Stimulus money gives scientific research at local universities a boost
......But among officials at the area's major universities, there has been no debate about the value of the program. They all say the funding has made a big difference in starting up or continuing important research that benefits everyone.
Missourians are enterprising people. We don't need the govt to create jobs. We'll create jobs if govt will move over. #RoyBluntBusTour
Before we let Mr. Blunt get away with this, there are a few inconvenient facts that he needs to explain.
As of December 2009, Missouri's unemployment rate was 9.6%, very close to the highest ever recorded rate of 10.3% in 1983. That miserable statistic, of course, is the result of the deepest national recession since the great depression, brought to us, as all honest economists agree, by the tax and regulation cutting GOP. The lowest unemployment rate recorded in Missouri was 2.3% in 2000, under the liberal Mel Carnahan, during the last years of the liberal Clinton administration.
When Roy's son, little Matty, ascended to the Missouri statehouse, he along with his Republican legislative enforcers in Jefferson City brought unemployment to highs of 6-8%. Doesn't actually inspire confidence in Mr. Blunt's grandiose claims about what he and his anti-government fellow travelers can achieve, does it?
Of course, there's also the inconvenient fact that government interference in the form of the stimulus, maligned as it is by good old boys like Roy, probably saved our goose - even though it's still a skinny old bird. The question is whether or not the likes of Roy Blunt, touting their failed economic theology, are the people to fatten the goose back up and give us some of those golden eggs.
...an astroturf "populist" lobbyist, and a few ankle biters.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D) busted the chops of the republican leadership of the Missouri General Assembly over their hypocrisy when it comes to using federal money. The Twitter flurry started on February 10th.
Sent letter yestrday askng budget chairs in Mo legis what programs they'd cut if they didn't have almost billion $ in stimulus this year. 8:58 AM Feb 10th from web
They dnt wnt the stimulus $$ but if MO residents r paying @clairecmc 's earmark big debt bill, how cld they not spend it? RT @ChadLivengood 2:15 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc now that gun has bn held 2 leg head, they r n box. Ur vote forced Missourians 2 pay 4 the big debt so how cld leg not spend $$? 2:19 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc Leg shld not have spent $$ 2 begin with, MO wld pay taxes 4 ur vote 2 indebt them. They shld start by not spending $$ on HB22. 2:22 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc my point is using orig $$ which they hd no real choice 2 do places them in a hole. I wld sprt tkng $$ bck & hvng thm mke decisns 2:33 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc U ddnt ask how they wld spnd b4 voting 2 put MOians n debt so asking now is pol. Vote 2 pull remaining $$ & lt thm do thr job. 2:44 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc decisions 2 cut always tuf but stimulus $$ jst delayed it & now made decisions harder. 2:45 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
Senator McCaskill finishes with:
Going forward,if we pull back unspent stimulus $, how will the budget in #MO be balanced? Who will take the billion $ cut?Impt to be honest 2:24 PM Feb 10th from web
The usual right wingnut suspects - teabaggers, tenthers, and numerous and sundry members of the political lunatic fringe join the fray:
They complain, they say they're a'gin it, they show up on the Faux News Channel to mouth unintelligible random health care obstruction talking points, but when it comes down to it, Missouri republicans, in all their hypocrisy, will still take the check. Senator Claire McCaskill (D) called their bluff:
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill sent a letter today to leaders in the Missouri State Capitol asking for their input on whether the federal government should rescind previously passed but as of yet unspent aid for state governments that was part of the federal stimulus bill. In the letter, she also asks whether additional aid from the federal government for state governments should be provided during these difficult economic times.
As the state begins to determine budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2011, McCaskill is asking leaders in Jefferson City for more information on how federal aid is being used in this year's state budget, as well as what programs and services the state would cancel in next year's budget if the federal government chooses not to extend any additional aid.
"Washington doesn't know best," McCaskill wrote in an open letter to state elected officials. "That's why three-fourths of the [stimulus] money has gone to the states, tax cuts, and unemployment and COBRA benefits. If you want us to rescind the remaining money that you will spend this year and next, please let me know how Missourians will be hurt, so I can make an informed decision."
McCaskill, who has fought against bad spending habits in Washington over the last three years, has heard from many state legislators that they are unhappy that the federal government provided financial aid to states last year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, since the state government is required to balance their budget, they used approximately $1.5 billion of this federal aid in their Fiscal Year 2010 budget and are set to use $858 million in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. McCaskill also asked for clarity on what areas of state budget would have been cut last year had the lawmakers not had available the $1.5 billion in federal aid...
...Although McCaskill sent the request as an open to letter to all state legislators, she also sent individual copies to the leadership of both the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives.
Okay, that's a start. It would have been nice if our Democratic members of Congress had acted like, you know, Democrats nine months ago.
And, as for those republicans in control of everything in Jefferson City, are they willing to play chicken with Missouri's economy and the quality of life for everyone in the state?
President Obama participated in a lengthy give and take with House republicans at their obstructionism planning session "issues conference" in Baltimore, Maryland today. The republicans made the mistake of agreeing to broadcast the event. Absolutely brilliant miscalculation on their part.
It's nice to actually have a President who can think. Then again, the environmental contrast was stark.
"...But if you were to listen to the debate and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot. No, I mean, that's how you guys -- (applause) -- that's how you guys presented it...."
For a second there I forgot Marsha Blackburn was an idiot, then she wouldn't stop editorializing. :( #cspanObama/GOP q & a about 1 hour ago from UberTwitter
Roy Blunt just won't stop twittering; most recently:
Made case on the panel that cap & tax, govt-run health care, failed stimulus will be big issues in MO & across country. People are fed up.
Damm straight, Roy, I'm fed up!
Fed up with cute little slogans like "cap-and-tax" and the coy fools who use them.
Fed up with politicians who refuse to acknowledge reality.
And you better believe I'm fed up with Republican lies and obstruction ... and by the beneficiaries of big bucks lobbyists who try to manipulate the fears of the terminally ignorant so that they can go on congressional panels and talk about all the trouble that will be stirred up if legislators actually try to do the people's business for once.
Most of us have heard our more retrograde legislators and cable news pontificators gleefully proclaim the stimulus a failure - despite evidence that it softened the recession fallout considerably (see also here). Wiser observers, such as the Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman, note that more rather than less stimulus was what was really needed if we wanted to give the economy the boost required to rev up the jobs engine:
What we're in right now is the aftermath of a giant financial crisis, which typically leads to a prolonged period of economic weakness - and this time isn't different. A bolder economic policy early this year might have led to a turnaround, but what we actually got were half-measures. As a result, unemployment is likely to stay near its current level for a year or more.
Sadly, Krugman is probably correct when he notes that efforts to augment the stimulus with realistic job-creation measures will probably fall victim to the current political climate. The result, according to Krugman, will be "years of terrible job markets, combined with political paralysis."
Krugman's grim observations were brought vividly home to me when I came across Claire McCaskill's comments on the topic of a potential Senate jobs bill:
I think we've got to be really careful in thinking we can spend government money to get us out of recession," said Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, who called for low-interest loans for small businesses.
Nothing too cringeworthy in that pious little observation - but nothing too promising in the vision and courage departments either.
Yep, that republican meme is getting circulated all right. They've got to be joking. Their unregulated free market pseudo-capitalism hasn't been working out so well lately. But then again, they are humorless and they never joke about this stuff.
Captured image from an on-line advertisement spreading the republican anti-stimulus meme.
...More than 100 people first gathered in Mill Creek Park in snow and subfreezing weather...
..."I don't like the socialism piece of it," she said as some passing cars honked in support of the signs...
[emphasis added]
There's that "socialism" meme. Where has she been for the previous eight years? Just asking. I suppose it's not "socialism" when the top one per cent and political cronies of those in power benefit. Working people and the poor must be another story.
The inconvenient fact that most people in the country support the stimulus plan must really chap their "anti-socialist" asses.
In typical fashion, Kit Bond is heading on the road today to take credit for getting $40 million for low-income housing in Missouri, when he not only voted against the bill, but also trashed it as the "trillion dollar" baby. While the bill was being debated, he also tried to claim we were on his side in opposition at a rate of 4 to 1, without evidence. Isn't there, say, a union local or two in Southwest Missouri who could meet Bond and shame him for his opposition to the stimulus package?
This is on the heels of Blaine Luetkemeyer touting increased Pell grants in his district even after he voted against the bill.
Here's a newsflash for you, Walter Kronkite. You do not get to take credit for a bill that you opposed.
As Michael noted, Claire McCaskill is now defending herself against Krugman on Twitter:
Just saw Krugman's comments on reduction in recov act. Question for him. Would no stimulus act be better than one thats 800 B instead of 900.
She follows that up with
Compromise had to happen or we would NOT have 60 votes. Period.
And for further evidence of how much the bill is the same, she claims:
Original Senate bill was 60% appropriationss, 40%tax cuts. Compromise was 58, 42.Senate bill is 90% the same as House bill.
I'm glad that's she expressing herself here, and that we're able to somewhat have a dialogue. But I'm not sure how much in good faith it is. McCaskill began by stating how glad she was that they got a $100 billion cut out of the bill, that the "silly stuff" that Republicans didn't like is now out. She then switches to a passive aggressive mode in defending the cuts - it's basically the same bill and it wouldn't have made it through the Senate - but glosses her own role in making the cuts. From the way she talks about the bill, wouldn't she have been among those voting against the bill if the cuts hadn't been made and new non-stimulative tax cuts hadn't been added in?
UPDATE: One of the last tweets from the only Twitter feed McCaskill is following (which is her press secretary's):
So glad that Claire was part of this moderate team Nelson is calling "the jobs squad". Very cool. Hopefully the others will see this is best 6:33 PM Feb 6th from web
...And another tweet from McCaskill's press secretary approvingly points to an awful article by Dana Milbank about how McCaskill, Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and the other "moderates" are workhorses trying to get the bill done, while everyone else, including Harry Reid and Barack Obama, are just show ponies trying to get attention.
...It is after all, written into the Democratic Party bylaws that conservative Democratic Senators must put the new Dem president in his place and make sure that no one in the country ever get the idea that he is really in charge...
An influential Senate Democrat said Friday that it's unclear whether President Obama's $819 economic stimulus bill will win enough support to pass in the Senate.
"I don't even know how many Democrats will vote for it, as it stands today," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., told FOX News...
Okay, here's a new rule for Democrats - you can't participate in an exercise which allows someone to go on the air at the propaganda arm of the rnc (the Faux News Channel) and trash a Democratic president's economic stimulus plan when you voted for a republican president's bailout of their Wall Street buddies.
Shame on you Claire McCaskill for helping to provide this fodder to right wingnuts. If you were going to attend the meeting (not a problem) you should have at least elicited a promise that your blowhard colleague wouldn't go directly from the meeting to spout off for Roger Ailes' propaganda network.
So much for working behind the scenes.
Uh, you do know that Ike Skelton (D - MO4) voted for the House version, right?
Roy Blunt just won't stop twittering; 
Most of us have heard our more retrograde legislators and cable news pontificators gleefully proclaim the stimulus a failure - 
Krugman's grim observations were brought vividly home to me when I came across Claire McCaskill's 
