Economic stimulus package flawed
In a recession, the most vulnerable people, the people who need the most immediate assistance, are folks who have lost their jobs. Could any fact be plainer, even to politicians in Washington?
Maybe not, because Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, just made a deal with Bush aides that would freeze out the poor and unemployed from receiving any increase in benefits as part of a stimulus package.
In particular, there will be no increase in food stamp allotments and no increase in unemployment benefits if the Pelosi/Bush deal stands.
Instead, businesses will be given further tax breaks. We've seen this before.
Businesses, large and small, are proportionately paying less taxes today than 30 years ago, thanks to the Republican administrations dating back to Reagan, helped along by the gung-ho, pro-business eight years of Bill Clinton.
The hope is businesses will plow back their savings into new investment that will mean more jobs. But there is no guarantee companies won't park their excess in safe bank accounts, real estate or speculative ventures as they have done in the past.
That would mean no net increase in employment, but the bottom line will sure look good to stockholders.
Further, working couples will get $1,200 rebates including those making up to $150,000. Bush and his aides are especially concerned that upper middle-class taxpayers (those making over $100,000) are not forgotten and left out.
Rather than hanging tough for the poor and the unemployed, Pelosi caved to Republican wishes.
Last, Pelosi and her fellow Democrats have not made the costs of imperial control of Middle Eastern resources an issue in the coming recession.
There is barely a whisper among the Democratic frontrunners, and none at all among the Republican, of the loss of valuable and people-friendly social services in communities across our land to fund an immoral and endless occupation in Iraq.
These lost services could have cushioned the blows of recession for millions of American families.
Roger Fraser
Rolling Meadows