January 11, 2008

"Hillary Clinton proposed a $70 economic stimulus package today that would help...."

Whoooa! Just a damned minute! 70 dollars! Take pity on the taxpayer, you crazy tax-and-spend Democrat!

IN THE COMMENTS: I say:
Maybe it's like the butterfly effect. If you took $70 and spent it exactly the right way, it really would stimulate the economy. You just have to be really creative. Think about it. You have $70. How will you jump start the economy?

Blake says:
$70 to "jump-start" a trillion dollar economy.

If it were a little more, say, $7000, I could take some talking heads to a really nice lunch and change their minds.

But with $70 I'd open a cheap website (jumpstarttheeconomy.com) and encourage everyone to send me one dollar, which I would then spend on lottery tickets.

No...uh...I'd set up a pyramid. People like pyramid schemes, that's why MLMs and Social Security are so popular. I'd have plenty of money in no time, and so would the first two people under me who signed up.

An Edjamikated Redneck said:
70 bucks, huh?

I'd spend it at Walmart on books by conservative authors.

Walmart makes a few bucks and can hire another American, reducing both the unemployment figures AND reducing the roles of the uninsured by a family.

The conservative authors make a few bucks, and best of all, their books move a few points up the NYT bestseller list.

This is where I get the best bang for my $70; faced with multiple conservative writers in the top ten, the NYT has a conniption in the editorial pages and has to hire more editorialists, printers, distributors, buy more paper and presses, all stimulating the economy to well over my $70.

50 comments:

Bob said...

My first inclination would be to say that she should pay for that package herself, but I seem to recall that her people couldn't even tip waitresses properly a month or two ago, so....

Maxine Weiss said...

Men doing female jobs:

"Men who work in "pink collar" professions, such as clerks and classroom aides, are 47% more likely to lash out in violence against wives or live-in girlfriends than a control group of white-collar managers, according to a recent study by University of California, Riverside sociologist Scott Melzer. The theory: Society's pressure and expectations about the role of men in the work world might mean that a man is ridiculed by society for his choice to do "women's work," causing him to bring that extra stress home. "

Peter V. Bella said...

I read on one of the sites that she is quoted as stating that the rich get enough tax dollars...


Did I forget to read what she said?

Peter V. Bella said...

Maxine Weiss said...

...according to a recent study by University of California,

Using the sord study in conjunction with Califoria automatically nullifies it.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I bet this is the first time the nation has ever considered a need for economic stimulus when the unemployment rate is only 5%.

reader_iam said...

OK, so maybe there are some (and I'm not referring to Sen. Clinton) who have never mastered the concept of base 10 and the importance of decimal placement. I know of a second-grader or two currently struggling with that concept.

But even THOSE second-graders know how to follow links. They've got that goin' for 'em, at least.

LMAO.

***

One of my favorite posts this year, so far, Althouse.

Peter V. Bella said...

Hillary's stimulus plan:

An organic, free range chicken in every pot.

A hybrid car in every garage built by the government.

A nanny in every home.

A tree in every yard.

A village for every child.

A free clinic on every block.

A tax on every worker.

A pox on the citizens.

reader_iam said...

OK, that was snark, from a regular typo-transgressor. Still, damn funny.

Peter V. Bella said...

Reader Jam,

Are you making ufn fo us woh yam vahe dyslexic fingers? Or thosh of ush who drinks too many martoonis becaush of those overshized martooni glasshes?

Peter V. Bella said...

In all seriousness, one of her proposals is a 90 day moratorium on forclosing on defaulted mortgages. A contract is a contract, unless Hillary says it is not- after the fact.

What law school did she go to again?

reader_iam said...

Oh, I think I managed to make fun rather more broadly--and including a swipe at myself.

reader_iam said...

I got that (latter) goin' for me, anyway.

JackDRipper said...

Maxine Weiss said...The theory: Society's pressure and expectations about the role of men in the work world might mean that a man is ridiculed by society for his choice to do "women's work," causing him to bring that extra stress home."

That's similar to my theory of leftist male predominance in academia/social work and journalism. These guys feel unmanly so they tend to have a chip on their shoulders about the "real men" of society. Cops/businessmen/the military or anybody with more masculine social status.

They become resentful of the whole "system" of capitalism/racism/imperialism/sexism/patriarchy.

If Karl Marx had a manly job, or any job for that matter, he never would have written Das Capital or the Manifesto.

Ann Althouse said...

Maybe it's like the butterfly effect. If you took $70 and spent it exactly the right way, it really would stimulate the economy. You just have to be really creative. Think about it. You have $70. How will you jump start the economy?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Butterfly? I thought it was called the "multiplier" effect.

Simon said...

Ann Althouse said...
"Maybe it's like the butterfly effect. If you took $70 and spent it exactly the right way, it really would stimulate the economy. You just have to be really creative. Think about it. You have $70. How will you jump start the economy?"

Well, that's the thing - you don't have to spend it the right way, you just have to spend it a good enough way. What causes a recession is that people read headlines like "recession imminent," and start hoarding, which ripples through the economy. People are worried about money, so they stop going to restaurants; the restaurants reduce staff, producing more economic anxiety producing yet more slowdown. The trick is to keep the whole thing in motion; as long as the wheels keeps turning, the economy will do fine, but the problem is that people have a tendancy to do the worst possible thing in response: to slam on the brakes.

Zachary Sire said...

If I had $70 (and believe me I wish I did) I would spend $25 on a dictionary for middle_class_guy, $40 on an intake session with an MFCC for Maxine, $3 on a campaign contribution to John Edwards, and a $2 donation to Althouse in the hopes that she'll vlog eating another egg salad sandwich, in a claw foot tub, while drinking a martini out of a mason jar.

mtrobertsattorney said...

Get ready to see one of Hillary's grifts (masquerading as an economic plan) each week from here on in.

I'd feel more confident about her "authenticity" if she and Bill announced that they are donating 75% of their combined net worth to the United States' treasury.

Revenant said...

Using the word study in conjunction with Califoria automatically nullifies it.

Sheesh, MCG. First you suggest that our tax rate be raised to 100%, now you're dissing our university system.

What is it with you and California, anyway? Did a surfer beat you up and take your lunch money back in Junior High?

B.Q. Political Report said...

This is a great idea since government revenues have a nasty tendency to collapse during an economic recession. If we avert recession, it pays for itself.

Gahrie said...

Is he Left and the MSM aware that both our current unemployment and inflation figures were considered optimal not so long ago?

Do people realize that as recently as 1988 the best fixed rate mortgage loans had an interest rate of over 10%?

Do people realize that our trade deficiet is shrinking, our exports increasing, the dollar improving against the Pound and euro and the standard of living countinues to grow?

Am I the only one who remembers what a true bad economy looks like? The 1970's aren't that long ago.......

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
blake said...

$70 to "jump-start" a trillion dollar economy.

If it were a little more, say, $7000, I could take some talking heads to a really nice lunch and change their minds.

But with $70 I'd open a cheap website (jumpstarttheeconomy.com) and encourage everyone to send me one dollar, which I would then spend on lottery tickets.

No...uh...I'd set up a pyramid. People like pyramid schemes, that's why MLMs and Social Security are so popular. I'd have plenty of money in no time, and so would the first two people under me who signed up.

Bob said...

Roy Blount, Jr., used to propose everyone paying off the national debt by buying rolls of stamps and then throwing them away. $70 will buy 189 37-cent stamps.

First-class postage is still 37 cents, right? I may be wrong...

hdhouse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hdhouse said...

middle Class Guy said...
" A contract is a contract, unless Hillary says it is not- after the fact. What law school did she go to again?"

I am assuming that a contract is a contract trumps wife 2 kids on the street which means seemingly bupkis to you.

Your absolutism makes me puke. When you tell your kids that you'll whip their butts if they do that again do you use a cane or a switch when they do?

stupid putz

dbp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Peter V. Bella said...

But with $70 I'd open a cheap website (jumpstarttheeconomy.com) and encourage everyone to send me one dollar, which I would then spend on lottery tickets.

Are you old enough to have watched Soupy Sales?

...do you use a cane or a switch when they do?


I actually use a barber's razor strop.

Peter V. Bella said...

hdhouse said...


stupid putz

You actually signed your name. Nice to meet you Mr. Putz.

Anonymous said...

Bob -

Dude...postage hasn't been 37c for two years. You'd need four of those useless 1c stamps to get your 37-centers up to speed.

Peter V. Bella said...

Gahrie said...
Am I the only one who remembers what a true bad economy looks like? The 1970's aren't that long ago.......


No. I rememeber it. I lived it. I struggled to make a living through them. The Libs want us to return to those days of glory. Then, they can bring more programs on line so we become more reliant on government and less self reliant and self determined.

I apologize for using the terms self reliant and self determined. I realize that those two terms are banned from civil conversation by the political PC police. I hope I am not banned. My bad.

An Edjamikated Redneck said...

70 bucks, huh?

I'd spend it at Walmart on books by conservative authors.

Walmart makes a few bucks and can hire another American, reducing both the unemployment figures AND reducing the roles of the uninsured by a family.

The conservative authors make a few bucks, and best of all, their books move a few points up the NYT bestseller list.

This is where I get the best bang for my $70; faced with multiple conservative writers in the top ten, the NYT has a conniption in the editorial pages and has to hire more editorialists, printers, distributors, buy more paper and presses, all stimulating the economy to well over my $70.

hdhouse said...

ahhh middle class guy....not to be snide or rub your nose in it but i was kinda referring to you when i uttered the putz word...you know...like "hey you putz" type of thing.

sorry it shot right over your head.

Ann Althouse said...

Who's shooting what over whose head? Middle Class guy made me laugh out loud.

Anonymous said...

Who's shooting what over whose head? Middle Class guy made me laugh out loud.

That's what clowns are for.

titushoots said...

I have shot it over my tricks heads in the past.

It is a good feeling. I am very proud.

Gahrie said...

I am assuming that a contract is a contract trumps wife 2 kids on the street which means seemingly bupkis to you.

Strawman alert.

The choice isn't between bailing out irresponsible behavior or having families on the street.

Anyone who could afford to buy a house (even with the ridiculously low interest rates) will be able to afford to rent a house or an apartment. (especially since rents are going to come down with all the new rentals properties on the market)

What these people are going to suffer is a bad credit rating and huge personal debt, which they deserve.

No one forced them to buy more house than they can afford. No one forced them to pull equity out of their house to live beyond their means.

Irresponsible choices should be punished. I have no sympathy.

Peter V. Bella said...

Hillary Clinton is only trying to buy votes. One of her advisors did the math and came up with the $70 figure, saying they could do it on the cheap.

Hillary, never one to spend her own money on anything, jumped at the opportunity.

Peter V. Bella said...

All this talk about shooting over the head makes me want to do something to improve myself.

I am getting my guns, going to the range, and practicing double taps. Thus, instead of shooting over the head, I will hit the head dead center. Twice.

Peter V. Bella said...

Love him or hate him, Christopher Hitchens does have a way with words. These are excerpts from a column in today’s Chicago Sun Times.

"Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, a Democratic presidential aspirant, is the current beneficiary of a tsunami of drool."

"…while his supporters -- most especially the white ones -- sob happily that at last we can have an African-American chief executive."

"Off to the side, snarling with barely concealed rage, are the Clinton machine-minders, who, having failed to ignite the same kind of identity excitement with an aging and resentful female…"

"Isn't there something pathetic and embarrassing about this emphasis on shade? And why is a man with a white mother considered to be "black," anyway?"

"If you wanted a "black" president or vice president so much, you could long ago have turned out en masse for Angela Davis -- also the first woman to be on a national ticket -- or for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. So, why didn't you? Could it have been the politics?"

former law student said...

The California hatred was spawned by all those Beach Blanket movies, depicting the state as a place where men simply hung out on the beach and watched Annette Funicello's breasts swelling her bikini top all day.

But thanks to global warming, winter is warmer in Philly than it is here. So you can turn off your envy-driven scoff machine.

I am getting my guns, going to the range, and practicing double taps.

Where can you do that? Ranges won't let you do that here: they mandate a time lag between shots.

Peter V. Bella said...

Mr. hdhouse or Mr. Putz, whatever your name is,
Please do not ever try to insult me again. I have been insulted by the best and you do not even come close. It would unleash a torrent of demeaning insults and invective too horrible to comprehend. You would spend the next ten years going to therapy and sitting in the corner, cringing and sucking your thumb. I, on the other hand, would be banned from here.

Peter V. Bella said...

Former Law Student,

I still have access to the police range and can use it when there is down time. One of the instructors is my old partner.

hdhouse said...

middleclassguy

i am sure you have indeed been insulted by the best.

forgive him Lord, he knows not what he speaks.

blake said...

I've seen Soupy--but way past his heyday.

So, sadly, I don't get the reference.

Peter V. Bella said...

Blake,
Once Soupy told all the little boys and girls to go to their mommy's and daddy's wallets and purses and take the gren paper with the pictures on it and mail it to him. There was an address, if i remember correctly.

It was a joke that went sour, as he was taken off the air for awhile.

blake said...

Oh, that guy!

I think I figured that was apocryphal, like the "little bastards" comment.

'50s era kiddie show hosts are a festering cauldron of urban legend....

Peter V. Bella said...

Blake, it was real. They suspended him for awhile then gave him another chance. It was quite a scandal. Years later he was always asked about it on talk shows.

Joe said...

Unemployment is at 5%, the prime lending rate is 7.25%, inflation is about 3%.

This is about as perfect as an economy can get.

Perhaps Hillary should take Econ 101--costs more than $70, but I'm sure her friends in high places will pay her tuition.

Joe said...

One more thing, Hillary has proposed a three month moratorium on foreclosures. Putting aside that it would take at least fourteen months for this to happen, what do you think lenders are going to if she were elected? Yup, immediately foreclose on EVERYONE who's delinquent--the risk is simply too high that three months would turn into six which would then turn into a year.