Stimulus money needs to be spent faster, Dems say

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pvel July 5th, 2009 5:59 pm ET I would rather have the Democrats in charge than the Republicans. Remember, this economic mess was caused by Bush for 8 years with a Republican Congress and Senate for 6 of the 8 years. Th Democrats are trying to fix the mess. I would give them a chance. It has been just 6 short months. ____________________________________________________ WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG George W. Bush had a high GDP, low taxes and low unemployment for his first 6 years. That was when the Repubs were in the majority. Enter the Dems for the last 2 years and everything went down the toilet. So, you have the same president, but different majorities. One majority did well, the other did poor. How is George the problem? Oh yeah, sorry. That is the democratic answer to cover for Obama's stupidity. It goes "uhhhhh, uhhhh (helps when you use a teleprompter), George did it."

pvel July 5th, 2009 5:59 pm ET I would rather have the Democrats in charge than the Republicans. Remember, this economic mess was caused by Bush for 8 years with a Republican Congress and Senate for 6 of the 8 years. Th Democrats are trying to fix the mess. I would give them a chance. It has been just 6 short months. _____________________________________________________ How do you figure? You're not very educated are you? George W. Bush's for 6 years in office showed a tremendous GDP, low unemployment, low taxes and a great overall economy. That was with the Republican in control. George W. Bush's last 2 years showed a decline in all areas. That was with the Democrats in control. Same president, different folks in the majority for making/passing bills. So, who is the problem exactly?

Both sides of this argument are idiots. You revere your party as if it were a religion and can do no wrong. This is how wars start! We vote for buying things (ie, bullet train system) without a way written to pay for it. At the same time, we vote down any taxes (ie. its revenue). You wonder why we are bankrupt, so there you go. You want to eat your cake, and get a tax break for it too. I dare you to give me an alternative to raise money for these projects aside from taxes. I also dare you to claim government interventions are bad, all the meanwhile, the past 30 years the governments backs off the financial district and allowing the sleazy people to put us in the situation we are in today.

Are the insane liberals done slobbering all over Satan Obama yet? When the world ends because we elected the devil as our leader, I hope you tree huggers will be happy. Commie scum.

Karen - Missouri July 5th, 2009 4:12 pm ET How funny. First the whiny Republicans tried to block the stimulus now they're crying it's not spent fast enough. What planet do the Republicans come from anyway? The more any of them open their mouths the sillier they sound! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No Karen, what's funny is you forgetting the dems are disappointed as well! That is unless you intentionally left that part out!!

I don't think there is any way for the stimulus money to go any faser. To quote Obama the idea was to put out big chunks of money and let it trickle down to main street. I thought that he sounded like a hypocrite by using the term trickle down when he has been so critical of trickle down economics. My point is that by using the thousand layers of government to filter the money on its way down, there is no way for it to move faster, nor will any be left at the end because government beurocracies and lots of layers of them cost a fortune. It will be all absorbed for nothing but piles of statistical reports stacked in a government wharehouse.

Mr President...continue on. These two clowns were a part of the DC scene as this whole debacle developed.

Some of you people are such idiots. If you have even 1/2 a brain you would know that nothing moves fast and that being in office 5 + months is not enough time to solve problems that took 8 years to create. Also, knock off the crap about how tired you are of President Obama and the Democrats always blaming President Bush for the mess we are in. No matter how you try to spin it, it is his fault and nothing will ever change that. Btw--the country is not against President Obama. It is just the same people who will never accept him as President and they just want the rest of us to believe that their few numbers add up to many. Grow up and try to help instead of always preaching your doom and gloom.

How do I get one of those lucrative ACORN franchises? Money in them thar hills!

One of the main reasons why there is no money to create the private sector jobs that Republicans say they want, is because their greedy executive friends are using company profite to make themselves filthy rich. If Republicans like John Boehner really want to see private sector jobs created, they need to convince their multi-millionare executive friends to take serious reductions in their compensation packages in order to free up the money necesary to create those private sector jobs.

The only country built overnight was biblical Jericho. This is not biblical Jericho. This real country and its economy were destroyed way before Obama come to office. I happen to be one of the millions whose job is saved if not created. So democrats stand up for your principal and defend your President. Stand by him so you can see progress and change. He never promises that he will do it alone. He promised that together "WE" not "I" can bring change. Don’t under estimate the public intelligence.

Just want to remind everyone, our nation debt is 11.5 TRILLIONS.. Last administration contributed more than 5 trillions to our debt.

"You need to stop thinking the ghost of Reagan is going to fix things. Trickle down is what has put us where we are. As the rich got richer, they created jobs—-in India, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China. Now, we need adults to fix the problem. Whine all you want right wingers, your ideas are bankrupt." The funny thing is it took Reagan a good 3 years to fix the economy. Unemployment reached almost 11 percent before things turned around.

"Unemployment is RISING which it shouldn't be if this stupid stimulus program were working…. Obama says we will have 10% unemployment like it's a good thing…. why isn't he taking steps to ensure that it doesn't reach 10%????? Because he has no clue how to fix the economy…..Obama is ONE and DONE…." Oh the ignorance! The economy has gotten better under Obama. Where is was going into free fall in late 2008 it is now much more stable currently. Everthing from the housing market, manufacturering and GDP is preforming better now than it was prior. Even the job market is doing better. The first quarter of 09 we averaged around 600,000 to 700,000 jobs lost per month but in the 2nd it was down to around 400,000 or so per month. The economy is going to take to turn around.

I actually agree with Boehner this time. Not something I can usually say. The stimulus plan needs to create more private sector jobs, and it needs to happen soon. Both Congressmen have a valid point, in my opinion. This comes from someone who doesn't like the leaders of Congress very much.

Obama should have rescind Bush's tax cut this year instead of letting it expire next year. I want to see the same Obama supporters what they will say. I had to pay AMT during Clinton years when I was making middle income. I want to see the same Obama middle income earners pay the AMT as well. Maybe they would not whine about Bush's tax cut.

after reading the dem responses,everything is bush'e fault,boy are we in trouble.I would take 14000 in the staock market and bush over this mess any day.good bye good ol day,its sad to see obama ruin the country this way and see the kool aid drinker follow, get you cups filled dem.

News Flash, genius, without the infusion it would have been much worse. Look at a chart of the creeping unemployment rate, how it is in a very straight trajectory up, and it is decisively knocked off-course after Obama had been in Office. It made a very clear and pronounced shift in direction. Granted, unemployment is still going up, there can be no question about that. However, had it not been for changes that Obama made, and plans that he implemented, it would be well over 10 percent umemployment rate, easily. If Bush had continued to be in Office, and if the trend that he had in place when he was in Office was allowed to continue, the unemployment rate would be up over 12 percent right now. That's a fact. This coming from a die-hard Republican. I can't believe I'm sticking up for Obama, much less ever advocating balooning debt, one thing I have always been strongly opposed to. But, there is no question that Obama's policies helped soften the blow of the hard landing that we were in on a collision course during the Bush Administration.

Obama is the master of lies. He pushed this bill through saying we needed it right then and the bill was passed based on that. Once the bill was passed, the urgency he lead congress to believe was so vital never materialized.

Who is going to repay all of this reckless spending? As an Independent middle income family, I am going to be left with the responsibility of bailing out YOUR IRRESONSIBILITY. 11.4 trillion deficiit. All of you briliant college students who voted for Obama will enjoy being slaves the rest of your life.

Watch the pendulum swing. Republicans had majority control and we have one set of problems. Now Democrats have majority control and we can see a whole different set of problems coming up the pike. Sounds to me like none of those jokers have any meaningful answers. If I had employees that behaved like our Congressmen do all but perhaps a dozen and a half of them would be bounced out on their backsides looking for new jobs. We keep re-electing these jokers, they lie, cheat, steal and fail, and then we reward them by re-electing them again. Until we fire these incompetents we will have this pendulum swinging...between Republican-caused problems and Democrat-caused problems....and all GOVERNMENT-caused problems.

Economic is ninty percent mental and ten percent reality. So long people continue to believe the economy will get better it will because they will buy and sell goods.

To be a Republican is to be one of the most frightened people on the face of the Earth.

the president is just too smart for all you hot-heads ... mr. obama knew from the get go that the markets thrive on perception as much they thrive on facts and figures. dangling the $787B carrot was intended to create jobs of course, but more to build confidence that things were being stabilized. in 2 months when the markets regain full confidence, mr. obama would have spent a mere 15% of the $787B ... he will put the remaining 85% back into the coffers and have the repubs and other naysayers running on empty!!

Yes, Bush did run up the deficit to over $600 billion, but in 6 months, the president has raised it to almost 2 trillion. Spending will not help, restraint of spending from congress down to the consumer needs to be held within their means!! Not homes for everyone!!

The dems are totally mismanaging the economy. That stimulus bill is a joke. It is more a political payback than REAL stimulus. They spent 7% of 797 billion dollars or 55 billion already and it has done NOTHING. We are already winning the issue. Obama is already in negative territory and Republicans are more trusted than dems on handling the economy.

These are very complicated problems we are dealing with. They will not be fixed overnight! Republicans are so small minded. It will take a couple of years to see the benefits not four months-geesh!! And what are the whiners doing to help out? I took my tax cut and invested it which is what people should be doing!!

Republicans are always giving Regan for the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did fall 2 and a half years after he said it! Now let's give President Obama 2.5 years after he said he would improve the economy!

The stimulus plan was suppose to create some jobs through construction on the country's infrastructure, such as roads. During a recent trip, I saw several signs that indicated various construction projects were being funded by the stimulus plan. That may be a good thing. However, the vast majority of these jobs are temporary. In addition, the official unemployment rate is now at 9.5 percent. However, I have been told that number does not count the numerous people who are no longer eligible for unemployment benefits. So the actual rate is probably much higher.

Well, the House and Senate drafted the bill, negotiated it down to suit the republicans, so unless they didn't read the bill, I guess they should know what the bill provided for and when. They are willing to blame President Obama for the watered down result, which was called by Krugman, "about right" in terms of amount of money, but flawed in other respects. That is what happens when you negotiate with the repubs, who put more tax cuts in it. Dems, take a lesson, on healthcare and energy, boycott republican influence.

Are there any OBJECTIVE minds out there anymore? Everyone is just looking for a door to crack to criticize a political opponent. The economy is not great, but the outlook is better than it was 6 months ago. And GWB is NOT completely responsible for the recession! He was twice elected, people turned their heads when he embarked on war #2, and we all need to take a little responsibility for ourselves! If you dont like the decisions your leaders are making then EDUCATE yourself. It would not have taken a high school diploma in middle east politics to have known Operation Iraqi Freedom was a huge blunder...

Congressman Boehner needs to stop. He is always talking and saying nothing. He said nothing when former President Bush had a failed and flawed stimulus plan and nothing happened. He said nothing when Bush had 8 years of failed economic growth!!!

People on this blog should get their facts straight. The economic mess began under Clinton; with his Budget Advisor Barney Frank named by CNN as one of the top 10 culprits for this mess. Bush with Greenspan perpetuated the mess. And now Obama is making it worse with his zany ideas and flip flopping on his promises, as many expected would happen. Jobs and deficit are getting significantly worse. Obama tried to cany coat everything in order to get the votes; while McCain as telling it as it is., being straight with the people.

Just answer one question - WHERE ARE THE JOBS. This stimulus package is the SCAM of the Century. This is worse than Madoff.

I'm 63 and I remember politics as both parties trying to better the US.....now after the last 16 years of first Clinton hating and then Bush hating, US citizens are just prone to attack, hate and detest the other party's members. no way to pull out of what the past two, yes I blame our current mess on both Clinton (NAFTA and giving our technology to the Chinese) and Bush (basically unregulated greed allowed by corporations)......... so, let's all stop spewing hatred toward the architects of the last 16 years here in our great country, pull together and let's work to get this mess straightened out for our children and grandchildren.

Boehner always says what won't work, but nothing about what will work. Change our trade laws and bring some jobs home. Stop all trade with Honduras now. Make Wall Street honest again. Fair trade is fine, but our trade laws are totally ignored. Enforce what laws we have now, then re-think trade in general.

Bunch of whiners. Most of the stimulus money haven't gone out yet less thru the economy. When it does millions of jobs will be created. It's innevitable.

You Obamabots need to wake up and understand basic economics. First of all, you can't redistribute the wealth and expect small businesses to take the tax burden and continue to hire. Number two, Obama's love for the unions is bringing this country down faster than anything. I'll give you an example. I had equipment removed from a factory, my quote from union labor was $28,000. My quote for the same job from non union labor was $3,500. See the point. If you want to buy from Walmart you better think twice. They buy from China, Why? Non union cheap labor. You can't compete with the union in any marketplace unless you pay through the roof for the products they make!

Welcome to the Obama depression! The economy was much better under Bush, and it's time for the media to truthful about that. Things turned sour when it started looking like the socialist Obama might get elected and trash the economy, which is exactly what he has done. It's time for liberals to admit their philosophy and president are an abject failure. The Bush administration created real jobs in the private sector and the highest home ownership rate ever. The Obama administration has created nothing but government waste and a nation of foreclosures as people lose their jobs. These are the facts and they are undeniable. Obama, who is not even truly a US citizen (he has no official birth certificate) needs to be impeached now!

You have been complaining about president Obama before he became president. Tell me if spending $12B/mo in Irak since 2003 is YOUR INVESTMENT? Remember, beside the $12B for Irak, you need to spend more money for Afghanistan, "friendly" Arabic countries like Egypt, Jourdan, Yemen, Qatar... How are we paying for the war of choice? Spending $124B per year to contain 20 millions people while we can't spend $35B for our children insurance,,,, it is "real patriotic"...

it isn't working.

@pvel: "I would rather have the Democrats in charge than the Republicans." Why does the choice have to be limited to just one of those two parties? Isn't it possible that someone from outside the same old worn out, never-particularly-successful, philosophies would do a better job?

As for who caused the mess, let us not forget that Robert Rubin and Bill Clinton pushed the repeal of the law that restrictred investment banks. The stimulus will help in time, but blaming the mess solely on Bush is a bit off the mark.

The similarities between this decade and the 1970s are astounding: war protests, oil crisis, etc. Obama = Carter. The good news is what comes next. BTW, for those of you who are still in a blind fit of rage at Bush, if Bush is responsible for this recession then Clinton was responsible for the 2000-02 recession. You can't have it both ways.

Mr. Joshua - quite the untrue and false post that of yours... The Republicans wanted to debate with the new POTUS? Really? When? Oh, sorry, I can recall now that they appeared on TV once or twice with 'alternatives' to the presidency plans about the economy, but none of them was worth a complete look due to their incredibly vagueness! No real deal alternative, with NUMBERS to back it up, was offered by the GOP, except whines and smears... And I stand by and support what the ECONOMISTS says about the ECONOMY; at the better scenario possible, things will get less bad this year and start to get back to what they were before the crisis in the next one... not what a bunch of whiners who dared to present an economic plan WITHOUT NUMBERS IN IT has to!

"First they are against the stimulus then its not being spent fast enough." I don't see the hypocrisy here. People can be against something but want it be efficient if it is passed. Most conservatives were against the "stimulus" from the very beginning. However, it passed and there is nothing that can be done to change it. The only thing that can be done now is make sure that money is used efficiently. A good example of this is the Department of Education. Conservatives really do not like it. However, since it is impossible to get rid of, they are trying to find ways to make it an efficient system. I see no hypocrisy here and people really need to think before making statements like this above.

Let's see Bush had eight years to mess up this country and I didn't hear any of the Conservative Christians or Republicans hold Bush accountable for all of the sins he committed while in the White House. It took eight years for Bush and Cheney to run this country into the ground and it'll take decades to put this country on the right track. Think about this; You go to your doctor and find out that you have cancer. You don't know whether the treatment that he administers will work, but yet you'll take the medication to rid your body of the disease so that you'll live. The only sure fire thing that will work is putting our trust in Jesus Christ because he'll neither forsake you nor leave you. Once people begin to do this than they will be a lot better off. No such thing as a Conservative Christian. Either you're a Christian or your not.

Like much of the country Ohio is in terrible need of jobs. The tax stipulations here for business are unfriendly--NCR(dayton) is leaving for Georgia, along with several others to other destinations. States really need to look at their tax codes for businesses so that they will not leave any given state with a mass exodus of companies. The stimulus bill needs to include fair taxes for businesses as well as "creating jobs" across the country and also within the state governments. It's not a matter of spending it fast it's a matter of it needs to create permanent jobs no matter what party wins the battle.

Typical CNN comments. Nothing but Obama hate and Obama praise. From the looks of it majority of people leaving comments don't know what they are talking about. Why is it so hard for people to be fair and in the middle. Why is everything about democrat or republican. Why do some only criticize Obama like he hasn't done anything right and why do some only praise Obama like he hasn't made a mistake. People act like there is only one side to be on.