Thursday, February 5, 2009

Our Future...Make your voice heard

Today I got an email from the Organic Consumers Association, of which I am a member. Their website is a wealth of information for all things sustainable and many times I have been compelled to take action after reading articles on the site. Not this time. Todays email encouraging thier members to write to their representatives in support of the massive stimulus bill is something I just CAN NOT do.

While I applaud the inclusion in the stimulus package of 'green' jobs and environmentally sound provisions to help secure our future. I find it impossible to believe that borrowing close to a Trillion dollars to finance it makes any kind of sense, green or otherwise. And look closely at the list of items we are being asked to finance....

--$198 million for U.S. military benefits for Filipinos who fought for the U.S. during WWII

- $75 million for smoking cessation activities

- $87 million for the design of a new polar icebreaker

- $335 million for HIV/STD screening

- $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees


All projects worthy of money, to be sure, but are they worthy of being part of an economic stimulus plan that's now expected to cost U.S. taxpayers $900 billion?

(excerpt from Yahoo news)

While I would certainly have traded the bailout of Wall Street for the stimulus package....that is sadly not possible. The point is....even good and practical things are just plain WRONG if you cannot pay for them! This country simply can't afford this massive pork barrel.

We will be urging our senator to VOTE NO on the stimulus bill.

5 comments:

Jeano said...

I'm with you, Maureen.

Maureen said...

This just in......$25 million to rehabilitate off-roading trails for ATVs


AAAGGHHHHHHH!

Mike said...

But what about the 500 million jobs Nancy Pelosi says we'll lose? :-) Actually, I liked the bailout plan when it started (with strict oversights in place, of course), but never thought the stimulus plan was anything more than a waste of money. Heck, at least with the bailout, they have to pay the money back. The stimulus is just a bunch of pork. But at least, we'll get new ATV trails.

Nancy Winningham said...

If you become a vegetarian, you can check a lot of stuff off of your lists!

Maureen said...

Yeah, you're probably right on the Wallstreet bailout plan Mike, at least there will be some kind of monetary payback. But it does seem that there has been NO oversight whatsoever, which was my concern all along. I think the same thing is going to happen with the Big Car Makers....the execs will make sure they squirrel away their millions and the workers will be left holding the bag.