Democrats objecting to Obama's stimulus plan

Fox News:

President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs.

Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.

They were especially critical of a proposed $3,000 tax credit for companies that hire or retrain workers.

"If I'm a business person, it's unlikely if you give me a several-thousand-dollar credit that I'm going to hire people if I can't sell the products they're producing," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., a member of the committee.

"That to me is just misdirected," Conrad said.

Sen John Kerry, D-Mass., said, "I'd rather spend the money on the infrastructure, on direct investment, on energy conversion, on other kinds of things that much more directly, much more rapidly and much more certainly create a real job."

The cost of the economic rescue package Obama wants is expected to swell to $800 billion or more. About $300 billion of Obama's package would be for tax cuts or refunds for individuals and businesses.

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I think Conrad has a point, but Kerry, as usual, does not. Giving a tax credit for creating a job when there is no one to buy the output makes no sense. We also know from the FDR era that building infrastructure will not pull the economy out of a recession. What pulled us out of the Great Depression was the spending we did on World War II.

It was not spending for spending sake but for the purpose of helping us win the war. It pumped money into the manufacturing of war materials. I think if we directed the spending toward replacing old equipment and modernizing our military it would in crease employment in areas besides just the construction trade and it would also lead to greater innovation and modernization.