVegas2009,
I don't think that ARMs are the cause of any of our present economic ailments. People who made unwise decisions to buy homes they could not afford are to blame for their own housing problems. ARMs are just one vehicle that was used and are not in and of themselves evil. ARMs are a great tool if used in the appropriate way. Our current economic condition stems from a lot more than foreclosures.
ARM's should never be offerred to people who can't put 20% down and have low ratio of income to mortage payment and have sub-prime credit ratings.
Ensign was worried about his re-election. That's why he has separated himself from Harry Reid and the Southern Republicans (one in the same). Now he is doing his job and trying to get a little money for the North before the South spends it on the important projects, like the "Mob Museuum" and landscaping your freeways.
nance; if every homebuyer has to have stellar credit and 20% down, the Las Vegas Valley will be littered with half-empty neighborhoods for a long time to come.
Though you are correct that too many people bought too much house with too little money.
You did not read my post.
I said do not give ARM's to people who do not have good credit, can't put 20% down and have a poor income to mortgage payment to ratio.
They should have a traditional fixed rate loan. They still need to have a good income to mortgage payment ratio if they do not have perfect credit rating. They should put something down too like 10%.
Jfnance I happen to agree with you about ARMS, but the crisis is way deeper than just that. You need to ask why people even need to get ARMS to buy houses. It is because our economy is now driven by credit. Credit is capital that people do not have. So in the past 8 years we have written a Mt. Everest of IOU's and it is all coming crumbling down.
Now people do not have capital and need credit because our economy has lost it's manufacturing base and we have become a consumer economy.
And as new an ingeniously infamous credit schemes are concocted to bail us all out of this mess; it will only prolong the simple fact that we do not have a manufacturing base, the oil economy has reached maturation and is in decline, and America is broke. In fact the US Dollar probably is not even worth the paper it is printed on.
It is truly sad that American Citizens have stood idly by while the country has been destroyed and sold out to Big Energy, Pharma, Insurance and Banking business. We are fast becoming nothing more than 3rd World slaves.
So instead spewing out the Rush Limbaugh rhetoric why don't you people wake up and take your government back from these corrupt, crooked criminal greedy fear mongering crooks that fleece us every single day!
You can start by supporting true fiscal conservatives and other independents.
No matter how many stimulus packages are approved, and no matter how much of the trickle down reaches the American citizen, it won't help. Do you people remember who helped financed our manufacturing base to outsource good American jobs to foreign markets? Our government. Now when the money is spent from these emergency finance packages they end up in the foreign countries housing our manufacturing base. Do you think if our federal reserve prints out 10 trillion dollars and divies it up between every American citizen it will help? Of course not. It will end up in foreign countries when we buy our goods to survive. Our politicians who voted to fund our manufacturing base overseas are guilty in the collapse of our manufacturing sector. Now they want to print more money that is not backed by anything of value except the blood ,sweat and tears that have been shed to make this great nation of ours. To show you how powerful the American economy has been in the past up to the present, look at the economies around the world who are now using our old businesses to make money. They are now failing. Their stock markets are failing. Their economies have a direct correlation to what has and is happening in our economy. Dubai and China have businesses failing because they made investments thinking that the cash flow from the U.S. would be evermore. What can our people do when good jobs are outsourced and taken away by illegals in this country? Fight back! E-mail and write your Congressman and Senators. March in numbers on their offices to show them we aren't stupid and we don't appreciate the treasonous roles they have played in the destruction of our country. We have a long way to go until we can fix these problems our great nation is facing. We have been shown that we can't and won't get help from our elected officials. I guess we as citizens, if we love our country and way of life, we're going to have to do it ourselves. God Bless America!
Ensign is playing to a smaller and smaller crowd.
The opposition to the bail out is down to the dead enders. White, broke, trailer trash with nothing more to lose.
Fiscal conservatives with savings and retirement in tact want this financial mire fixed.
Get on with it Ensign. You wanker.