WASHINGTON – An unusual new alliance of political, labor and business leaders is determined to see that Orange County gets its fair share of Obama bucks.
The leaders who sat around a table at the Orange County Business Council last week did not all agree on the wisdom of President Barack Obama’s $825 billion stimulus package. They certainly did not all pledge to go to the mat for such a massive proposal. And it’s not clear that they can influence where the money goes.
But the interests of labor in retaining jobs, educators in getting money to fix schools, transportation officials in getting road projects done and business leaders in minimizing the effects of the recession convinced them to give it a try.
“We need to speak with one voice,” said Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro, who along with his Republican counterpart, Scott Baugh, participated in the meeting. “The fear is we’re going to be bypassed. That has historically happened to us.”
It’s especially obscene that Republicans, supposedly the “small government” party, are participating in this new looting. Scott Baugh should be ashamed of himself for joining local Democratic socialist Barbaro in this vast new increase of federal power over our lives. It’s really only spreading Chicago-style corrupt politics across the country. Let’s take the arguments apart.
Where’s the money?
First, there are no “Obama bucks,” the fanciful phrase the Register writers used. Money either comes from a) ripping off taxpayers more, b) borrowing, or c) inflating the money, which means the value of money goes down. Soon, you end up like Zimbabwe, where they just printed a $100 trillion note. Or you get Weimar Germany’s hyperinflation in the 1920s, with its murderous aftermath.
Every Republican in the House voted NO on the Stimulus Package including the Republican House members from Orange County. Democrat Loretta Sanchez voted in favor of the package.
Didn’t the Bush administration “remove the shackles” of regulation and deliver some of the lowest tax rates for corporate america? To what end? Did these corporations create jobs and reinvest in America or did they plunder their company’s wealth and ship jobs overseas? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Quote on the stimulus from this mornings NY Times;” Nearly 30 percent is devoted to unemployment benefits, food stamps and fiscal aid to states so that they don’t have to cut services, raise taxes and lay off employees and contractors. Evidence is overwhelming that such spending yields the biggest return for every dollar spent.” Are you suggesting that OC not try to get some of this money to aid our own unemployed and poor?
This country already has 1 in 8 people living at or below the poverty level, if things get worse what do you envision happening?
Iceland, that bastion of free-market capitalism has just crashed and burned, please point to another country who’s economy and living standards you approve of and think we should aspire to.
Republicans have long ago stopped being for “small government.”
The Bush administration has increased the government more than Democrats have. The Democrats are nowadays standing for less government, not the Republicans.
John,
Baugh works for a Democratic lobbying firm, out of San Francisco. He is also getting paid $5,000 a month by the OCTA, for God only knows what…
@1, Junior:
The only time Republicans have any sense is when a Democrat is in the White House. Then sometimes they’re decent in opposition. But when a Republican is in the White House, they are a disaster:
They just spent 8 years rubber-stamping Bush’s war, Bush’s wild spending, Bush’s inflation, Bush’s deficits, Bush’s debt, Bush’s police state.
Even under Reagan, Bob Dole, first the chairman of the Finance Committee, then Majority Leader, undermined Reagan’s tax cuts, such as with Dole’s 1982 TEFRA tax increase (which delayed the Reagan economic recovery until 1983) and Dole’s 1986 capital gains tax increase (which smashed the housing industry and led to the S&L disaster of the late 1980s).
Dole also became a multimillionaire while “serving” in the Congress for decades, then became even richer doing those horrible TV commercials.
So i guess its true then that the DPOC has been totally coopted by the Orange County Business Council and their mole Alicia Berhow at the behest of janet nguyen.
how the hell did we allow our “chairman” Frank Barbaro to come under the influence of berhow and janet Nguyen? What is the deal here?
can anyone tell me why we tolerate our party and leadership to be controlled by Republicans in Democratic Clothing like alicia Berhow? How did we allow the janet Nguyen machine to infect our party? We need to purge our party of these traitors.
Until the DPOC stops its infighting OC Progressives will continue to find a home elsewhere and the party structure will increasingly become irrelevant to all but the candidates and their posse’s.
Anon 11:05,
What party structure? The only thing that resembles a structure is the gang like posse of melahat, and alicia berhow and their meat puppets.