Herman Cain - The Stimulus
Summary
Herman Cain strongly opposed President Obama's stimulus plan. He wrote numerous articles discussing his views that the stimulus was nothing more than a political stimulus and a method to pay back numerous supporters of President Obama's administration.
A Political Stimulus
In February of 2009, Herman Cain wrote an article discussing the proposed stimulus. He referred to it as a political stimulus.
February 2, 2009
It’s the Political StimulusThis extended celebration of President Obama’s official move into the White House, plus the current economic crisis, has given the Democrats in Congress a convenient cover to try to steamroll their long-awaited list of socialist policies and pet pork projects into law. In the process, we the people get the shaft again.
In response to the latest pork projects derby disguised as an economic stimulus bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We won the election, we wrote the bill.” (Wall Street Journal Editorial, January 28, 2009)
So why did President Obama even bother to meet with House Republicans to talk about bi-partisan cooperation, which was a front page USA Today story last week? Pelosi and the House Democrats proved that it was just more bipartisan rhetoric, as they proceeded to pass the so-called stimulus bill with zero Republican votes.
President Obama has also met with Senate Republicans to gain their support for bi-partisan cooperation, as the Senate considers the House Stimulus Bill. The Senate will probably not get the same result of zero Republican votes, because a few RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) have always voted with the Democrats. The best we can hope for is that the Democrats will not get the 60 votes needed to end debate, which might force the Democrats to gut some of the pork out of the legislation.
President Obama said during his transition from senator to president that he would not allow the economic stimulus bill to contain a long list of pet pork projects. Let’s see, according to the same WSJ article referenced above:
“There’s $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research (It snowed in Las Vegas – the desert – a few weeks ago) and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.”
I suppose it depends on how you define “long list”, and that’s just a sampling of the pork report on the legislation.
Overall, the House stimulus bill is two-thirds spending and one-third business and tax incentives. Most of those incentives are so small and scattered that it is unlikely they will have a big impact on anything.
Fox News has reported that 39 percent of the House stimulus spending bill will go to state and local governments. That means more government jobs, while many businesses are being forced to reduce their workforces. That means less tax revenue to pay toward the skyrocketing federal deficit.
The impact of the federal deficit on the tsunami national debt is not even a consideration by the new administration and congressional Democrats. Remember, President Obama said “deficits don’t matter,” and the Democrats in Congress quickly jumped on the bandwagon.
By all objective accounts, the House “stimulus bill” is not an economic stimulus bill. Business commentator Ben Stein called it a political stimulus bill. He’s right.
The economic crisis is going to be here for a while. So the longer Obama, the Democratic leaders in Congress and the mainstream media can continue to extend the celebration, the more they will be able to steamroll legislation into law.
In the meantime, we the people continue to get the shaft.
A Victory for Socialism
In February of 2009, Herman Cain wrote an article discussing the stimulus. He referred to the stimulus as a victory for socialism.
February 16, 2009
The Obama-Pelosi-Reid ‘Stimulus’: A Victory for SocialismDespite an avalanche of objections from the public, the so-called “Economic Stimulus Bill” has passed Congress and President Obama will sign it into law. The result is bigger government and a smaller economy.
Since 65 percent of the $789 billion is spending by the government for the government, that means bigger government.
About half of the remaining 35 percent goes to tax cuts for workers. According to an analysis by Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), that means about 20 cents an hour for the average working American. That’s the same $800 per working couple or $400 per single worker that other stories have reported.
Advice, don’t spend it all at once.
The remaining half of the 35 percent goes to increased spending for government assistance programs. That’s good, because more of us may be getting in line soon.
The bill passed because of a populist new president (he says all the right things), the politics of fear and political pandering to the gullible at its best. It’s a perfect combination for more socialism.
Former Congressman Ernest Istook summed it up the best. “This stimulus bill is worse than just more big government, pork barrel projects, expansion of the welfare system and bailout of irresponsible state governments. It’s the road to perpetual debt.” (HumanEvents.com – February 12, 2009)
On the road of perpetual debt we will borrow more money from foreign countries that do not like us. We will experience more taxes, more political pandering, more politics of fear, more class warfare, more arrogance by the all-knowing political class (as opposed to the working class, the business class and the shrinking investment class) and even more national economic pain.
The Obama-Reid-Pelosi cure for more national economic pain – more spending, more taxes and more socialism! That’s just more pavement for the road to perpetual debt.
A lot of liberals are uncomfortable with the word socialism, because they do not want to scare off the gullible, those who believe the system has cheated them or those that believe that, now that Barack Obama is president, they will not have to worry about buying gas for their car or keeping up on their mortgage payment.
Liberals are even more uncomfortable when someone makes the analogy of this “rodeo” to another similar rodeo in history, namely, the fall of the Roman Empire.
That’s exactly what we are witnessing little by little and bit by bit. We are becoming just like the other smaller struggling socialist economies of the world.
And, that’s exactly what the rest of the world wants to see, a world of perfectly balanced mediocrity! Wow! How exciting.
The economy will get smaller because of less tax revenues from businesses. Many businesses can no longer hold on for some direct stimulus in the form of a tax holiday, which they did not get. My Economic Survival Tips for Small Businesses may give you some helpful ideas.
Income tax revenues will also be less because of higher unemployment. The tax on the whopping 20 cents an hour for the average working American won’t quite offset the shortfall.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated it correctly after the House passed the first version of the Democratic-votes-only stimulus bill. They won the election, they wrote the bill, and now they have passed the bill – a victory for socialism.
But, We the People are still in this fight.
Campaign Event
In July of 2010, Herman Cain spoke at a campaign event and stated that the stimulus only stimulated government.