Garbanzo Toons

Oh, the Irony

The Detroit Free Press has been breathlessly awaiting the latest stimulus plan. But so is everyone else who will be able to nose their way up to the government trough and grab some of that pork. And the Democrats are desperate for it so they can begin the payback of the groups that helped them attain their majority. It's pander city.

But there was also this article.

The Bush administration overpaid tens of billions of dollars for stocks and other assets in its massive bailout last year of Wall Street banks and financial institutions, a new study by a government watchdog says.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report released Friday, said last year's overpayments amounted to a taxpayer-financed $78 billion subsidy of the firms.

The findings added to the frustrations of lawmakers already wary of the $700 billion rescue plan, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Congress approved the plan last fall, but members of both parties criticized spending decisions by the Bush administration and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Now, as I recall, at the time, there had to be a bailout now, NOW, DO YOU HEAR ME? NOW! The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were poised to rend our country asunder if there wasn't bipartisan support to rescue AIG and other financial institutions deemed too big to fail. There was no time to stop and read the fine print. There wasn't even time to figure out if this whole bailout thing was even a good idea, or as Michelle Malkin refers to it, "a crap sandwich."

So why is it all Bush's fault? Oh, that's right, because he's Bush. And for the next four to (God forbid) eight years, everything that goes wrong due to Obama's socialist-inspired policies will be blamed on Bush.

And now, there is another crap sandwich being shoved down our throat whether we like it or not because, remember those four horsemen? Well, they're still there, hunched behind Al Gore's private jet ready to pounce if Republican senators don't submit to Democrat's fearmongering - uh, I mean - if they don't return to the bipartisan spirit that made this country great. And if nobody bothers to actually read where this almost $900,000,000,000 is going. Because as we find out from the National Review, here's where some of the money is scheduled to be doled out:

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”

and,

$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps

and

$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
$2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
$3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
$3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
$200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
$1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
$1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
$8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$4.5 billion for electricity grid

And there's more. Read it all and weep. Or contact your senators.

Labels: George Bush, Obama, Stimulus package

posted by Harry @ 8:07 PM