Another show with perennial and predictable Jack Beatty. I think I’ll skip it, again.

I look forward to hearing any account of the last two weeks that doesn’t describe them as filled with potentially crippling early errors by Obama and his team. Jack has his work cut out.

Another show with brilliant and articulate Jack Beatty. I’ll be listening.

hopefully republicans can put aside that lust of power and come together to get something done, politics are good but not if its going to hurt the economy and u.s. even more just for a few political point. senate republican made a bill 650bill in just taxs cuts to failed, lead by mccain, come on if you have not learn this but u cant keep cutting taxes, what happens is states and local governments raise them to compensate since the government is going to cut back, so the upper part of society will receive far more from the tax cut than the middle or lower class, that when the states raise taxes and cost the middle and lower take the blunt of it. dont buy the bull on cable news trying to spin whats really going on and distorting the bill, and the urgency of it. trying and take out unemployment relief.

Remember this is a bill to get the ecomony going build infrasture, help states, and the people and start our way to being green.

i hope jack talks about some of the spin thats been going on and why its important to go though with the bill, i just hope republican dont try and water it down so the effect is greatly weaken for political gains in the future

Looks like Republicans are much more effective minority party than Democrats were. It also seems much better for the country to have them in the minority than in the majority. I am not being sarcastic, either. I have voted for Democrats ever since I became eligible to vote in this country. When in power, Republicans simply spend as much as they can and try to consolidate their power at any cost. Now, they are actually doing something good by providing effective opposition. Democrats, on the other hand, left an impression of pretty spineless and weak opposition, but I hope their heart in the right place. So I like the current set up much better than what we had 2 years ago, with the rubber stamp Congress and unimpressive President.

also for the ones who glorify Reagen like a god, in the last 30years he was the president that raised taxes the most in 1982 after lowing them no much in 1981, after he reduced them, in his years the deficit nearly 2.5 of GDP than enlarging it to more than 6percent of GDP while incresing defense spending, and at the same time, funding was slashed for a variety of social services, including public health, drug rehab and food stamps — programs that were relied upon by the thousands of mentally ill people who’d been released from state facilities as a cost-cutting move. This is all coming back to bite us in the butt, and needs to be fixed and since taxes our out of the question than government needs to spend to get the economy going

So I would like something for my children in the end…
spending now on these matters, with money from future generations, should render strong standing infastructure/ economy in their lifetime!
Let us please get this thing going!

Jack Beatty has it exactly right… the Republican’s only hope to resurrect their party is that any stimulus fails utterly. To that end, Republicans will do anything from being obstructionist to sabotaging carefully drafted legislation. Republican strategy is always to win at any cost, regardless of whether or not they ruin the country or harm americans in the process.

Listening to the republican leaders push for tax cut again for the wealthy, seems to me to be a ploy or philosophy of inciting the rich for more power? Their up against a majority of people, and are soliciting to the upper class for help, that old power base….

JP – I disagree that Republicans need to sink the entire bill in order to score political points. I think they will start the process of re-building their fiscally conservative reputation just by forcing Democrats to delete a few dozen billion from the bill and then trumpet it on all TV and radio shows. That’s effective politics and good opposition. Something that I, sadly, rarely saw from Democrats. Remember how many Dems voted for the Iraq invasion?

Hi there,

I would like to hear what your panalists think of the launch of the Iranian satellite called Omid, which means Hope, this past week. The Iranians say it is for technology infrustructure. What does Washington beleive?

Are the tax cut going to be on unemployed people. The debt of Americans are so high any tax cut they receive will go directly to their bills not on spending. Many people fear investing seeing that many people are lossing money. We need jobs. We need jobs. We need the stimulus package.

I think the question we should be asking is — does this package make sense to stimulate the economy now? The CBO has looked at this bill and said that only 17% of the spending in this bill will take place in the first year. Additionally, the spending in the fourth and fifth years respectively exceeds the spending in the first. Does this really make sense for immediate stimulus? Politics aside, this bill does not address the issue at hand — to stimulate the economy now.

I heard that this HUGE sum of money will be given out without “ear marks”. Is this true?

Does anyone think letting this unimaginable amount of money go forth with specifying how it’s to be spent is a good idea? This could be the biggest money grab of all time.

What this country really needs to fear is the return of $4.00 plus per gallon gasoline… and certainly that price will again be reached within a few years time.

Our country is not built efficiently enough to survive high gas prices. Has anyone forgotten how the price of EVERYTHING began to soar when gas prices were high?

TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE is what really needs to be addressed by the stimulus if the country is going to use this opportunity to protect America’s future. Fixing decaying roads and bridges is fine to a degree, but if Americans can’t afford to drive their cars, then the quality of roads won’t matter much.

FIX MASS TRANSIT IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!
Rail and inner-city transit projects are the only reasonable approach to preparing for the future. These things may not be cost effective today, but they will be in a few years. Story after story of increases in the use of mass transit were aired during the recent gas crisis… LET’S NOT FORGET THAT! We are going to have to depend on mass transit again soon! Let’s use this opportunity to prepare for it!

Kick the banks in the gonads. They have proven they are greedy beyond belief. 5% savings accounts should be reinstated for all banks participating in FDIC. McCain’s payroll tax holiday only works for those who are still working. Checks need to be written to all U.S. citizens. Wealthy individuals pay taxes on their grants. Under 200K no taxes. Peter.

I teach history at Union Institute & University in Montpelier, Vermont.

When we speak about “bailouts” of businesses, we often forget that government (read: the American taxpayers) already provides many incentives, tax breaks, economic incentive zones, and other loopholes that amount to the largest welfare package — and one the people already pay for.

Corporate welfare needs an overhaul, along with the bailouts that are apparently necessary.

Your guests have mentioned that the “corporate executives salary cap” will not affect any of the officers of the companies that already received bailouts (i.e., it is not retroactive).

And by the way, really policing and enforcing regulations on the stock market and on individual corporations’ decision making and shell games will cost the American taxpayer even more money.

Is it really true that greed trumps the golden rule? Has humankind sunk that low?

The salary cap is a good idea. I live in a small town where a CEO of a Fortune 500 company bought property to build a ‘getaway retreat.’ We were all pretty happy at first, since it meant a beautiful tract of land would be left largely intact. However, he has been such a terrible neighbor, using his attorney to try to bully us and generally seeming to think that because he has so much money, he doesn’t have to get along with anyone else. Perhaps the high salaries are creating a brand of arrogance that makes America’s CEO’s think their personal whims are paramount; maybe the ridiculously large sums they are paid actually damage their ability to work for the common good or the long term. They are so isolated by their privilege that they really have no idea how life works!

I guess these people don’t have grandchildren, fighting like this about preserving the remains of our dwindling environment!

Jonathan in Savannah, GA

I think the $500k cap is more punishment than effective policy. I say introduce an across the board exponential tax – the more you earn over, say one million, taxes would increase exponentially so if one makes say, 10 million, pay something like 80% taxes. No one’s work is worth that much, (especially those that led us into this mess!) except maybe life-savers, but everyone can live very well on a couple of million. And this tax would cover all high rollers – sports stars, movie stars , etc.

CEO’s bonuses should be in stocks, which pay a return over 3 to 5 years. If the stocks lose, they lose.

The salary cap needs to be relative. Rather than saying a CEO may only make X dollars. It should be that a manager can max no more the x times more than their lowest paid direct report. This should flow from the top all the way down.

These top executives are worth so much??? What about all the companies they lent money to who MADE money by laying off HIGHLY QUALIFIED workers, sending the jobs overseas to workers who earn virtually nothing (call that development? I call it exploitation) to save money for the shareholders. How many of those lost jobs were held by individuals HIGHLY QUALIFIED because of extensive educations funded by student loans that the now-laid-off workers must still pay off? These supposedly “highly qualified executives” have NOT been smart at all: they have NO clue how to put and keep America’s highly qualified workers to good, contributing, rewarding work!

I DO not feel sorry for the top executives at all. They are not SIMPLY greedy, however. I do believe they BELIEVE that they MUST make multiple times more than the average worker to firmly establish the CLASS structure they are emotionally invested in.

It is about time President Obama started calling Republicans out on their stupid opposition to the stimulus bill. The Republican party is completely bankrupt of any ideas in the aftermath of the economic collapse our economy is facing after too many years of Republican rule and worse, policy.

Irresponsible tax cuts combined with irresponsible deregulation are what got us where we are today. The only idea they seem to have is to call for more tax cuts! I’m surprised they are not calling for more deregulation. That would at least give them two ideas to their credit.

SHAME ON THE REPUBLICANS!!!!

I don’t think they realize they are a bunches of hypocrites! They contributed a major shares of this economy downfall, they are the biggest spender, so much money spending on the unnecessary war, and cut the children health care, now they turn around to accuse the Dem a big spenders!

Republicans are a bunches of old bigots, only take cares of corporations, they are bunch of people not born with Sympathy and Empathy!

Tax cut is getting old, alright, wake up!

It’s times for the Democrats to play hardball, most of them were born with “too much” Sympathy and Empathy, that puts them in a vulnerable position, if they want to fight with a bunch of bigots.

American voted Obama for change, now the Republicans want to get in the way by dwelling on very 1& of the whole bill.

I think they should separate this Stimulus Package into different parts to pass them, pass the part that both party agree on, just to get it started. Instead of holding this whole bill to delay any help.

God bless us!

I am also frustrated with all news medias. They only play the footage of Republicans opposition toward this bill. Their sound bites are being played over and over again on the TV. That gives people a negative impression of this bill. Then the news medias claim Obama’s Stimulus Package is getting less popular from general public. Are you kidding me, there are great portion of American people are willing to give this package a try, at least it is different from the same old tax cut that the only thing Republicans know of.

Obama is right, we have let them experiment for 8 years, it failed. Even if the package is not perfect, IT IS WORTH A TRY!

Now Step aside Republicans, you are only a bunch of hopeless politicians!!

Yes, as even the Republicans agree, a stimulus is necessary.

But suppose it’s not sufficient?

Suppose the underlying cause of the present crisis is growth of total debt to the point that it is stifling the economy? Then stimulus and bank bailouts alone won’t fix what is truly broken: debt has choked our money and banking system. That system requires ever increasing levels of debt,which cannot go on forever. It must eventually run out of creditable borrowers. The reason for the mortgage crash is that no new creditable borrowers could be found, so banks started lending to people who could not pay back their loans.

This was the final stage of a debt buildup that has been going on for hundreds of years. The current crash seems unprecedented because it is, at least in recent times.

Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai, in addition to the ten commandments, other new rules for the Israelites, including a rule calling for widespread debt forgiveness during the Jubilee religious celebration every 50 years. (See Leviticus in the O.T.)

Why did Moses impose debt forgiveness? Because under the norm, when “them that has, gets”, money flows from the many to the few, leading to a concentration of wealth where a very few own almost everything, many are reduced to debt serfdom, and, as a result, the economy freezes up.

Sound familiar?

Nowadays widespread debt reduction can be effected by one or more of these four mechanisms:

–Inflation (Hyperinflation does the job but isn’t necessary; just something much higher than we have recently experienced.)

–Steeply progressive taxation and redistribution (but Joe the Plumber has ruled this out)

–Widespread debt forgiveness (“Jubilee”)

–Revolution (Tsarist bonds, anyone?)

Take your pick.

It’s clear that Republicans have a not-so-hidden agenda, which their hero Rush Limbaugh articulated plainly when he stated “I want him to fail” in regard to President Obama. That’s the unvarnished truth. Republicans have no interest in making Obama look good. Why should they? Whatever one thinks about Obama’s stimulus package, the lockstep way in which the House Republicans voted on it, without a single member daring to step out of line, surely shows a lack of principled criticism and a simple circling of the political wagons. It’s a sign of things to come, unfortunately. Republicans evidently feel it is in their interest to make Obama look bad so they can roar back in four years and re-take the White House.

This strategy by conservative Republicans is part of a long-running class war raging in our country, despite the reluctance of the mainstream news media and other organs of polite society (including NPR) to admit it. The wealthy and powerful are using the current crisis – one that they are responsible for, that they started – as an excuse to cut state and federal government programs that they are ideologically opposed to, something they couldn’t accomplish through the normal democratic process, programs beneficial to the broad populace. Such cuts are part of their continuing effort to extract wealth from the bottom of the economic ladder and move it to the top, only this time more blatantly, without the need to justify it with any high-minded “trickle down” rhetoric.

The ultimate goal of those politicians who serve the interests of the wealthy is to destroy every vestige of the New Deal and Great Society, which are anathema to them. Their reading of the Constitution glosses over the phrase describing the government’s responsibility to “promote the general Welfare.” They would love to eliminate “entitlement programs” like Social Security and Medicare. Notice that the word “entitlement,” which implies that a program’s beneficiaries are merely a bunch of spoiled adult children who need the candy yanked out of their hands, is never applied to the many tax loopholes and exemptions made for the wealthiest people – for example, the presumptive corporate tax rate. (Jack Beatty should have taken one caller to task by reminding us that corporations never pay as much as what their “official” rate is supposed to be.) If government bailouts and handouts to the wealthy were seen objectively, they would also be termed “entitlements,” because they exist as if the rich are entitled to them.

Notice also that any programs of general benefit are denigrated by conservatives as “spending programs.” Why is it that SChip, the children’s health insurance bill that President Bush shamefully vetoed and that Obama has resurrected, is maligned by conservatives as an example of a “spending bill” while the war in Iraq is never tagged with the same derogatory label? Republicans know well that words matter, just as when they call the estate tax a “death tax,” thus allowing them to gain the sympathy of the general public, whose interests are thereby not served.

People forget that President Eisenhower was at least intellectually honest when he pointed out in his farewell address in 1961 that every dollar spent on the military is one less spent on schools, hospitals, or bridges. In a rational world, everything in the budget would be termed a “spending program” and evaluated accordingly.

Here Here Bryan!

Bush inherited a budget surplus and turned it into a huge deficit while the national debt soared.

Meanwhile, the Republicans Rubber-stamped absolutely EVERYTHING the Bush administration threw at them.

Now, all of sudden, Republicans are thrifty fiscal conservatives at a time when are country actually needs government spending to help the ailing economy.

OF COURSE, THEY ADMIT TO NO DOUBLE STANDARD HERE.

This just shows again how all that matters to Republicans is that their side wins, no matter what the consequences to the country. That is why they would pass anything Bush or lobbyists put in front of them without even reading it… to show unity and avoid dissention in the ranks lest they lose at something, despite the cost to Americans.

Sorry, that should have been “our country.”

I am a republican. Seem like the only one here. I voted for Bush the first time. I made a mistake.

But, I don’t understand the Democrats who claim that Republicans are only out for power, taxes for the rich and all the other slogans. And I don’t understand the Republicans who say Democrats aren’t patriotic, will tax us into the stone-age, etc. etc. Both are too simplistic and will keep us in the mess we’re in. And it’s disappointing that this show is so one-sided. At least the cable TV people are honest about their biases (well most are)

As for the bail-out. I don’t see too much disagreement that it’s needed on either side (once you drop the nuts). It’s the amount and how it’ll be used that’s where the devil is. Frankly, I don’t hear enough on what this massive debt means to us. How much more can the chinese loan us? What strings will be attached? When does inflation kick in and how can we stop it when the momentum of trillions in debt is behind it? I hear a lot of people talking about their favorite projects, but a fraction of that on the long term implications of such debt.

I was watching some of the college students comment about the Stimulus Package, even they are smart enough to know quick fix and putting a bandage don’t really solve the problem. No one is patient, especially Americans. Everything in America is quick and fast, quick profit, quick fix, this country doesn’t know how to slow down anymore. It’s the very trouble culture got us into this mess. Tax cut is not only a quick artificial fix, it doesn’t even work in our present situation. If you follow the Republican’s ideology, yes, you will see the gl

I was watching some of the college students comment about the Stimulus Package, even they are smart enough to know quick fix and putting a bandage don’t really solve the problem. No one is patient, especially Americans. Everything in America is quick and fast, quick profit, quick fix, this country doesn’t know how to slow down anymore. It’s the very trouble culture got us into this mess. Tax cut is not only a quick artificial fix, it doesn’t even work in our present situation. If you follow the Republican’s ideology, which is the capitalism at its extreme, yes, you will see the glorious prosperity only for a short period of time, and they are not real solid wealth, they are inflated and artificial wealth, not sustainable.

I am not all for the socialism either, but I do believe to have a stable and sustainable society, people need to be taken care of even if they were born poor. Human basic needs are essential, like basic food and health care. Yes, the government need to take care of those people. If those Republican ever studied human histories throughout all cultures, they will realize it’s always the unhappy middle or lower class rise to overturn the corrupted and filthy rich.

You would think that those educated elected people are smart enough to know this, but don’t forget a lot of those elected officials were elected by some uneducated narrow minded Americans. Those officials are basically the reflection of our own choices to some extend. Now that’s why Obama put so much emphasis on EDUCATION. Only through open and easier accessibility of education, we can build more future “intelligent” generations, if they are educated, they will be more critical and wise to elect their officials.

God forbid any child in the richest nation in the world should be entitled to health care when they are sick…. But somehow it’s logical to spend billions of dollars invading a country and going to war.

What exactly are our priorities here?

Why I can’t listen to WBUR for more than 10 minutes:

Rachel is right. I read Obama’s op-ed on the Washington Post, and he says we need the stimulus for education, infrastructure, health care, environment. What he can’t say is that we are in a recession because we don’t have enough of those things.

I hear again and again on WBUR that interest rates went up which caused the subprime foreclosures and that’s why we have a recession….

WHO PUT THE INTEREST RATES UP? AND WHY? Now that they’re back down, can we say that it worked?

Obama will succeed if the Dems propose a bill which takes care of the Causes of The Recession.

I am tired of hearing the Conventional Wisdom repeated 800 times a day. Maybe some people like it but it drives me mad to hear the same dumb explanations while my life goes down the drain and that’s why I can only listen to WBUR for 10 minutes at a time.

Dear NPR staff, your complacency and uninquisitiveness has reached the point where it is costing your jobs. Here is what happened. The Fed raised rates to put people out of work. The people who lost their jobs lost their homes. Recession.

Sabato – “Another show with perennial and predictable Jack Beatty. I think I’ll skip it, again.”

Then skip it and shut up. What sort of stupid post is that? If you disagree with him post an actual argument, not some snide little one-liner.

I agree with Sabato. Jack Beatty is a predictable hack who adds absolutely nothing to the conversation.

Still waiting for the podcast to go up….
This is my favorite show of the week. Perhaps because it happens on Fridays, it is the one most likely to be missing in the podcasts. Can’t wait to listen to it!

The only chart that Pres. Obama needs is the one that Robert Reich had on his blog yesterday (02/05). Moody’s Economics – Bob Zandy [economy.com] – showed how puny tax cuts are for stimulating the economy or any economy.

Remember, that’s Moody’s who sell their expertise to all sides. An independent study is already available to all. It’s open source thanks to Prof. Reich

I think people who have there money in a bank that is paying CEO’s millions of dollars in bonuses, should move there money to a bank that is acting responsably. We need to act as citizens to make our voices heard.

Republicans…on hookers and coke…best line i ever heard on this show!!!!!…great work Tom!!!

No Mr. President, spending is not stimulus investing is. I haven’t reviewed the bill and I don’t know if I agree with most of what’s in it. However, Obama’s statements seem to indicate that he buys into the idea that any spending is good spending.

Really Sam?
Well then, good luck having any of those investments pan out without anyone spending anything… should correct the economy instantly.

Jack B. Is boring, he repeats the same tired thoughts every week. This segment needs to be freshened up. Please consider his a rotating position.

Though I hear a lot about this huge stimulus package and the bailouts of these financial institutions, I have never heard of anyone debate the pros/cons of apportioning part of the stimulus package directly to the people in a large enough sum which would cause them to either:
a) pay off or pay down their mortgages (and consequently the banks would receive this money)
b) pay off or pay down their credit card debt (again, the lending institutions would receive this money)
c) spend this money on items which the ordinary taxpayer is not able to afford right now, (thereby supporting the businesses that are laying off people because their sales have declined).

Reagan started the “trickle down” economic theory and we ended up with large deficits and an bit of an entitlement mentality among the so called “Masters of the Universe”, so why not shortcut them and portion out part of the stimulus package to the bottom tier and start a “trickle up” spending philosophy. I’d like to hear this debated on a future show.

Where is the podcast?

Our country is on the rails to a train wreck. It is coming and this excess stimulus bill will only make the crash that much louder. We are at the end of our rope as far as fixes. Throwing trillions of dollars at the problem will only delay the crash for another day. If you tell people the sky is falling long enough they will all run inside and stay there. I have heard so much doom and gloom that I have pulled everything out of the stock market, with no plans to return. Those people are all thieves and hungry wolves waiting for people to return with their money. I am saving every dime I can for the rainy day that is coming. A stimulus check will go into savings. A economy that runs on consumption is one that will sooner are later run out of steam.

The outtakes prove again the Rushpublicans have picked up the Nancy Reagan refrain as their policy standard…”Just Say No!”

Two things I find amusing: the first that the Republicans expect the exact same policies that have failed to suddenly start working. A good, functional definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, the second that corporate executives who were largely responsible for the companies that they managed failing think that they’re not expendable. These are the very people who have pushed “pay for performance” as the only sensible compensation philosophy. They’ve demonstrated very poor performance — having to go begging to Washington is rather convincing proof of that — so they should get very poor pay.

The corporate executives have been responsible for the corporate failures; they have also been the most isolated from the consequences of their errors.