What is the point of a stimulus package? Remember when democrats said it would take too long for oil drilling ?

to have any effect on the price of oil?





LOL





Let me get this straight - building a bridge or long stretch of road, or a dam or a government office building can take YEARS. Just the paperwork takes 2 years. Then you have bidding and affirmative action crap, then the work itself.





These same democrats refused to allow oil drilling because they said it would take years for the oil to begin flowing and it wouldn't help the price of oil.





LOL . HYPOCRITES!What is the point of a stimulus package? Remember when democrats said it would take too long for oil drilling ?
The stimulus package is a giant earmarks program.





Yes. This is due to their plan top see the economy fail.What is the point of a stimulus package? Remember when democrats said it would take too long for oil drilling ?
They are two different things. One is about jobs, one is about unit cost





Building a bridge will take years yes.





But people get hired from day one. First engineers, office staff, lawyers, accountants etc.





The site planners,





Then construction people





Then steel workers





then truck drivers





and so on.





That is called creating jobs from day one.





An oil well will take as long to build may or may not yield anything, employs fewer people and not change the price of oil for at least ten years.
Well, speaking from my perspective (I'm an Engineer for Caterpillar) you may have seen us in the news lately, laying off 20,000 employees. Even though the money isn't released, our company knows what they are going to order to complete those projects and it definitely could save jobs. The money may not be released for a year but the orders can be placed and people can work at building the equipment. Something has to be done. We can't just sit around and hope it fixes itself. If you have a better idea on how to put people to work Please let someone know.





TAT: hey how much did the Iraq war cost us?? And ofr what? Now the Iraqi Govt has a $78 billion dollar surplus and our tax dollars are still going to buidl their countries infrastructure. And people are bitching about us wanting to build our own - that is crazy!
LOL - bad similarity.





Look at oil prices now. Down below $2 without anything new being drilled.





And any new oil drilled would take a decade to make it into your gas tank.





But building a bridge would create jobs immediately. Yes the paperwork takes 2 years, but a far cry from 10. And unlike the price of gas which is down, you will always need to repair roads and bridges. Alternative energy will enable us to get off our dependence of Foreign oil (which is what you want right?) Or do you want it only if a Republican thinks of it.





That to me is hypocritical.
Drilling for oil would create some jobs, however it would take years (as many as 10) to have any impact on oil prices. Feeding our relentless want for oil is counterproductive. As long as oil is cheap we will not try to find alternatives.





Building infrastructure adds jobs. As others have said there are many projects ready to go except for the want of money. Getting these going will get more people working.





LOL - I understand economics.
Many projects are shovel-ready, meaning they can create jobs now.








Oil prices dropped dramatically without drilling.
Just watch the prices go up now that OPEC knows we are not going to drill for our own oil. Growing government to create jobs just takes away more of your pay and contracts your liberty.





I would ask Mr. Obama how he will have planes fly on wind, coal or solar power.





.
The long delay is just what they want. It will occur right before Obama's next election cycle.
Don't see how any of this will do anything but grow the govt and create a greater dependency.





A Dozen Fun Facts About the House Democrats' Massive Spending Bill





1. The House Democrats' bill will cost each and every household $6,700 additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.





2. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.





3. President-elect Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save three million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job. The average household income in the U.S. is $50,000 a year.





4. The House Democrats' bill provides enough spending - $825 billion - to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700.





5. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the U.S. $22,000.





6. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.





7. Although the House Democrats' proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill - or three percent - is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the Congressional Budget Office said that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion for infrastructure.





8. Much of the funding within the House Democrats' proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which already have $16 billion on hand. And, this year, Congress has plans to rescind $9 billion in highway funding that the states have not yet used.





9. In 1993, the unemployment rate was virtually the same as the rate today (around seven percent). Yet, then-President Clinton's proposed stimulus legislation ONLY contained $16 billion in spending.





10. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats' proposal:





$650 million for digital TV coupons.


$6 billion for colleges/universities - many which have billion dollar endowments.


$166 billion in direct aid to states - many of which have failed to budget wisely.


$50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.


$44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.


$200 million for the National Mall, including grass planting.


$400 million for ';National Treasures.';


11. Almost one-third of the so called tax relief in the House Democrats' bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package - not the 40 percent that President-elect Obama had requested.





12. $825 billion is just the beginning - many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their ';stimulus'; plan.
Anything takes time in a bureaucracy, and NOBODY is positive any stimulus package will work as intended. Republicans pushed for the last one just as hard as democrats, and it was a major platform point fo John McCain during his campaign. The oil statement, however, is true. According to the Energy Information Administration itself (EIA), the oil reserves along the coasts and in Alaska would not be available for a decade and would ease gas prices by roughly 2%. Since our demand will be much, much greater by the time it became available, it would be far less. It would not be cost effective. That is from the horse's mouth (the government agency directly responsible for figuring such things out), and was stated under the Bush administration when republicans were pushing for the drilling. See the link below and read it for yourself. Facts are the greatest tools for argument. Make sure you have them.