To the editor:
Well, they did it. Congress passed and Obama has signed into law the Economic Recovery Act of 2009, better known as the “stimulus bill,” the largest spending bill in our country’s history, possibly the largest in the history of the world. To fund this spending spree, the U.S. must borrow $780 billion on the world market, increasing our debt and that of future generations. This at a time when the whole world is borrowing, no country is lending. So what is the alternative? We issue more paper money, fueling inflation. Either way we lose.
This act was supposed to encourage growth by creating new jobs and stimulating the economy. The primary jobs created will be in government bureaucracy. There is nothing in the bill to encourage formation of businesses or expansion of existing firms. Obama has toured the country with a message of gloom and doom. He certainly got my attention.
Instead of spending, I will hunker down I have taken steps to assure my money is safe in a financial institution in which I have some confidence. My spending will be limited to the necessities of life: food, shelter and utilities. I wonder how many others will do the same?
The bigger concern is the direction in which we are being taken. The government is one step away from nationalizing the banks. They have already begun dictating to the financial institutions regarding executive pay. Is the manufacturing segment next? Massive “loans” to GM and Chrysler with strings are in the offing. I recall reading that there is a group of social activists whose stated aim is to ”destroy the unfair capitalistic economic system of the United States.” This bill, and current governmental actions, have moved a long way in that direction and placed us on the slippery slope to socialism.
