OK. Here are the things I think are worthwhile from this website:
ft.com
* $71B in employment retraining, student loans, health & human services, and education
* $286B (212+74) in tax cuts to businesses and consumers, including an AMT patch
* $90B in state budget relief to prevent cut backs in basic social services like road construction and police expenditures
* $51B on energy and water, including smart grid, renewable energy, and energy innovation
* $21B on health IT
* $6B unspecified spending on broadband penetration
* $16B on wireless broadband, NSF science R&D, and state and local law enforcement
The total of the above is $541B or 69% of the bill. The rest is too aggregated for me to understand whether I would approve or not. I'm against outright welfare payments or things that don't have a return.
One thing I'd like to see is the executive summary of this thing on the web before Obama signs it. That is a disappoint to me that it's not available for public comment before it becomes law. We live in an age where public comment should become more a part of the process, now that we have the Internet. To a major extent, the way laws are created today, by a bunch of nincompoops in Congress is archaic and beneath our level of intelligence. |
