Addressing the Economic Emergency
“Our country is plunging headlong into a horrendous recession and we risk an economic meltdown comparable to the Great Depression. The need for the government rescue is so incredibly urgent that Congress must pass the Economic Destruction Plan immediately. The slightest delay truly imperils our country.” Thus the presidential rhetoric and scaremongering is launched.

An all too complicit Congress joined the chorus and rammed through the biggest spending package ever, bigger than has been imagined by even the biggest tax & spend liberal. Without debate, without public input they forced this legislation into the shortest possible time frame. The need to enact the legislation was so incredibly critical that Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, was “forced” to renege on her promise to allow the public 48 hours to review and consider the package before she proceeded to a vote. At least now we can all give a giant and collective sigh of relief as the stuttering messiah signs the legislation and rescues our nation from certain destruction.

Oh, but wait! The president has something more important to do. Instead of saving our country in our moment of desperate need, Obama felt it was more important to take a 3-day vacation and will delay signing the bill until Tuesday. He will return to Washington from Chicago tomorrow and turn around and fly back to Denver so he can sign the Economic Destruction Plan there. The symbolism is there, I’m sure, but it’s meaning eludes me. (Maybe he is earning frequent flyer miles!)

So the Democratic leadership did the president’s bidding, but at what cost? Well they don’t know exactly. In fact, no one really knows (including you and me). Why? Because no one has read it. Let’s take a quick poll.

Poll Question: Have you read the 1100 pages of the economic stimulus bill?
0%     House of Representatives  (not one member of the House has read it)
0%     Senate (not one of the 100 senators have read it)
0%     White House (no one at the White House has read it)
0%     Journalists (not one of the thousands of journalists in the country has read it)
0%     Electorate (not one of the millions of Americans has read it)

So, who has read the bill? Well, perhaps a handful of congressional staffers have read the whole bill.

Writing the Legislation
But you thought that congress wrote the legislation. Nope! Wrong! Not even close! This, like a lot of legislation, was written by non-elected folks. Conspiring to draft this legislation were unelected staffers working for liberal/socialist members of congress, fringe leftwing special interest groups, and paid mercenaries (lobbyists) who were ensuring only that the interests of their employers were addressed. This is the team that is rescuing our country!

So How Bad is the Recession?
As I have mentioned before, not all that bad. The Wall Street Journal has an excellent comparison of this recession and bad recessions of the past. (Hint: no where close to the Great Depression).