Obama basically ran his entire campaign against George W. Bush more so than against John McCain, accusing McCain of being "Bush III" and railing against the "failed policies of the past." While I don't agree with everything Bush did during his term in office, I would hardly say that everything he did was a "failed policy."

That being said, one policy that he pushed for, the $700B bailout (that ended up being upwards of $850B once all the pork was piled on) is one that I would categorize as a "failed policy." One that the Democrat-controlled Congress certainly shares responsibility for. Both Bush and Congress repeatedly appealed to a sense of urgency, insisting that something had to be done "before Friday" or there would be dire consequences.


Well, it wasn't done by that Friday, and no catastrophe ensued. Still, they insisted that disaster was imminent without immediate government action in the form of this ridiculously bloated spending bill, and it ultimately passed.

So here we are a few months later. The economy continues to falter, although it is by no means the "worst since the Depression," nor is it an "unprecedented crisis," as we've been led by the Chicken-Little's in the government and MSM to believe. The first $350B of last fall's stimulus bill has been spent with apparently no oversight, and no one can tell us where the money went, nor can they point to any noticeable impact on the economy to justify the spending. Despite this apparent failure, our new president and many in Congress tell us what we really need is to spend yet another $825B, possibly more.

Really? This is change? This is turning the page on the "failed policies of the past?" Because I have to say, it sure sounds a lot more like not only continuing failed economic policies, but taking them to unprecedented (there's that word again) levels that will burden our children, grandchildren, even great-grandchildren with a crushing national debt. And they're just getting started - some are already saying "this may not be enough." Unbelievable.

Here is a link to the full text of the proposed $825B stimulus bill as it stands now.

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/RecoveryBill01-15-09.pdf

Over the next few days, time permitting, I plan to go through this and put together a list of what exactly makes up that $825B of spending. I've seen bits and pieces here and there, but I have yet to see a complete list. It's over 250 pages though, and I have a family in addition to working full-time, so please be patient! :)

Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2009