Stimulus?

We are assured by Barack Obama that “Because of what” they did, our economy will rebound.

We are fed the news that Barack Obama will present a budget plan that will “slash” the Federal deficit despite a massive “stimulus” plan that increased government spending by a significant amount.

We are promised that the great, wise leaders in Washington will now unilaterally declare carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant without benefit of Congressional action on that.

The last two items appear to effectively kill the first one.

To slash the deficit you must increase government revenues or slash the Federal spending. Given the nature of what Congress has just done in passing the “stimulus” we can effectively rule out cutting spending. That leaves raising revenues via tax increases. The choices are to raise taxes on individuals or on corporations.

The “stimulus” plan includes a provision for “buy American” that will likely trigger a trade war. That is most likely to damage American corporations and decrease tax revenues from that source. Leaving individuals to pay the taxes.

The regulation of carbon will, by any measure, greatly increase the cost of energy for individuals. Taxpayers are about to get hit with “sticker shock” over the cost of their energy consumption. Individuals will get hit with rising energy prices, rising taxes and a falling economy – all at once.

Stimulus?