Virginia state representative compares stimulus package to slavery.
By on Mar 2nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Virginia state representative compares stimulus package to slavery.
Not Larry Sabato notes that this weekend, when discussing the economic recovery package, Virginia state delegate Robert Marshall (R) compared the bill to slavery, claiming that it will put generations of Virginians in “ankle bracelets”:
MARSHALL:That is as much a chain of slavery around our children. … It is as much a chain as ankle bracelets were as to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state. It’s just invisible. But it is a chain of death that we’re not going to escape.
Watch it:
“If anybody wonders whether the stimulus package mattered, 7,100 people are going to have jobs with the state government,” Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) noted Saturday.
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Bush
Business
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Global Warming
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Iraq
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
McCain
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Technology
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
I’m sure Marshall was just as vehement in his objections to the steep upward slope of the debt level when Bush was pouring money into the black hole that was the Iraq invasion and occupation?
And unlike that money, which was essentially thrown away, the stimulus package is an investment in our own country.
And how come Marshall can compare ANYTHING to the horror that was slavery, but we can’t compare the dictators we just got rid of to Hitler?
Oh. IOKIYAR.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pmVirginia, you have NOT come a long way baby.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 pmIt is as much a chain as ankle bracelets were as to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state.
Please, someone correct me if I am wrong, but weren’t they putting ankle bracelets on African-Americans in Virginia since long before the 1860s?
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 pmKinda like the the chain and ankle bracelets we currently have from the Bush and company war in Iraq and Afghanistan,foreclosures up the wazoo,high unemployment and 45 million people mostly poor and living on a fixed income without health insurance and poverty that`s way up, I`ve two words for this A$$hat, Phuck U.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 pmThe sad irony is that the current day Republicans would be against emancipation.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:39 pmAnd the 24 billion of pork in 2005 set people free!!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:39 pmI’m crossing my fingers that there are actually – seriously – Republicans that cringe when they here such blatant stupidity spewed by one of their own.
This is why the drug addict Limbaugh is important: because it is he, the leader of the GOP, that – through his hatefilled rhetoric – makes his minions think such lunacy passes as substantive, fact based criticism.
F***ing bigots.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:40 pmOkay, so why arent the people of Alaska, home of pork champion (R)Stevens in shackles?
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:41 pmCome on they all got ankle bracelets when they went to VA Beach for that week this summer past. Bethany and Rachel got oh so burned but you couldn’t really tell in that strip of B&W pitures they got up on the boardwalk. Oh and the boys met these really swell girls from Rehobeth. TTFN…
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:43 pmBob Marshall should have given that speech in 1860 when slaves were building the economy for the rich Virginia slave owners. Now Marshall had no problem with the Bush Administration giving 11 Trillion to bailmail, pay to play, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Germany and Halliburton. The US Treasury had a balanced budget in 2000 with a 300 billion dollar surplus to help future generations. The Bush Administration and GOP with paid Democrats wiped it all out and gave the future generations the biggest debt in the History of the USA, plus a Recession. It is nice to hear Marshall remembers the slaves and their work that they never got paid for but they loved the US so much they joined the US Military to dead for our country.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pmYou know, I find solace in the fact that refukclicans are wrong on EVERYTHING.
That bodes well for the effectiveness of the stimulus and the investment in our country the new budget represents.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pmAnd to think just recently on Laura Ingraham’s show she was going after one of President Obama’s picks (Dawn Johnsen for Office of Legal Counsel) who believed pregnancy in some cases is no different than slavery:
http://www.wowowow.com/post/dawn-johnson-office-legal-counsel-abortion-naral-arlen-specter-221015
Stimulus bill is the same as slavery, but forcing a woman to go through with a pregnancy without options is not!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pmXisithrus Says:
——————————————————————————–
Okay, so why arent the people of Alaska, home of pork champion (R)Stevens in shackles?
It wouldn`t be right to throw ol Teddy in the clink, dontcha know!
To mavericky, sorry.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:45 pmSince 1999 Alaska’s congressional delegation has brought home more than $3 billion in federal earmarks. The state has ranked No. 1 in pork per capita
Ankle Bracelets!! Shackles!! Debt Slavery!1 Generational Theft!!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:45 pmI didn’t know that investments in education, infrastructure, health care and aid for the unemployed qualified as slavery.
Being trapped in an inadequate mind and getting your tire stuck in a pothole — that’s part of freedom! Don’t forget recessions, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:46 pm“Virginia state representative compares stimulus package to slavery.”
Geez, what an idiot. First, little Newt Beavis Cantor and now this nimrod. The loon doesn’t get it that the former clown President has basically bankrupted this country to the pulp and robbed this country blind. If he can state that the stimulus package is compared to slavery, then the automakers and the corporate CEOs are no different than slavery because they begged for money from Congress [which happens to be taxpayers' hard earned money]!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:48 pmeven knowing that we are saddled with huge debt, that doesn’t change the fact that the “shackles” were applied with tax cuts for the rich and deregulation.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:48 pmSo, does this mean Mr. Marshall is for or against the stimulus package?
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:48 pmIt wouldn`t be right to throw ol Teddy in the clink, dontcha know!
Maybe we can get him a job doing berry research which he porked almost a million for
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:50 pmOkay Satyam did Larry Sabato note or did “Not” Larry Sabato note this crap spewing from Robert Marshall?
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 pmThe American Taliban held Americans like slaves when they controlled the White House, the US House, and the US Senate from 2002-2006. We’ve not recovered nor have the shackles been taken off. We are dying now because of what they did (ignored the housing crash of 2005, continued tax cuts for the uber wealthy, continued to finance an illegal war to the tune of a TRILLION dollars, refused to go after the oil speculators, deregulated the Shadow Economy some more, refused to put 2 wars and the tax cuts for the uber wealthy in the budget, refused to regulate Wall Street, put in cronies at the Treasury & the Federal Reserve etc. etc. etc.) and didn’t do.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:53 pmhttp://media.gatewayva.com/lna/specials/earmarks/earmarks.htm
Virgina Pork
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:55 pmGosh, He hates the stimulus almost as much as he hates gay Virginians!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:55 pm2nd dist Thelma Drake, R-Norfolk
$223.80 [in millions] $13.30 [in millions]
Thats alot of ankle bracelets!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:57 pmlokidog Says:
——————————————————————————–
I’m crossing my fingers that there are actually – seriously – Republicans that cringe when they here such blatant stupidity spewed by one of their own.
I am a Troll, not a Republican, but I indeed cringe at this hideous analogy.
This is why the drug addict Limbaugh is important: because it is he, the leader of the GOP, that – through his hatefilled rhetoric – makes his minions think such lunacy passes as substantive, fact based criticism.
I suppose you may have a point here, but IMO anyone who could say “Oh, yeah, Stimulus package is the same as American slavery!” was already a bigot and didn’t need Rush to reinforce their idiocy. But no one here listens to Rush, so bagging on him here is pointless. But, gotta stop, or Matt will bag on me for thread creep.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:57 pmBigoted,racist,hate filled Christian,fiscally conservative GOOPers(grand old obstructionist party) these guys are a HOOT, it kinda takes your mind off the 45 million people without health insurance,and double digit unemployment and an economy that the bigoted, racist,hate filled Christian, fiscally conservative GOPPers gave us.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:00 pmREpublicans are going insane. They are in deep, serious, total denial about their dominant role in distorting and trashing our American economy under the eight years of the Bush gangster regime. The GOP just goose-stepped along with Gangster Bush and his corrupt Administration. Absurd tax cuts for the ruling class. High treason on nine-nine and nine-ten. Two wars of nazi aggression, followed by endless stupid hostile imperial military occupations. Financial deregulation. Corporate greed enabled and expanded. Manufacturing jobs and technology jobs outsourced to overseas locations. REpublicans need to carefully and honestly examine their own voting records and their complicity in creating this horrendous mess that we are now saddled with. Heck of job, GOP…
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:01 pmTwo threads from TP in one day on the lunitics from VA. First Eric Cuntor and now this honkey, peckerwood invoking images of slavery.
TP,
VA is an endless source of bigotry, stupidity and RePugniScum facism. You could post 24/7 every minitue or 2 for 100 years and only scrap the surface in VA.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pmWell, everyone already works 3-4 months of the year for the government.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pmThis wanker is lying. Virginia residents get back more in federal spending than they send in, so actually other states like NJ,NY,CT,CA are footing the bill for these republitards.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/266.html
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 pmIgnoranceIsNotBliss Says:
Okay Satyam did Larry Sabato note or did “Not” Larry Sabato note this crap spewing from Robert Marshall?
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I thought it was some kind of typo, too, but if you hover your cursor over the first link, you’ll see it goes to “notlarrysabato.typepad.com”. Yes, I think that’s a strange thing to call your own website, too.
TP should consider putting website names in a different font style, like bold or italics. Just to avoid confusion.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 pmI must have missed the part where the stimulus allows/requires families to be broken up and sold down south to the cotton plantations as Virginia slaves were near the end of that sad era. Or perhaps I missed the lesson in American history class where we learned that slaves had the right to vote in 1860 and the duly elected government that they chose to dotheir biding put them in slavery. Then again, maybe the lesson is that this silly redneck needs to go back to his all white country club and let the adults try to fix Chimpy’s mess without his “help”.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 pmOval12345678 aka James K.
Don`t forget the tax cuts given to corporations for taking jobs overseas.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:05 pmIt`s red state soclialism and the re-puke can`t find a word for it so they are against it even though they are for it.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:08 pmI am having a hard time spelling today, way to much coffee and Flush Limpball stories, you have to admit this re-puke $hit is hilarious stuff.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:09 pmMARSHALL: That is as much a chain of slavery around our children…
…I guess having jobs equals slavery to repukes…
…and slave children in chains is Rush’s little known secret…
FCUK THE REPUBLICANS
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 pmIS HE NUCKING FUTZ?
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:11 pmVirginia is a blue state for now. :-)
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:13 pmRemember?
Speaking of taking more federal dollars than they put in, I wonder how Northern Va could be frowned upon as “communist country” when it seems to be the MIC capital of the world. The excess defense spending enables employees of these firms to build grossly over-sized homes in the suburbs.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:13 pmMaybe it’s time to spend some of this money on lowering poverty rates?
The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget
Yeah, DC is having a little boom, while the rest of the country goes bust.
Thanks, taxpayers.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 pmAlejandro Says:
Virginia is a blue state for now. :-)
Remember?
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
__________
Pah! It’s only blue cause of the expansion of the commie suburbs in the north. At best, it’s a red state with a blue toupee.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:17 pmA sampling of Marshall’s work:
The Marshall-Newman Amendment – Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions. This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.
On birth control: “..Abortion, done early on. Even if it weren’t, we have no business passing this garbage out and making these co-eds chemicals Love Canals for these frat house playboys in Virginia. We have no business passing this stuff out”
On women: In 1989, when Marshall was working as the research director of the American Life League, he told the Boston Globe that all forms abortion and birth control. “We’re against the IUD and pills, too. They don’t prevent ovulation and conception, they prevent implantation, which is abortion.”[5]
According to the Globe, Marshall also “railed” against Norplant, a contraceptive not-yet-marketed at the time that is implanted under the skin and works for up to five years. “It’s a real tribute to women’s intelligence,” Marshall told the reporter. “They feel so irresponsible they can’t do something once a day?” [5]
When asked about abortion in the case of incest, Marshall replied that sometimes incest is voluntary. In response to abortions in the case of rape, Marshall said, “Your origins should not be held against you [referring to the victim's unborn child]. The woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman.”
Such a fine, upstanding, “Christian” man…
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:17 pmThen i am sure this assclown will take a moral stand and send every cent of stimulus money his district was slated to receive back to washington d.c. if he feels so strongly about it. anything less is politcal grandstanding and must be called such publically.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pmAlejandro Says:
——————————————————————————–
christopher wiwi Says:
It`s red state soclialism and the re-puke can`t find a word for it so they are against it even though they are for it.
Virginia is a blue state for now. :-)
Remember?
I hope you stay blue just so we can piss these haters off and get this country moving again.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pmAlejandro
Don`t say boom in D.C. the re-pukes will call you a terrorist.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:21 pmI’ll follow up @4:13 #35 that it’s time to reduce the business to defense contractors, and privatization as a whole, because bloated defense spending (our tax dollars) encourages a lot of bad behavior. Washington may be the capital but concentrating so much federal spending in that vicinity kinda takes away from more pressing issues that could be spread about the rest of the country.
That’s just my observation.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:27 pmEnnuiDivine Says:
——————————————————————————–
A sampling of Marshall’s work:
The Marshall-Newman Amendment – Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions. This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.
On birth control: “..Abortion, done early on. Even if it weren’t, we have no business passing this garbage out and making these co-eds chemicals Love Canals for these frat house playboys in Virginia. We have no business passing this stuff out”
On women: In 1989, when Marshall was working as the research director of the American Life League, he told the Boston Globe that all forms abortion and birth control. “We’re against the IUD and pills, too. They don’t prevent ovulation and conception, they prevent implantation, which is abortion.”[5]
According to the Globe, Marshall also “railed” against Norplant, a contraceptive not-yet-marketed at the time that is implanted under the skin and works for up to five years. “It’s a real tribute to women’s intelligence,” Marshall told the reporter. “They feel so irresponsible they can’t do something once a day?” [5]
When asked about abortion in the case of incest, Marshall replied that sometimes incest is voluntary. In response to abortions in the case of rape, Marshall said, “Your origins should not be held against you [referring to the victim’s unborn child]. The woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman.”
Such a fine, upstanding, “Christian” man…
What is it called when these guys are puonding one off to their porn in the office? That would be abortion according to this re-puke,what a wacko!!!
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:27 pmOh there you are atsegga. I have been looking all over for you. Might I make a lagre donation to the Borgen Project? I really wish to support your good works. I sort of think others are interested as well. How about you mail us all some glossy brochures we can put in the paper recycling. No for real why not do something less annoying and more effective than your current marketing strategy.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pmWhy is it that only white republicans compare things they don’t like to slavery? And ankle bracelts? Oh my god, these people don’t belong in civilized society.
Such blatant racism and bigotry, he probably has an autographed copy of the Post’s cartoon up on his office wall.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:33 pmIf I were one of his constituents, I’d slap some chains on him and duct-tape his mouth. How did this guy get elected?
This is why Marshall is so scared: “…former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell’s recent claim that Obama’s stimulus plan “could create a major electoral advantage for Democrats at taxpayer expense.” “Creating 600,000 new jobs might help cement Virginia in the Democrat column, making it harder for Republicans to retake the White House,” said Blackwell.” Ooh, there’s that “chain of death.”!
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 pmCareful, gang — as a Virginian, I can assure you that this stooge does not represent the vast majority of us. In fact, his little enclave in Prince William County is a racist outpost surrounded on all sides by legions of us blue-thinkers. Cantor also is from one of the more backward areas of our Commonwealth.
So please, give us Virginians some credit — we’ve got a dem governor and two dem senators, along with a majority of our House reps being dems. We’re still new at this blue state stuff, but believe me, it is catching on. But please, don’t hate us for the Rushpublicans who still infest us; we’ll get rid of them too…
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 pmOkay, Dogfather. I’ll try not to hold the ignorance of some people from your state against all of you. We have our share of moronic Republicans in New York, too. (My current Assemblyman is one of them.)
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:52 pmGreat post, TD. I voted to turn VA blue before I moved. I know you are all making great progress. Just taking issue with what I have known to be the problem all along!
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:57 pmOh,where ,oh where art thou,Jib-Jab?
I can just see it now…hmmm…a Rockette’s type line-up of Virginia’s latest and greatest bigots.
Let’s see who’s the “High-Kickers” in the conga line,shall we?
US Representative Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (R) – Virginia’s 5th Congressional District
US Representative Eric I. Cantor (R)
US Representative Frank Rudolph Wolf (R)
Congressional Distric Thomas M.(Republican Party is Dog Food) Davis, III (R)
…
George(Macaca)Allen
Jeff Frederick-RNC Chair for Virginia
Headliners all,to be sure on their own,individual merits,er,demerits.
Now,how about some Aretha Franlikn “Chain of Fools ” for the audio backup?
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:00 pmCan we make these GOP jackals work on a farm for a week like the slaves used to?
Slavery isn’t a choice, but these two-faced maggots will accept the money and brag about it eventually, like their Capitol Hill masters do.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:03 pm“When asked about abortion in the case of incest, Marshall replied that sometimes incest is voluntary. In response to abortions in the case of rape, Marshall said, “Your origins should not be held against you [referring to the victim’s unborn child]. The woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman.”…………….
SO,does this explain Marshall’s OWN origins,btw?
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:05 pmXisithrus Says:
Since 1999 Alaska’s congressional delegation has brought home more than $3 billion in federal earmarks. The state has ranked No. 1 in pork per capita
Also, they get a lot more in Federal Dollars than they pay in Federal taxes too. There’s a chart somewhere (I can’t find it right now) that will tell you what their ranking is. I think it’s something like they receive $1.50 per $1.00 in taxes they pay.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:13 pmBilbo,
Someone posted a link to that chart on another thread, which I bookmarked. Here it is:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/266.html
It’s a couple of years old, but you get the gist. (Back in 2005, Alaska got $1.84 back for every dollar they sent to DC.)
Maybe there’s a more recent chart we can refer to.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:19 pmWooHoo, someone already posted the link. Alaska gets $1.84 for ever dollar they put into the Federal government.
Talk about socialism. Add that to their yearly checks per person thanks to oil company royalties, Alaska is pretty much a socialist state from the git go.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:22 pmIs there a wonder that the leaders of the GOP are high school graduates and nothing else? Rush flunked out after one year of college and so did Sean Hannity. They seem to be the kind of people who lead this sick group of bigots and hatefilled morons.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:24 pmIt is as much a chain as ankle bracelets were as to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state
Ha ha! what an idiot.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:34 pmIf he actually had on ankle chains he would realize the difference real fast.
Do the Republicans think they gain any credibility whatsoever with all the ludicrous garbage they’ve been spewing since Obama got in? Stimulus = slavery; gays = biggest threat to America; Harry Reid wants red light train to a brothel— is there any end to how irrelevant & laughable they are becoming?
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:50 pmGerm, it’s obvious you don’t know a damn thing about slavery.
Your racism is showing like chimpy’s drunkenness.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:55 pmThese RepubliCons can not even think straight, anymore. They are trying to see which one is the biggest fool!
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:58 pmWhen reality based people were aghast at the tax cuts and their affect on the budget, we were told that the tax cuts would pay for themselves by boosting the economy and thus raising incomes and that wealth creation would mean more tax revenue.
But now when the realty base community says that these spending programs will boost wealth, resulting in the same thing, only this time it has a chance in hell of actually working, no one mentions it. No one covers it.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 pmHere are some cold, hard facts about our politicians in Virginia.
Redbeans @ 5:00 pm. You are incorrect about Virgil Goode. He was defeated in the November election by Democrat Tom Perriello.
Jeff Frederick is not only state GOP chair, he represents the 52nd House District in the General Assembly.
Bob Marshall came within 65 votes of becoming the Republican nominee for the US Senate, in opposition to Mark Warner, so he’s more popular with the Republicans than one might be led to believe.
And then there’s the one about Bob Marshall and then-Gov. Jim Gilmore that seems to have been swept under the rug:
As Hugh Finn’s legal guardian, Michele Finn told his family last summer that she had decided to withhold nourishment from her husband and allow him to die. Initially, the family agreed, but in September, Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), asked state health officials to investigate whether Hugh Finn was, as three physicians had found, in a vegetative state. Three more doctors named by the state confirmed the diagnosis, and a date was set for withdrawal of sustenance to Hugh Finn.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:56 pmThen Gilmore jumped into the case, asking a Circuit Court judge to reconsider his ruling that the planned action satisfied provisions of Virginia’s Health Care Decisions Act. When he lost there, Gilmore appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court, which unanimously rejected the governor’s arguments.
Conservative Republicans have lost their minds. Too much booze and hallucinogens…?
====
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:34 pmWhaaa? Government? SOCIALISM!!!
====
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:39 pm“If anybody wonders whether the stimulus package mattered, 7,100 people are going to have jobs with the state government,” Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) noted Saturday.”
And lest we forget, and it definitely needs repeating, those 7,100 state employees will spend much of their paychecks at private sector businesses, which will help the bottom-line at one privately-owned company after another that they frequent, whether owned by a Republican, Democrat or Independent being irrelevant, but these privately-owned businesses might just keep or add employees which will help stop or stem the job loss bleeding, which is dragging down our nation’s economy like what happened between 1929 and 1933.
People seem to forget or fail to mention that public sector jobs always help private sector businesses. FDR hit on this simple idea after he entered office in 1933, facing a 25 percent plus unemployment disaster left to him by previous President Herbert Hoover. So, every federally-funded works program and project not only put people to work (and helped feed their family), but also stimulated the private sector as these “public sector” employees spent much of their government paycheck at privately-owned businesses. Very simple. Very effective. In four years, the unemployment rate fell from over 25 percent to about 10 percent, and if it had been sustained, the unemployment rate, especially in the private sector, would have continued to go down, making our economy even stronger heading into World War II.
However, in 1937 FDR listened to his conservative Treasury Secretary who was against the New Deal federal stimulus funding from the start, and the FDR administration, trying to balance the federal budget, decreased the deficit spending, cutting back on the works programs and projects, putting people out of work…which then had an equivalent negative impact on all the small privately-owned businesses frequented by these public workers, leading to the unemployment rates rising again as these privately-owned businesses, seeing their revenues shrink, started laying off workers, adding to the ranks of the unemployed. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Conservative Republicans of today are no different from their ideological ancestors who caused the Great Depression and did nothing to ameliorate the suffering of U.S. families, but actually tried to block sane, caring, patriotic policies of the FDR administration that improved the lives of so many U.S. citizens between 1933 and 1937, of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, both in the public sector and private sector.
But apparently there is no fool quite like an old conservative Republican fool, which we have plenty of today…with the same disastrous results.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:22 pmWow. This must be National Stupid State Legislator month.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:40 pm‘You are fettered,’ said Scrooge, trembling. ‘Tell me why?’
‘I wear the chain I forged in life’ replied the Ghost, ‘I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?”
Scrooge trembled more and more.
‘Or would you know,’ pursued the Ghost, ‘the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!’
— Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol)
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 pmIf anyone needed an example of socialism, ask Gov. Tim Kaine whether the stimulus package mattered.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 am.
Dear Robert Marshall (R),
There is a difference between being indebted to another nation and being an indentured SLAVE and outright owner/SLAVE…
… NO?
One says, “Give me the goods, I’ll pay you back later(IOU)”…
Another one says, “Please let me work five years for my ability to live a better life”…
And the last one said, “Please take me with you. You can chain me up, whip me bloody, rape my wife then sell/trade her and our children, refuse me an education and a paying job, why, you can even hang me if I drink from the wrong fountain. Oh, ps. please call me vile names”…
… YES?
.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 amSpeaking of slavery:
Bush is thoroughly glad that slavery occurred.
On balance, George W. Bush hates black people (indicated at http://andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com/2008/12/andrew-yu-jen-wang-responds-to-stokely.html George W. Bush “doesn’t care about black people”).
“George Bush Used Hand Sanitizer Immediately After Shaking Barack Obama’s Hand: Is Bush Germophobic or Racist?” (Posted by Peter Griffin. (2008, November 11). George Bush Used Hand Sanitizer Immediately After Shaking Barack Obama’s Hand: Is Bush Germophobic or Racist? SodaHead. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from http://www.sodahead.com/question/188322/george-bush-used-hand-sanitizer-immediately-after-shaking-barack-obamas-hand-is-bush-germophobic-or-racist/?link=samf).
George W. Bush is racist.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:01 amB.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
Hello alexsteed, I must appreciate your comment for this article
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:42 amDeferred Fixed Annuity
Hum….bet he worships Reaganomics. The numbers never lie….
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 amthe highest percentage increases in our national debt occured under none other than Ronald Reagan (try 11.3% and 9.2% on for size). If unemployment stats are analyzed for the 12 highest employment years of 1970-2008, 6 of those years were under Ronald Reagan! (in order of highest to lowest – 1982, 1983, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986).
when all else fails, play the race card.
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 amThe 7,100 jobs comment by Kaine is stupidity at best. Government can not create jobs, it simply diverts the creation of a job someplace else.
Who pays taxes?
Who pays for the budget?
Who pays for the stimulus?
Who is paying the salary of these 7,100 government employees?
We are. Let’s not make it sound nearly as Santa-Claus-y as you all are making it out to be.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:56 am