recessions

Just now on Rachel Maddow, Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Il), who voted against the stimulus bill (duhh), was saying he wanted to see something like this. We give people a $5,000 voucher to go out and buy a new car. That way they could get that new car for about $300 a month and that would put people back to work in the auto industry.

Ok – first thing’s first. The credit markets are still frozen solid. So how will this person get the loan for this $300 a month? On top of that, people aren’t spending money. This idea sounds like something based upon a pipe dream instead of actual substance. People re-sodding the National Mall is guaranteed work. Giving people a voucher for a government sponsored discount on a car isn’t guaranteed to put people back to work. (and not mentioning the fact that buying a new car is one of the worst investments ever)

This all goes to the House Republican’s plan they laid out earlier today. It’s the same record, just skipping over and over again. They want to cut taxes to business owners saying that they would use the savings to hire new people. Well a majority of this country isn’t in that category, but they are the ones who support those businesses. If I have extra money, do I hire more people even if my demand hasn’t increased? No – that is throwing away the money.

We need to get money into the hands of the consumers, and that means making sure they are working. Once people are working then demand will go up, which in turn will also increase employment opportunities.