Will this Stimulus really work? I have my doubts

Normally I don't agree with this guy but he wrote a pretty interesting column on this "Stimulus Package"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/17/cafferty.stimulus/index.html


"The first is the Democrats promised to post the bill a full 48 hours before the vote was taken to allow members of the public to see what they were getting for their money. Both parties voted unanimously to do this ... and they lied."

I really don't understand how our Congress can pass a $790 billion spending package without the lawmakers being able read it first. That in its own right should be deemed illegal. I was really hoping once Obama took over we could see a more bipartisan-less pork political world. Clearly that is not going to happen. I know Obama has "reached out" and I give him some credit for that, but after his Republican Commerce Secretary stepped down it makes me think that his nomination was more of a gesture and political grandstanding, than it was the beginning of change in Washington. The fact that he pulled the Census out from under him because of pressure from minority groups tells me he doesn't even trust a Republican HE appointed.


"Far from being only about jobs, infrastructure and tax cuts as promised, the stimulus bill stimulates a bunch of other stuff as well. Eight billion dollars for high-speed rail lines, including a proposed line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This little bit of second story work wasn't even in the House version of the bill. It started in the Senate as a $2 billion project, and came out of the conference committee costing a whopping $8 billion. Gee, now who would that benefit? Oh yeah, the Senate majority leader is from Nevada."


Pelosi and Reid are exactly what is wrong with Washington. I loved it when (D) Heath Shuler (Former NFL QB Bust BTW) came out and said what need to be said. Unfortunately too many lawmakers are of one mind....Do what my party tells me to do.

"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone — Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration — saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."
"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone — Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration — saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."

Do people really think a $13 a week tax cut will stimulate anything? Does waiting until after 2010 to spend $100's of billions seem like stimulus? As much as I loathed the thought of bailing out the banks, we learned after the fact that if they didn't really have a choice because if they didn't life today would be much different. Maybe I'll be wrong again, but I have my doubts that spending this $800 billion is going to stimulate the economy enough to make much of dent. And let's not forget it sends us almost another trillion in debt.