…down to “in the neighborhood of $800 billion.”
Senators working to craft a massive U.S. economic stimulus package said on Thursday they had agreed it should be close to the $800 billion wanted by President Barack Obama, and Senate leader Harry Reid said he believed he had the votes to pass it.
Senate nears vote on huge stimulus [Reuters]
I still haven’t received my check from Obama…..Should I be worried?
How about we simply dole out the $800Bn to individuals and let them figure out the rest?
The title of this thread should read “Bonus Watch 09: Unemployed”.
@2
How many jobs are you going to create with that $1,000 check? But you may get that anyway.
Who has been paying Charlie’s tabs at San Pietro and Elaine’s?
He is really pushing this “BAC will be nationalized and/or go to zero” line with very little actual reporting and he’s being uncharacteristically careful to say, “I’m not saying it WILL be nationalized.”
Charlie: get a real source or a scoop, don’t just regurgitate what your trading buddies want you to get on the air.
bill will pass
senators getting lot of calls
Start stocking up on Amero’s. Can I get a spot/fwd on $800 Billion 03/31?
I’m loving this hope and change folks. Loving the tax-dodging nominees for the cabinet, the faith-based initiatives office, tax cuts and everything. Billions of dollars of new pork…
Thank god for George W Bu–Barack H. Obama.
@5- Gasparino is a master regurgitator, that his whole game. People are finally getting wise to this and DAMMIT, ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!
@5: Amen!
At least watching Rome burn is made a little easier by the comedic clowns on CNBC.
wow, haven’t seen dylan Radigan so thrown for a loop as he was just now. He was incredulous when the guest told him American were buying gemstones and diamonds so much so that “they can’t keep em in stock”? Why would they be doing that? was he question being asked by the look on Radigan’s face.
I love how Bess can rile up Gasbag with a simple post on what he reports on CNBC.
Sick em Bess!!
Oh, you mean the Intergenerational Rape Act of 2009?
Sign me up.
Any truth to the rumors that USA Treasuries’ debt rating will be downgraded from AAA to AA+ at 2/27/09 at 5pm?
@14
Nostradamus or Ms. Cleo?
We were so safe under Clinton….pardon the expression, of course.
@5 – what do you mean,
“Who has been paying Charlie’s tabs at San Pietro and Elaine’s?”
don’t you know, he gets a free meal for every on-air mention of that place. he’s pimping himself out. I’m surprised cnbc hasn’t told him to cease and desist. perhaps, it’s part of his comp. sneaky ge – always looking for was to cut costs…
@4 – I’m willing to bet you don’t make more than $1,000 either, becuase your math skills obviously suck. $800 billion split amongst the estimated $305 million people in the US works out to just over $2,600 per person. For the record I’m not sure how many jobs you could create with that. But at least I can do basic math. Moron.
Listening to Dylan and Maria pontificate makes me want to drill a hole in my head.
Shut up. Just shut up!
@15…there’s a lot of chatter that Congress knew on March 13th, 2008 that the beginning of the collapse of the economy would start in the middle of September ’08 and US Federal finances would start to collapse February ’09…(We have already seen California begin to default on immediate obligations)
@2 – With approximately 156 million registered taxpayers, that equals out to $5,100 per taxpayer.
@18…take it easy, Check your published work, please.
Dylan and Maria, have you had way too many latte’s today?
So now it’s Pimparino with all of these restaurant freebies.
@18
Hey Einstein, the point is that whether it’s $1,000 or $2,600 or whatever number you pull out of your fat ass, tax payers can’t create jobs with that distribution of the stimulus. At the best, that money may enable you to pay a few weeks of COBRA insurance when you lose your job.
And everyone here knows there is a tax credit of about $1000 that may come your way depending on your earned income.
Damnit people! Don’t you realize! Those schools need to weatherized RIGHT NOW! These things cannot be put off any longer!
I can’t believe this crap. The oldest sales/negotiating technique in the world.
Ask for everything, stress the urgency to close the deal OR ELSE and then give a little bit of ground to make the mark, i mean the american people, feel like they got the better end of the deal.
@20: Heard/seen that on Youtube (and an Australian newspaper) that, too… CA is its own mess brought on by entitlements and a legislature that is out to lunch.
An active citizenry(GOP/Dem/Independent) is the best cure to what ails us. We get what we deserve due to abstaining from our duties as citizens.
@15,20 – unlikely there will be a downgrade of US sovereign debt as Moody’s came out today and said the rating is stable.
Beyond that it is unlikely that the ratings agencies want to piss off the Federal government while their whole business model is in danger of being severely regulated.
@20 – first of all, what are “immediate obligations”? California has not defaulted on any obligations. They are likely to issue IOUs in lieu of tax refunds but that is due to a budget impasse and not a lack of cash. Don’t spread falsehoods.
#21
Maybe there wasn’t a specific day they found out but I think that congress knew back then and people at banks knew also and I believe this is when they started planning a way to transfer money from taxpayers to their companies and shareholders. This is when people at banks probably started meeting with Paulson about how to do it and it’s also when they decided to let LB fail.
They didn’t create the financial crisis on purpose – I think they realized it would happen and wanted to find a way to use the opportunity to get money from taxpayers when they normally wouldn’t be able to.
what’s with the CNBC fetish? i thought only morons watched TV.
@28 “Don’t spread falsehoods.” Oh, I think the reason they can’t pay their tax refunds IS BECAUSE OF A LACK OF CASH. Budget impasse or no, the state I live in has plenty of cash in their coffers where they don’t have to live year to year on a budget to give back tax refunds.
@31 the IOU’s in CA are a political maneuver to force the legislature to pass a revised budget.
@20
WTF are you talking about?
My friend was told by the IRA to refinance her house to pay her back taxes. She had legitimate honest reasons why the taxes hadn’t been paid and their answer, “tough,refinance your house”. It was implied that if she didn’t do that they would take the house which was worth way more than the small amount of tax.
@28
Oh yeah, because the ratings agencies have been spot on lately.
@34: I didn’t know that the IRA was in the protection racket in the US.
Hey 29# Made it happen or let it happen — I really don’t care. Although I think it is interesting which entities are saved and which aren’t. Hmmm I’ll take AIG, but not Bear, take GS, but not Lehman, Would love to see the objective, codified criteria for those calls.
thank god for all the GS guys at these financial crime scenes — to help out of course– Paulson, Steel, Thain!
And #28 (whom I suspect is also #29) CA is broke! You are either the last person to figure this out or you’re being paid by CA governor’s PR dept. to respond this way.
Hey 29# Made it happen or let it happen — I really don’t care. Although I think it is interesting which entities are saved and which aren’t. Hmmm I’ll take AIG, but not Bear, take GS, but not Lehman, Would love to see the objective, codified criteria for those calls.
thank god for all the GS guys at these financial crime scenes — to help out of course– Paulson, Steel, Thain!
And #28 (whom I suspect is also #29) CA is broke! You are either the last person to figure this out or you’re being paid by CA governor’s PR dept. to respond this way.
sorry #34, IRS…
@34
I didn’t know this joint had readers in Northern Ireland. I’m impressed.
Hey, don’t take any shit from the IRA. Ask a tax expert for what’s the best way to get out of that hole.
I think people at GS are the same as Madoff – they don’t have a conscience or any moral standards but because we idolize people with money, they’re accepted in our culture as being normal.
34 here, mind you we (her friends) are getting this story from only one side. We don’t know the IRS’ side. But, as more and more of these people are found to have tax problems she is getting more and more angry.
@42
They can get angry all they want but these people ended up paying their taxes. Happens that they had the money to do it. It sounds like your friends don’t.
SO:
1. Fight the IRS
#37 – define broke. CA has taxing power. The state owns a crapload of assets – buildings, property, cars, universities, mineral rights.
What are CA’s liabilities? Retirement benefits? It might be impolitic, but they can repudiate a lot of those benefits.
There are no US states that are bankrupt. They may choose to pay some people and not others but in no way do their legal liabilities exceed their assets and earnings (taxing) power.
“What are CA’s liabilities? Retirement benefits? It might be impolitic, but they can repudiate a lot of those benefits.”
Actually California has contracts with unions which require payments of certain wages and benefits. The payments are not part of government discretion but are legal liabilities. They can break the contract and open themselves to suit (state immunity is unlikely to save them there).
@45
Is that what’s creating a cash crunch?
I’m not in CA but I heard the Terminator was going to cut working hours. Does that violate the contracts?
When there’s no budget all bets are off, the government can shut down, which would bring immense joy to EP, but the thing is to force a budget. Right?
Could it be some important, more basic things may be getting overlooked?
While I believe in a capitalistic, free-market, demand driven economy, I realize that this bill stands little chance of meeting that spec as it is targeted politcally by a Socialist mindset.
Having said that, I do believe the one positive flowing along with the tide of pork is overlooked by observers and unspoken (for good reason) by our so-called leaders.
Ultimately, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER, the welfare of businesses, individuals, political/social groups, etc., is not the problem or concern this bill addresses,rather,it is the potential total loss of governmental revenue due to the stalled economy and a subsequent failure of government to meet its obligations, these same responsibilties touch every aspect of life of every citizen in the US and
if the US government cannot meet these obligations, a full-fledged failure of faith and confidence might well result.
Since our system of government is based totally upon faith, as evidenced by the fact that our currency has no real, substantive backing having an intrinsic value…..if one removes faith…also called “confidence”… one has a recipe for the ultimate disaster, both socially and economically.
It seems doubtful that a prudent leader would state this publicly as the very mention of being in such a precarious position might be the signal, for many, that it is time to withdraw further from the marketplace, thus encouraging and expiditing the devolutionary process that would result in total economic collapse.
But that is just my take.
Billy Hill philosopher