spending money

We're already fighting wars in Iraq, Afghanistan/Pakistan and Syria, but now it appears the U.S. has entered a fourth theater:

The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.

The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.

On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.

How many wars can our country stomach, both financially and mentally? We're already talking about the enormous federal deficit, but we don't have any problem launching air strikes in other countries. These strikes cost hundreds of millions of dollars and is money we never get back, unlike bailing out the auto industry.

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.