Here's hoping some future stimuli includes nationalized health care for everyone? France is beating us! LOL....

The New York Times' report on today's bill signing also noted that the White House "has not ruled out a second stimulus package."

I don't imagine the right will respond well to those eight words.

Circumstances will dictate the necessity for a second stimulus, (and we might not be done after that), but the right will hardly notice on account of the fact that they'll be so utterly apoplectic over the all-but-certain nationalization of banks. Funny thing about all the monthly unemployment numbers we keep hearing is that they give us a pretty good indication of who's gonna be defaulting on car notes, house notes, & credit card debt in months to come. If you weren't already queasy about the solvency of the major banks, hang on to your hats, because the ride is about to get absolutely crazy.

Congratulations Mr. President.

That said, I was a bit disappointed by one thing. They posted a list showing how many jobs they predict would be created by state. But all they did was calculate the same percentage for every state based on age demographics. That strikes me as a bit amateurish.

Every new stimulus package will increase Obama's popularity, while it will reduce that of the GOP for as long as they oppose them.

The thing is, people feel it's time they were first in line for gov't money. They're not stupid - they see that Bush and his cronies (or should I write Cheney's) pillaged the treasury - people want theirs for schools, health care, roads and neighborhoods; and no longer want to see it paid out to military contractors, Xe, Iraqis, or having it sent to witless and irresponsible bankers.

In fact, the GOP should probably be extremely wary of how it maneuvers in the time ahead, as it's in the process of launching a public rebellion that could have far reaching consequences undreamt of in their wildest nightmares. Used to being in control of the gov't, whether in or out of power, the GOP could be headed for a long walk in the desert - and they are completely oblivious to this fact, as the D.C. echo chamber refuses to face reality: The Village is not for the people, and the people know this.

Is Obam a new nickname or a typo?

I voted for Obama and I think he's a great guy, but I don't think this stimulus plan is going to work. It's not terribly different than what TPTB have been doing for over a year.

* The major banks are basically insolvent. They're lying about the true state of their finances. This is why they're not able to lend.
* The world's financial system is loaded with toxic investments which created imaginary wealth that is rapidly disappearing.
* We have overproduced and overbuilt everything. It will take ages to work out this excess inventory and production capacity. Why do businesses need to borrow more money? They don't. Why do they need to expand or hire more people? They don't.
* Consumers are being urged to spend more, even though they're up to their eyeballs in debt and have been buying everything in sight for years.
* The government has already been increasing the national debt by trillions of dollars over the last 25 years. That and the Fed's low-interest rate policies have produced one Bubble after another.

What is a stable economic recovery going to be based on? This is it folks. Dick Cheney was wrong; the American Way of Life is over.

As long as Olympia Snowe is on board and Al Franken is finally seated as the junior Senator from Minnesota I don't imagine it's going to matter very much how the right responds. It will make for a lot of sound and fury in the newspapers but I don't think America much cares what a bunch of impotent crackpots think about the state of the union. They had a go at it and we all see the results.

Agreed. The biggest line item in this package is tax cuts. C'mon.

While the check pass-out last Spring was just a toe in the water, this is barely a foot and I think I'm being generous.

This is going to be one loooong emergency.

It added that we haven't seen a legislative win for a president on this magnitude since FDR's banking system overhaul in 1933.

This is only true if the criteria for "win" and "magnitude" are "generally the same type of thing as the President advocated" and "dollar value", respectively. Usually, you'd think the magnitude of a win would be measured by how well the proposal accords with what the President set out to get, and by that standard, this is a pretty poor "win".

"has not ruled out a second stimulus package."

I don't imagine the right will respond well to those eight words.

Well then, I suppose they'd probably fling themselves from very high buildings and into the pavement below, if I were even to suggest mentioning the third stimulus...and the fourth...and the fifth....

It's not terribly different than what TPTB have been doing for over a year.

The only way this makes sense is if you ignore the massive scale of the stimulus bill, and you simply can't. You are, though, dead right about everything else you say.

"Every new stimulus package will increase Obama's popularity, while it will reduce that of the GOP for as long as they oppose them."

If the market continues to tank in response to these bills, as it did today, I don't think it's going to be increasing anyone's popularity.

I wonder if the Right will care that their buddies on Wall Street are losing confidence in the economy and the market is down - that's all they care about, maybe it will motivate them to support strong action after all (but watch for hypocritical phoniness like wanting auto workers to take pay cuts but not execs ...)

Of course they will want a second stimulus since this one won't work. The bank bailout is the important action needed and they have already screwed that up.

Here's hoping some future stimuli includes nationalized health care for everyone? France is beating us! LOL....

Posted by: The Galloping Trollop

Actually, I agree completely but the French system has more private practice, I suspect, than you know. I have a lengthy analysis of it on my blog.

If the market continues to tank in response to these bills

The short-term financial market reaction to announcement is a lot less important than how the economy responds to implementation. If the financial services sectors short-term thinking had any rational relationship to long-term economic realities, we wouldn't be in this crisis in the first place.

If the market continues to tank in response to these bills, as it did today, I don't think it's going to be increasing anyone's popularity.

Yes, I'm sure the US markets tanked solely due to the stimulus bill and not because European markets took a major dive.

I really encourage all of you to check out Mike K's blog. Don't eat while you're doing it. And remember, if victim can speak or cough, do not interfere.

May I suggest the right use their busi9ness community interest and tell them to get off their lazy butts and take some risks and INVEST.

If THEY don't spend money, Obama will.

Spread your wealth before the big bad ol' inefficient incompetent government does it for you.

Even assuming spending by itself does nothing to help the economy. Driving up huge deficits will cause hyperinflation and your oh so precious wealth that you attach some much of your self-esteem to will erode into a mere comfortable standard of living.

Inflation. The dreaded equalizer: destroys wealth and debt.

"In size and scope, there is almost nothing in history to rival the economic stimulus legislation that Obama shepherded through Congress in just over three weeks."

True. A contributing factor is that it has a lot of stuff that the Democrats wanted to add in to the last two budgetary cycles. Obama unleashed a lot of pent-up demand for spending.

France is beating us!

If so, then maybe we should get 80% of our electricity from nuclear power and start building even more nuclear power plants like they are doing. With many differences between France and the U.S., there is no way to know which might matter. France does not have anything as strong as our First Ammendment -- maybe that's their secret.

It's really too bad President Obama couldn't figure out a way to jettison these two [Reid & Pelosi] who are poster children for everything that is wrong in Washington.

maybe we should get 80% of our electricity from nuclear power and start building even more nuclear power plants like they are doing.

I agree -- as long as we bury the waste in your backyard, Marler. How about it?

What is needed is a comprehensive analysis of the ROI on all the stimulus elements. What works should be kept. What doesn't work (tax cuts, anyone?) should be tossed. That could even be done midway through the first stimulus plan, but should definitely be part of a second stimulus package.