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Being "Out of Touch" is one thing; acting Treasonous is quite another. I feel that what we are looking at is not a government and corporatocracy that is out of touch or misled or bribed crazy with money, but a fully corrupt infrastructure built and designed and led on purpose--for something much more devious and evil than even Nazi Germany was. Look at the evidence: war crime of aggression against Iraq based on lies and manufactured evidence, war crimes of torture, no accountability of the military or subtracters even though they commit war crimes and kill innocents, an executive branch that pathologically lies and misleads both Congress and the Nation, spying on US citizens, immunity for the companies that allow this spying, kidnapping and imprisoning people without charges or due process, no accountability of the president or vice president.... the list goes on and on, slamming through constitutional amendment after amendment and constitutional article after article. Yet the media is not jumping up and down and screaming, neither are Congress members, and these, together with the (in)Justice Department and court systems, are acting totally inept at best. What we have here is a total failure of the government and the corporatocracy that has been allowed to develop. You stand warned, even directly from Naomi Wolfe, that the US is heading for a fascist police state: an American Holocaust appears to be looming on the horizon.... awaiting the right false-flag event. You stand warned... -- We are being lied to; know the truth: http://www.ExcaliburBooks.com/RedAlert/

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The stimulus package much in the news has already been acknowledged as a political season move to appeal to voters, but that hasn't been well explained as yet, especially from a Democrat's viewpoint. From a Republican viewpoint, with the fiscal anguish of the population, it is somewhat understandable. So as not to completely disavow the possibility of a Republican President, a tax rebate is used much of the same way that a politician buys votes through elections, as Romney was accused of doing in FL during the FL debate. But BBC economic analysis already pegs it as an added deficit that is good for China since it will come back to China. What that does for the American people is a mystery however. With jobs gone, and all manufacturing done in China and elsewhere, it's unclear how this is good for the economy or Americans except to act as a conduit to what politicians want, a stimulus for Republican votes, and ignoring the consequence which is merely to add more deficit to the large one existing already.

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Good column. Thanks. http://greenpagan.newsvine.com -- GP

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Dear David: It is clear that one of the most effective stimuli for the American people and their economy would be a national guaranteed single payer healthcare system. Get rid of the insurance companies, provide everybody the freedom to get health care all over the country -- get wheelchairs, prescription drugs, doctor and hospital visits, long term care, drug and alcohol treatment, mental healthcare, dental and optical and hearing care, hospitals not worrying about closing because they would all have rational global budgets -- all provided by our common small payroll tax and the $380 billion now wasted on the insurance companies. This is the essence of H.R. 676 which now has 88 Congressional sponsors. We expect to have many more co-sponsors -- enough to push it to the forefront and demand that the President sign it -- after the Congressional elections in the fall. It won't happen in time for the crashing economy around us -- not this time. But now is the time to help people understand how much it would help all of us -- how it would provide new money for economic growth. And now is the time to find progressive candidates to take over the Congress in a re-play of the 1964 election.

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This is an election year so not surprisingly, Washington wants to look as though it is "on the case" addressing the suffering of the average Joe so these idiots can keep their jobs. But Sirota is right: the vast majority of the billions spent to "stimulate" the economy will go to corporations, not to us. And if the stimulus package doesn't work, are the businesses going to asked to give the money back? Hah! A better solution would be to raise unemployment compensation and cut payroll taxes. Then have a buy back deal for small businesses whereas they could get out from under their delinquent tax obligations for say, 30 or 40 cents on the dollar. Now is no time to hit little guys up with big tax penalties that will swell and haunt them for years and possibly drive them under altogether.

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While chatting with a cashier at a department store on the day that Bush came out asking Congress for the stimulus package, I told the cashier that I was spending part of the $800 Bush was going to give me. Her response was: "I'll believe it when I get it, but I'm not going shopping, I'm paying down my debt". I don't know if that woman was representative of most Americans who will receive the tax rebate, but I believe it is. The politicians want to strengthen the balance sheet of financial companies by helping Americans pay down their credit card and mortgage debt -- a roundabout $140 billion bailout. If it turns out I'm right, the economy will sink into a very deep recession because the money will not help the declining GDP. If I may say, I'm glad that the financial companies get some relief from the bad loans because our economy will go into a cardiac arrest without a stable financial system.