Jobs, Earmarks, and Arlen Spector

Paul Krugman
Eugene Robinson
Michael Kinsley

"Yesterday, President Obama signed the stimulus bill in Denver, Colorado. He picked Denver because our debt is now a mile high." --Jay Leno

The sad truth is that the economic stimulus package may not have much affect on unemployment figures. Many of the jobs that will be created will not be for permanent employment, and if you were laid off from a company that went out of business, it won't help that company start back up. Too many large companies and state and local governments are going to be laying off thousands more workers to meet budget shortfalls, so it will be getting worse over the next couple of years before it gets better, if at all...

And, as we have to cut back on law enforcement, expect to see a rampant rise in petty crimes along with a whole lot of depressed, embittered people who have to suddenly live on the edge. Domestic violence will rise too as the shame of not being able to provide for our families translates into anger and lashing out at the ones we love the most. I hope that every church steps up and begins running soup kitchens and donating food and clothing to down and out parishioners instead of whining if gays can touch each other...

The Associated Press reports that 100 lawmakers were involved with the lobbying business of PMA Group in securing earmarks for campaign contributions: "Former-Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs (and elected to the Senate last fall), and Reps. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, and Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, on the list of those who secured earmarks -- either individually or with others --and also received campaign contributions from the PMA group's political action committee or its employees."

As I explained a couple of days ago, this is business as usual and how earmarks work nowadays. Every single earmark goes through a lobbyist, who is paid an outrageous amount of money, who then gets the Congressman to vote for an earmarked program or to write it into some other bill, in exchange for a campaign contribution. Earmarks account for about $11 to $14 billion of the budget annually, so the lobbyists are making millions of dollars in profits, and the lawmakers didn't have to work very hard for those contributions.

This is a process that was started in the 1970's, and perfected by Republicans like Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, and the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It is still going strong today, and everything from grants for University research to bridges to nowhere goes through this process.. The reason we are beginning to hear about these scandals is because of the change in administration. The groups that are supposed to monitor are now being allowed to do their jobs, and I imagine that we will be hearing a lot more, and hopefully get and end to this dishonest practice. Or better yet, make them all donate their profts to help pay off the national debt...

The SEC, who had been accused of not being able to see its way out of a paper bag, has announced a new enforcement chief. Robert Khuzami has spent years in Manhattan prosecuting insider trading, ponzi schemes, and other financial crimes. He comes to the SEC from Deutsche Bank. Again, expect to see more news of crooks who have bilked people for their money for over the past eight years and got away with it because the Bush administration felt that looking the other way was supportive of business.

The Political Animal reported this interesting story about Arlen Spector and his support for the stimulus package: "Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama's stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'" [...]

"I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation," he said.

Asked how many Republican lawmakers we're talking about here, Specter said it's a "sizable number."

Ahh, I almost forgot, the late night jokes:

"As you may have heard, the state of California is broke. So you're looking at massive state layoffs now because the legislature hasn't been able to come up with a budget. The state is $42 billion in the hole. You know, I'm no financial expert, but if you have no money and no prospects of making money and you owe $42 billion, you're way beyond putting yourself on a budget, O.K.? I think you're looking at faking your own death at this point." --Jay Leno

"President Obama, today, outlined his plan to deal with the mortgage mess and the housing crisis. The good news -- he thinks he's found a solution. The bad news -- it involves arson." --Jay Leno

"And the idea of nationalizing banks is becoming more popular with some lawmakers and economists. They say they're leaning towards the Swedish model for banks. You know, I've got a better idea. How about opening banks with all Swedish models." --Jay Leno

"Well, here's the latest on the bailout. Democrats may have to bail Senator Roland Burris out of jail." --Jay Leno

"More bad news for Senator Burris. Now, the Chicago Sun-Times is calling for his resignation. Remember, he was appointed by Governor Blagojevich. Now he could be in trouble for perjury and for giving conflicting statements in his testimony about campaign contributions. See, that's the trouble with politicians. They think the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are three different things." --Jay Leno

"In a new ranking of U.S. presidents by 65 historians, President Bush came in fifth from the bottom. And here's the bad part -- the margin of error was five." --Jay Leno

"In an interview with Fox News, Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, 18-year-old Bristol Palin -- remember Bristol Palin, who had the baby? Well, she talked in the interview. She said, 'A year ago, I never would have thought I would become a mom or that my mom was going to be chosen to be a vice presidential candidate.' Oddly enough, both things happened because some guy failed to take the proper precautions." --Jay Leno

"Good news and bad news for Sarah Palin. The bad news is that the IRS says she owes thousands of dollars in back taxes. The good news is that she now qualifies to be in Obama’s Cabinet." --Craig Ferguson