Ever since the emergence of the new Stimulus/ Bailout package brought forth by the Obama cabinet, there has been a surge in Republican protest concerning the bailout. Republicans usually tend to vote for lesser governmental involvement with business, and lower taxes (a classic case of self-interest) so I was not too surprised by their outcry against the bailout. But now, the GOP is taking a much more ridiculous stance against the bill.
All my regular readers know that I (as a true Progressive Democrat)am all for bipartisan movements within the US, and the fact that 3 GOP Senators voted in favor of the new bailout package had made me confident of continuing bipartisanship movements within the US.
But I ran across an article that made me very annoyed yesterday. Apparently a influential conservative political action committee is promising to oppose any Republican who voted in favor of the bailout, and as an outcome of this the three GOP senators are unsure if they will vote in favor of it again on the final version of the bailout (they had first voted on an earlier version of the bailout).
Now, I may not be much of a economist but it is safe to say that the US economy is in trouble . A total of 598,000 payroll jobs vanished in January — the most in nearly 35 years — and the unemployment rate jumped to 7.6 from 7.2 percent the month before, and this is just the proverbial 'tip of the ice berg' for the hardships the US Economy is facing.
And at the same time, I understand that a Republican is a Republican and must support their ideology, but if Republicans do not seem to be in favor of the bailout, what better alternative do they promote? I have not heard of any legitimate alternatives being brought up by the GOP. Do they sincerely believe that not helping the failing businesses that make up their economy, and letting such vital job creators such as Chrysler and Ford go bankrupt will fix this problem? Now is not the time for Republicans and Democrats to bicker over bailouts, now is the time for bipartisanship and economic recovery. I hope this case is cleared up before it gets out of hand.
* And on a side note, am I the only one who noticed that the Bailout is being coyly referred to as a 'Stimulus package' instead? Is this propaganda, or simply a change of name to signify that this bailout is completely different from the first bailout (which I personally thought was absurd). Just a point to ponder.
CNN article on GOP opposing its own people
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