Forget the technical analysis about how most of the “stimulus” is waste that we’d never permit through a normal appropriations bill, or how it isn’t even scheduled to be spent right away, which was the point of a stimulus package to begin with. Here are a few facts about the stimulus that ought to convince anyone with any sense to call their Congressional representative right now and go on a Christian Bale-style tirade against it:
1. We don’t actually have this money to spend. We’re going to borrow it against our children and grandchildren’s future earnings.
2. Forget about interest, and just accept this monstrous package at face value at 850 billion dollars… Do you understand that WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 300 MILLION TOTAL PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES?! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH CHEAPTER IT WOULD BE TO GIVE EVERY CITIZEN, REGARDLESS OF AGE, A CHECK FOR A MILLION DOLLARS? YOU MUST BE INSANE FOR EVEN THINKING UP THIS MONSTROSITY!!
Ahem.
Don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the stimulus looks like. I entered the following four cells into an Excel spreadsheet and made a chart.
| STIMULUS | POPULATION |
| 850,000,000,000 | 300,000,000 |
This is how much money we’re going to borrow to blow, mostly on pork that previously could not make it through a normal appropriations process:
[Graphic updated to reflect proposed START plan. The Excel spreadsheet now contains:
| STIMULUS | POPULATION | START PLAN |
| 850,000,000,000 | 300,000,000 | 170,000,000,000 |
A very facile response is that, “It’s only $2800 per person.” Again, that’s without interest, which China and our other creditors will certainly expect to receive, and furthermore, few people in this country actually pay any taxes to begin with. Most people take more out of government than they put in.
What we are doing is further enslaving that top forty or so percent of people who actually do pay for government. Aside from the moral implications, if you think Atlas isn’t going to shrug once they grasp the enormity of the penalty they’ll pay for the “privilege” of supporting the rest of the country, then in addition to being a thief, you are a fool.
