Beam me up Scotty there is no intelligent life here on this planet and the place most infected with stupidity seems to be in a place called Washington DC....
In all seriousness Bob Casey almost has it right . Leave the money in the hands of the local communities...I would change the word communities to the phrase "the people who earned it".
Do the Reids,Caseys,Isaksons,really think they are in touch with the people who actually fund this nation..?
I have serious doubts that the cumulative IQ of the senate would reach 100 and that would be with adding 2 points for the vice president.
Don

Just like everything else, the cost of votes has risen as the dollar declines as well.

I wouldn't recommend investing in votes though... I consider them a consumable item. Maybe our elected officials should invest the tax payer's money in gold instead.

The dollar. "Gold is the mirror image of the dollar," says George Milling-Stanley, manager of investment and market intelligence at the World Gold Council. Gold's price rises when the dollar falls. The dollar hit an all-time low against the euro Thursday and fell below 100 yen for the first time since 1995 before closing at 102.04.

If only our founding fathers would have had the forethought to tie our dollar to gold somehow.

$15,000 tax rebate? Makes me wonder if the buyer has to prove they paid in more than $15,000 in order to get the rebate.

Let's see...current account deficit approaching $10 trillion; unfunded future obligations at about $50 trillion; borrowing about $2.7 trillion a year, from numerous lenders; and printing untold amounts of new currency - all while continue to operate in the red. And Johnny I. thinks taxpayers (and future generations, apparently) should be throwing money at people who buy homes - many of whom would be buying anyway, without the incentive?? 'Fiscal irresponsiblity' doesn't begin to describe this insanity. We are becoming the Weimar Republic of the 21st century before our very eyes. In 2000, oil was in the mid $30s per barrel, now we're no longer shocked to see it over $100 a barrel; to say nothing of gold, now over $1000 an ounce. How much longer can this go on until we hit the "tipping point" where the currency crashes? And I heard tonight that Bear Stearns just received a big bailout due to their over-extension of mortgage-backed securities. So the little guy get thrown out in the street, the Wall Streeters get bailed out, and the upwardly mobile get $15,000 cash for buying a house. The government works for whom?

OK, I hate taxes. I hate a government that works to control a free market. It is also true that the economy is dropping like a rock.

Tax rebates are ok so long as it is returning money to those who were taxed in equal amounts to begin with. Even an added bump for interst lost while the government held their money.

Stimulus packages are geared toward putting money into an economy the government screwed up in the first place.

Lower the tax rates and amounts deemed 'necessary' to operate the legitimate functions of government. Allow people to keep more of their own money, invest or spend as they deem necessary.

deficit approaching $10 trillion; unfunded future obligations at about $50 trillion; borrowing about $2.7 trillion a year, from numerous lenders; and printing untold amounts of new currency - all while continue to operate in the red.

That is the problem.

Larry
You have incorrectly assumed that the government has a desire to be legitimate and allow the citizens to keep control of that which is theirs.
The government has but one purpose and that is to grow and control so it can continue to grow. You do understand that if I am not dependent on you to take care of some if not all of my needs then you have no control over me.
The government controls out of fear not out of service. People who have not made provisions for themselves will always continue to place in power those who will provide for them and we both know that our society is rapidly becoming one of consumers not contributers.
How much longer am I willing to contribute before I see what I have produced consumed by non contributers at the same rate I consume it?
In other words how long will I feel it worthwhile to provide for those who want what I have but are unwilling to work as I have to have it before I say NO MORE.
Until we as the ones who pay the bills "fire" the politicians who have wasted and squandered our resources ,I know one of your favorites, Nash Farms, and the BoC golf course, and the Bark Park, along with 10s if not 100s of other unnecessary "but they vote" projects then we will continue to pay the freight for those who want what we worked for but don't want to do the work to get it.
I promise you this,if Johnny One Time get this stupidity of 15K to buy a home thru I will file suit to get a retro payment ...and as you know I am a real estate agent so this would probably be a good thing for me ....but it is not only a bad economic idea it is extremely unfair for those of us that worked,sacrificed,saved and started with a rental house before buying a house that is now declined in value by about 30% since 2006.
I am at present trying to garner enough support to start a class action law suit to require the county to adjust my taxes according to the "now" value of my property. Just think my 350K plus house according to the appraisal is now worth 245K in the real market place yet henry county still thinks I should pay tax on 350K.
I really think with enough noise we could force the issue and get some relief.
Just a few thoughts on THE WAY I SEE IT
Don
PS
While writing this post I am watching CNN report about people burning their houses down because they were being foreclosed on,stupid of course,but maybe we should consider that as a solution for the BoC......OK OK I am not serious just KIDDING have no such intentions I don't even have a lighter and my wife doesn't allow me to play with matches.....Oh God please protect that building as I know I'd get the blame for it if something happened. I have submitted this to SNL but was informed the BJ Mathis Nash Farms skit has provided more than enough material to last this season. They have to give NY government a little attention due the current action by their leadership.

Jason,

I'm not sure if you remember it or not, but I used to catch all sorts of hell from the mouth-breathers over at Peach Pundit (commenters, not front-pagers) for consistently calling Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss two of the biggest, big-government Republicans in the Senate.

I wonder what all of those idiots who have been trying to promote this guy as our "conservative alternative" to Sonny Perdue are thinking now.

I heard that in 2010, the federal government is going to make it legal to kill the mentally handicapped. I cried when I thought about Isakson.

That said, if the government is going to spend money on "pork" (and trust me, they will. Spending will NEVER decrease again) then I'd rather them put the money directly into my pocket than into a "bridge to nowhere" or painting planes to look like fish.

I for one would support a Isakson for Governor campaign... but can not say it better than my friend Icarus over at PP. HT to Icarus....

And here’s my take.

Isakson confounds a lot of his critics because he is, above all, a realist and a pragmatist. A lot of folks look at his ability to generate a compromise solution to a complex problem and perceive that as a sign that he’s not conservative enough. Bull.

Isakson has consistently ranked as one of the most conservative in the Senate. Yet he is also able to work behind the scenes with members of both parties to get things done when necessary. He generally does this not in front of the cameras and branding himself as a “Maverick”, but someone who knows how to work in the background and be effective.

Indy used an example in the other thread of Delta Airlines, and the thought process applies to this bill as well. It’s a cost/benefit analysis.

In the Delta pension relief bill, Isakson took on a President that said he would veto any bill, and the leadership of both parties. Had Delta terminated its pension plan, the Federal Government would have immediately been on the hook for the unfunded balance, and may retirees would have seen their benefits cut.

If you understand the South Metro Atlanta area, you would understand what an immediate economic impact that would have. Not just on the retirees, but on the small businesses that dominate the landscape down there that depend on airline families. (Understand that over 10% of Delta’s worldwide employees live in Fayette County alone. Add Henry, Coweta, and Clayton, and you might start to understand the economic impact here…)

All those employees, retirees, and employees and owners of the businesses that are supported by them pay Federal, State, and Local taxes. If those pensions were cut, the tax revenues are cut too.

Isakson crafted a bill that allows a longer time frame for the airlines to cover the unfunded parts of their pensions. If they fail, the taxpayers are no worse off than if the bill never existed. In the interim, the retirees get their current benefits, and the businesses that rely on them continue to do so.

Which brings us to the $15K tax credit. Total estimated cost to the U.S. taxpayer, $14 Billion. (Compare that to the worthless $160 BN stimulus package for perspective).

For a relatively low cost, Isakson is providing a stimulus to the one sector that is the root cause of the current economic uncertainty. This is far from a bailout, or business as usual. Lenders have already restricted their mortgage underwriting criteria. Sub-Prime and Alt-A loans no longer exist. Builders can’t get financing for spec loans, and in some cases, even pre-sold homes. The channels for over-supply have been turned off. But the uncertain buyers (and sellers, for those that want to move up, down, or out of town) don’t want to put their current houses on the market because of all the bad news.

The resulting economic downturn in the U.S. economy will cost the Treasury much, much more than $14 BN if the slide in Real Estate continues.

I see this as a very targeted, pragmatic solution to a very real, very large problem.

From a cost-benefit standpoint, it’s a lot cheaper than doing nothing.