Pass the stimulus, please

Trickle-down economics is a guaranteed path to our country’s future economic failure. The concept of providing tax cuts and other benefits to business and rich individuals didn’t work in the 1980s, nor did it help our country progress in the past eight years. So why would it work now?

GOP senators claim the president won’t work with them on the stimulus, yet Obama has visited Capitol Hill, invited them to the White House and requested their input. To the GOP in Washington, bipartisan cooperation means ‘do what we want or we will obstruct and hijack progress’. When asked if the Congressional republicans had a solution, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said they would roll out their plan in stages at a later date.  What he meant was we don't have a plan, we just want to derail the democrat's plan.  If you have a better idea, present it now, and let it stand or fall on its own merit. It’s very easy to vote no, but you should explain why and offer a better plan. It seems as though the republicans are content to be obstructionists for the next to years in hopes of winning seats and regaining control of Congress in 2010. Shouldn't the republicans work with the president to help stimulate the economy?

Trickle-down economics has been tested and failed, yet republicans continue to push the same ideas. We’ve partially nationalized our banks, handed out billions to banks and the auto industry, consumer confidence has fallen, stores are closing, jobs are lost daily, and states are seeking relief from the federal government, yet republicans still believe that eliminating estate taxes, capital gains taxes, and lowering taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans is the solution to our economic problem. This is a self-serving notion that will do nothing to improve the lot of the average American.  Ask yourself, 'are you better off today than you were eight years ago?' The true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.