Senate passes stimulus bill with $2 billion for plug-ins and batteries
American politicians are trying to figure out how best to save the wreck that is the U.S. economy, mostly by moving a stimulus bill through Congress. Today, the Senate passed their version of the bill and there is (unsurprisingly) a lot in there for green car advocates. The $838 billion package includes $2 billion for advanced vehicle batteries and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). Green Tech Media has a rundown on the other energy efficient measures included in the bill. A final version of the bill should be sent to President Obama soon, perhaps even this week, according to the New York Times. The Senate and the President have a history of promoting PHEV-friendly legislation (see here, here and here). CalCars has more.
[Source: WaPo, Green Tech Media]
Photo by laszlo-photo. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 6:07PM (2/10/2009)
What DOESN'T this porkzilla bill include? Oh, I know...
Stimiulus.
There is however MANY paybacks for liberal supporters and of course
There’s Socialized Medicine (and much more) Burried in Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2181764/posts
This GIANT step toward Socialism is in THIS bill because the Democratic-Socialists FEAR real debate and "We, the People..." discovering their TREASON!
We are "Changing" into the UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA!
(so THAT'S the "change" Obamination was talking about)
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ronEbear 6:14PM (2/10/2009)
Looks like Tim is a hard one to please. Go call the WHAAANNNN-mbulance .
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jharlan 6:17PM (2/10/2009)
Tim: What do you think about the new stimulus package? I think 2 billion out of 800+ billion for battery and plug in development is pretty puny.
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Rumor of Boz 7:11PM (2/10/2009)
Yeah but Tim is right. As cool as it is to see $2 billion going to a decent cause....it had no place in this "bill". Nor did about $400Billion of it, just a bunch of pet projects the Democrats wanted and could not get passed until now. Sad really.....
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SteveCT 8:44PM (2/10/2009)
I love how morons have no idea about basic economy principles. What exactly do they think a stimulus is, anyway? Any type of spending is economic stimulus. If someone, somewhere (in America) gets money, that's economic stimulus. Funding for contraceptives? That funds condom- and birth-control-pill-makers (hey, someone has to make them!). Funding for health care? That prevents productivity losses that occur when people get sick, and in addition, health care professionals get money from it. Funding for education? That puts money in the pockets of teachers.
Any time the government spends money, someone gets that money. Then they spend it on something else. A condom-maker pays factory workers and buys rubber. A doctor pays his staff, himself, and buys supplies. And then those workers buy things. And then the stores that got their money buy things.
A recession is an event that occurs when people don't buy as much stuff as is expected. In a severe recession, this can become an endless cycle (people get fired, stop buying as many consumer goods, which hurts makers of consumer goods, who fire more people, etc). That's what is happening now. The government must step in and spend money in any way possible (but ideally on things like health care and education and rebuilding failing infrastructure, which provide long-term benefits as well as short-term ones).
The fact is that the stimulus bill is actually too small--it's probably not enough of a jolt to get the economy growing again. And idiot conservatives can't shut up about tax cuts. YOU LOST, REPUBLICANS; YOUR IDEOLOGY IS BANKRUPT. SHUT UP AND GO AWAY. And you libertarians might try living in the real world instead of a fantasy world where no government is needed.
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MikeInNC 8:19AM (2/11/2009)
Hey SteveCT, where do you think that money comes from? They take it from me and you and give some of it back. That's not stimulus, that's a partial refund. You sure do use the term 'moron' loosely. Have you studies economics and what the effect of a tax cut is versus straight spending? I'm with you guys in that I think money spent on plug-ins and battery tech is money well spent but spending for spending's sake is a tremendous mistake for which our kids will pay the price. This bill is a gigantic pork payoff that may cause a short temr blip upwards in GDP and will very likely cause future GDP to be depressed by as much as a half point and could very well cause a deeper recession within the following decade. Then what money will we spend? We shoudl expect more, no matter what party we use to label ourselves.
jpm 9:18PM (2/10/2009)
I wonder how much of the stimulus package will be for the jackasses who were living outside of their means and bought that house they couldn't afford, that car, or two, that big screen TV...etc. That erks me to no end that my tax money will be going to those kind of people.... and to banks that failed miserably.
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RPM 9:36PM (2/10/2009)
@ SteveCT
"I love how morons have no idea about basic economy principles." Reading your post its ironic how you fit right in that category.
This has nothing to do with right vs. left...its all about putting out a plan that will actually help out this economy...sure throwing $ at any
"pet project" will get $ into the system but that's not using it in such a way that will give us the most bang.
I'm all for ATV trails...and a lot of other things in this bill. But the facts are these things have no business in a "stimulus" bill.
Funny how people who are in favor of this bill (usually on the left) react to anyone that casts doubts on this plan..I (like many, many people in this great country) want to do something but we resent opportunistic individuals that leverage a bad economic time such as this to "slip" in a bunch of pet projects that have no business being in there. That's not to say we should do nothing...not at all..but in reading this bill (have any of you read this??) anyone who looks at history and has any shred of reasoning will understand this bill is far worse than doing nothing at all and will NOT result in a boon in the economy.
And spare me the "...we will "save" 3 mil. jobs.." crap!
Oh...one other thing...looking only at the last 8 years is VERY short sighted indeed. No where in history has socialism been shown to strengthen a country's people thus making the country better...NEVER HAS HAPPENED!
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Posterboy 10:46PM (2/10/2009)
Personally, I love how when we had a Repub president, we could blow money left and right on "the war on terror" and "faith based" programs and all sorts of other bs, turning a large surplus into a HUGE deficit, and all we heard during the time from the Republicans in congress was the sound of crickets chirping... suddenly, they lose the presidency because they lost a core principle (deficit spending to lower taxes is not conservative economics) and they start screaming about how deficit spending is going to ruin the country. Honey, where have you guys been the last 8 years??? John McCain even called the so-called stimulus plan "Generational Theft." Does that mean that the tax cuts that he has proposed and or supported both in the past and RIGHT NOW are ALSO "generational theft" since they would also result in deficit spending? The repubs need to get their act together... think MUCH less Sarah Palin and Huckabee, and a heck of a lot more Ron Paul if they want to be taken seriously again. Being against something only because the current president is for it doesn't make for much of a campaign platform. Deficit spending is wrong and bad for our country, regardless of if the deficit is from increased spending, or tax cutting without controlling spending. The sooner the Repubs can figure that out, the better, but don't hold your breath.
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Tim 10:35AM (2/11/2009)
Posterboy (#9)
You're absolutely correct. Where are the true Constitutional Republicans who believe that true freedom can only be secured by individual liberty balanced with personal responsibility?
TRUE conservatives believe that statist central social planning is as repugnant as forcing charity from those who don't wish to give onto others who don't wish to receive the coupled mandates.
They don’t realize that they are the “Sheriff of Nottingham” and not “Robin Hood”.
The creeping evil of good intentions is forcing "help" upon someone who doesn't want or deserve it. This truly is the root of all evil because it results in dependency and stagnation.
The Statists (Left and Right) rule by fear mongering because they themselves are afraid of what would happen to their power once “We, the people” discovered that WE are truly better off without their "help".
The Myth of the Laissez-Faire Bush Years
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=10
In a year, will we remember to thank the Statists for turning a recession into the mother of all global depressions? I doubt it because history belongs to the victors.
Land of the Free… NOT!
Home of the Brave… NOT!
(it’s sad that so many accept socialist slavery for false security.)
Tim 10:38AM (2/11/2009)
Oops...
STATISTS don’t realize that they are the “Sheriff of Nottingham” and not “Robin Hood”.
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bebop 3:42PM (2/11/2009)
$2B to stimulate the production of plug-in electric cars and batteries seems a really great way for the government to spend my money. Should have been even more.
Since our entire economy is based upon borrowing money to make, buy and sell products and services - when banks are not not lending and consumers are not spending who else are we gonna call besides Uncle Sam? I guess we could all just hunker down and return to being hunter gatherers while we all wait for those long promised, but yet to materialize, trickle down benefits of more tax cuts for the rich 1% of the country.
I'd much rather have the US government funding the research and development of environmentally sustainable products than worthless wars any day.
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AJ 5:05PM (2/11/2009)
socializing medicine is not a bad thing. We already have k-12 education, fire fighters, police, public libraries, roads, airports and air traffic control, and our military all socialized and working just fine. Having a service socialized doesn't mean that we're going to become communist, it merely means that we're taking power from a corporate level to a level where we can control it. Not to mention the fact that the price for medical products are incredibly inflated here in the U.S. By spending money in more than a few areas it stimulates more jobs to be created, not everyone knows how to repair the condom making machines so it would be ridiculous to spend all the stimulus on the condom makers. Instead it's spread out so everyone including joe the plumber can get their jobs back instead of just larry the condom guy.
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Chris M 6:45PM (2/11/2009)
A true economic stimulus would put people to work providing useful goods and services, with the goods and services providing greater value than the cost of the stimulus spending. We don't always see that with tax cuts.
Not everything in this stimulus package will turn out to be worthwhile. But spending for plug-ins and batteries probably will be worthwhile, especially if it reduces oil imports, improves balance of trade, improves transportation efficiency, stabilizes oil prices, and increases manufacturing in the US.
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Tim 11:11AM (2/12/2009)
Even the EX Soviet KGP head is warning us about Porkzilla move to Socialism.
Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.
“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”
Read the rest here:
http://www.therightperspective.org/?p=1472
What works? Small Central Gov't, Small State & Local Gov't COMPETING for tax base, Low Taxes, Less litigation, Less Regulation, MORE FREEDOM to succeed or fail and the RISK or REWARDS of true entrepreneurship.
You know! That American sprit in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave that we ONCE were. When did we become afraid to fail and began to feel “entitled” to share in the success of others. Was that during the Old, New Deal or the New, New Deal?
OpenMinded Patriot 7:04PM (2/12/2009)
@ 8 RPM
RPM wrote:
"No where in history has socialism been shown to strengthen a country's people thus making the country better...NEVER HAS HAPPENED!"
Really?
How far did you look for this CAPS LOCK "fact"?
Clearly you didn't consider any of the well functioning socialist democracies we have in the world today.
Your caps lock are not helping your argument.
And neither is your close minded antique
anit-socialism (because it rhymes with communism) bias.
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RPM 1:45AM (2/13/2009)
By what watered down standard are you using saying there are "well functioning socialist democracies" ???
Name one that enables a person to live a standard of living higher than here in the US and give that person more opportunities to better themselves..I'll make it easy for you and save you further embarrassment..it does not exist!
And just because I can learn from history and have the ability to use logic and reasoning (filtering out the emotion based crap you seem to lap up) to see clearly that the US has a better system, one that affords a person all they need to better themselves and their family, does not mean I'm closed minded at all..clearly the opposite. Other countries have learned this painful lesson of trying to run a socialist government already (some examples above) and their people have paid the price (and some are still paying).
I'm also not saying our current way is perfect ..not at all..but out of all systems we could have its the best that's out there and can get better if we get back to the "basics" ...fundamentals that our forefathers knew would make this country's people great (theirby making the country great) and they were right!