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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (103257)	2/5/2009 4:59:19 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542256

<<<Tell me how the debt gets better if we spend on food stamps and unemployment? It gets worse! That is why I favor jobs. Jobs put people to work and they pay taxes - and the money they spend goes into the economy and pays more taxes. The money on food stamps is a dead end.>>> Clinton was able to balance the budget and was heading toward record surpluses before handing power over to Bush. Bush went wild with military spending going beyond defense spending but actually started a war for no good reason. For the last 8 years, Bush spending was out of control and his huge tax cuts were irresponsible. His Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and 400 renowned economists in a signed statement opposed the tax cuts and called it irresponsible. Now that we are in this huge mess and there are people suggesting that we balance the budget (in part) by not giving out food stamps. I think that would be a big mistake. Food stamps at this point in time are necessary and also stimulative. Money going into food stamps will be spent immediately. They are not going into savings and perhaps into wealthy people's pockets in the the hope that some day they may invest it wisely and perhaps create a few jobs. The situation now is such that spending for food stamps alleviate suffering and also stimulates the economy. You can't ask for better than that.

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (103257)	2/5/2009 5:41:15 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542256

Tell me how the debt gets better if we spend on food stamps and unemployment? The debt is not the only measure as to how we handle this. One can, of course, argue that food stamps and unemployment insurance are stimulative. They certainly are. But they are also a way to take care of the suffering this sucker has caused and will cause. Obama's been very clear that this is one of his non negotiable demands.

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (103257)	2/6/2009 3:16:06 AM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542256

>>Tell me how the debt gets better if we spend on food stamps and unemployment? It gets worse! That is why I favor jobs. Jobs put people to work and they pay taxes - and the money they spend goes into the economy and pays more taxes. The money on food stamps is a dead end.<< Steve - If it were a simple choice between giving people food (or coupons to buy it) today, or giving them jobs today, then I'd agree with you. Unfortunately, while jobs may take weeks or months to begin reappearing, even in the best of circumstances, people need to eat today. I think we need to find ways of keeping the workforce alive as we work toward getting people back to work. - Allen