Replies to post #74338 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[nwsun]

Stop making sense Bull... what's a matter with you..

[arizona1]

Kerry: Ignore Republicans if they'll vote no anyway
By VICTORIA MCGRANE | 1/29/09 12:51 PM EST Updated: 1/29/09

Sen. John Kerry says Democrats should ignore Republicans’ demands about the stimulus plan if they’re going to vote against it anyway.

Reacting to Wednesday night’s vote in the House — where not a single GOP member supported the stimulus package — Kerry told Politico that “if Republicans aren’t prepared to vote for it, I don’t think we should be giving up things, where I think the money can be spent more effectively.”

“If they’re not going to vote for it, let’s go with a plan that we think is going to work.”

The Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential candidate suggested tossing some of the tax provisions in the stimulus that the GOP requested. “Those aren’t job creators immediately, and even in the longer term they’re not necessarily. We’ve seen that policy for the last eight years,” he said.

Although Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted in favor of the tax provisions in the stimulus plan that cleared that Senate Finance Committee, it’s not clear whether she or other Republican senators will support the package when it gets to the Senate floor.

“We’ll see what evolves in the next hours,” Kerry said.

Meanwhile, Kerry – who once served on the Senate Banking Committee – believes lawmakers need to move quickly to establish a “comprehensive” plan to deal with the ongoing instability in the financial system, restoring banks to solvency, getting toxic assets off their books and halting the wave of foreclosures that threatens to create even more toxic assets.

“We’ve got to think of this holistically and not piecemeal — and that the sooner, the faster we get at the root causes, the more impact we’re going to have at turning it around,” he said.

Kerry’s preference is to have the Federal Reserve set up a program requiring banks to write down these toxic assets to their true value. Where the value is unknown, the banks should write them down to zero, he said.

In exchange for this, the Fed would recapitalize the banks, Kerry said.

Other lawmakers are pushing the idea of creating a so-called bad bank, a separate entity that would purchase the toxic assets from financial institutions, freeing the system of their burden. Kerry would not oppose such a plan but believes it would lead to the government overpaying for some assets.

While Kerry believes the Fed could pay for recapitalizing the banks by selling debt rather than asking Congress for more money, he also predicts the Obama administration will be coming for more taxpayer money sooner or later as it fights to save the economy.

“I believe it’s inevitable,” he said.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Sen. Olympia Snowe’s position on the stimulus package. While she has voted in favor of the tax provisions in the bill, a spokesman says she has not yet decided whether she’ll support the entire package when it comes to the Senate floor.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18171.html

[follylama]

If both tax cuts and increased spending act to GROW the fedl budget deficit, isn't it just an ideological difference... My problem with the initial $819 BIL spending bill is that I don't know that it's going to be that stimulative...

And I am rather disgusted with the partisanism on both sides of the isle. We are facing a financial crisis that cries for some gov intervention, yet dems are falling lock step behind their bill without debate. Reps seem to similarly oppose the bill on the same basis. For both sides it's purely partisan -- at a time when our country, our economy and so many of our citizens need real solutions...

I guess the last 8 years taught us very little where we saw absolute support of the Decider's policies, and an opposition party afraid to dissent... This is the Reps chance to "reinvent" themselves as the party of smaller gov and fiscal restraint, and I hope they do just that, and pick the hell out of this huge bill. The Obama admin is asking us for a whole heck of a lot in asking us to shoulder this huge increase in fedl debt. Gov does not function efficiently with no opposition...

[follylama]

How about stimulating the economy by direct aid to the states? Bloomberg announced the "Doomsday Budget" today with job cuts and a quarter point increase in the sales tax...

How about a tax credit for making improvements in our home's energy efficiency? How many of us have aging furnaces, or could improve insulation, etc? How many people would we put to work with that ONE tax cut, and improve our planet as well?

How bout a tax cut for buying a newer, more fuel efficient car? Isn't that "responsible" tax policy?? People are not buying cars in part because there is shrinking residual value in used cars -- the one they own...