Stop Bribing Me

Pandering ticks me off.

I've spoken before about how I wasn't too fond of the recent round of "stimulus payments". They seemed like an election year tactic in 2006 and 2008 - attempts to subdue voter discontent by giving them back money they had already earned. They seemed more like a bribe than an actual plan of government - and of course, almost all of that stimulus money has been sent, and spent, and American consumers are still feeling the pinch.

But fear not, for the Obamessiah has decided that George Bush's policy is good enough for him. Apparently, he would like to send every family a stimulus check for $1,000 (or $500 for each individual worker) funded by "windfall profits from Big Oil". i.e. raising taxes.

Yes, that's right. Barack Obama's answer to a problem is to take a page from George Bush's playbook.

(H/t Slublog for the PhotoShop)

And of course, we all know that those additional costs wouldn't be passed on to the customer, because companies are ALWAYS willing to eat higher costs.

So, in the end, you will get a check from the government, funded by taxes paid by oil companies, which will be used to pay for more expensive gasoline, oil, and so on, which will then stay elevated even after your stimulus payment has disappeared.

Let's just spend another $50 billion, even though there is no guarantee of having the revenue to cover that, when we've already been screwed into a massive federal deficit.

Riiiiiiiiight.

Heaven forbid the money be used to continue working on developing more sources of oil (DRILL DAMMIT!) to lower prices or alternative energy sources.

You know you are devoid of ideas when you take ideas from someone you despise and ridicule on a daily basis...but that's exactly what Obama is doing in trying to push this idea and I'm once again reminded that we have an election between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.