The Senator From Massachusetts

From the floor debate in the Senate on February 7 regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

Incidentally, let me share with a few of my colleagues why this is sort of this old ideology versus new. The Senator talked about the tired ideology of the past. What is it? Well, I think today Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, made a statement on behalf of the Republican Party. He said:

For the last 2 weeks, we have been trying to force a massive spending bill through Congress under the guise of economic relief.

Well, we are having votes. This is a democracy. We are not forcing anything. We are trying to get the job done because there is an urgency to getting it done.

But then he says:

The fastest way to help those families is by letting them keep more of the money they earn. Individual empowerment, that is how you stimulate the economy.

That is a big ideological/philosophical difference about how you most rapidly stimulate the economy. Let's think about it for a minute, the individual empowerment. OK, we turn around and we give every family in America the great big tax cut that the Republicans are talking about. Here is what he says: We want to give--the first 16,000 bucks you make, you are going to be taxed at a lower percentage.

Terrific. We lose revenue at the Federal level that we could put into schools, fire, police, education, energy investment, investment in airports, rail, all of those things for which we do not have enough money. But we give it back to the people.

Then he says: They will go out and buy things. They probably will. Some of them may save it. What are they going to buy? Is there a guarantee they are going to go out and buy energy-efficient materials? No. Is there a guarantee they will go out and buy an American car that is a hybrid, that actually does better? No.

They could go out and buy a car made in China or Japan or Germany. That does not help us a lot. Or what if they pay off their credit card bill because it is so big that they need the money to pay the bill? That is just paying for past things already purchased, for services already given. It does not stimulate the economy. Please. And if they do have some money to invest, there is no guarantee they will choose to invest it in the United States of America. They might think it is much better to invest it in some international mutual fund that is investing in a country that has a better economy right now.

So that is a tired old philosophy. That is what we did in the 1980s and many of us opposed it. I voted against that tax cut. You know what. We took the deficit of this country to an unprecedented level, crowding out the private marketplace in terms of borrowing, and we did not invest in the things in which we needed to invest in the country.

From thomas.loc.gov

These are the words of John Kerry (D-MA). He does not trust you - the average American. He does not believe that you - the average American - are smart enough to manage your own money. He does not think that you - the average American - have any idea as to what is in your best interest.

No. He believes that 535 members of Congress (or at least the 311 who have a "D" after their name) are smarter than you. He believes that they know what's best for you. He believes that you should not spend your own money...

In the immortal words of Owen Hart: "Enough is enough and it's time for a change."