Understanding the Obama Stimulus Package:

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Try this:

Shortly after class, an economics student approaches his economics professor and says, "I don't understand this stimulus bill. Can you explain it to me?"

The professor replied, "I don't have any time to explain it at my office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help me with my weekend project, I'll be glad to explain it to you."

The student agreed. At the agreed-upon time, the student showed up at the professorʼs house.

The professor stated that the weekend project involved his backyard pool. They both went out back to the pool, and the professor handed the student a bucket.

Demonstrating with his own bucket, the professor said, "First, go over to the deep end, and fill your bucket with as much water as you can." The student did as he was instructed.

The professor then continued, "Follow me over to the shallow end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it."

The student was naturally confused, but did as he was told.. The professor then explained they were going to do this many more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pool.

The confused student asked, "Excuse me, but why are we doing this?" The professor matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make the shallow end much deeper. The student didn't think the economics professor was serious, but figured that he would find out the real story soon enough.

However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the deep end, the student began to become worried that his economics professor had gone mad.

The student finally replied, "All we're doing is wasting valuable time and effort on unproductive pursuits. Even worse, when this process is all over, everything will be at the same level it was before, so all you'll really have accomplished is the destruction of what could have been truly productive action!"

The professor put down his bucket and replied with a smile, "Congratulations. You now understand the stimulus bill."


ruveyn

LOL, but also the people moving the water would be drinking some of the water as they move it. A "cost of moving" fee.

I heard this on the radio. Brilliant.

cute but a bad analogy.
three things wrong off the top of my head 10 points each
to the people that find them.

The stimulus bill was actually about building roads and bridges.

Granted, the roads and bridges will eventually revert to dust if not maintained. Still, they do have greater temporary value than the act of moving water from one end of the pool to the other.

So where are all those roads and bridges? It seems we got about as many roads and bridges out of the Obama administration as we got Hope and Change.

Lord knows we need to fix our infra-structure. From roads and bridges to water pipes and sewers. These are the necessities of living in an urban industrial based society and they transcend politics.

ruveyn

Roads and bridges are supposed to be financed through gasoline taxes. In fact all road and waterways are supposed to be financed through fuel taxes. The stimulus bill was nothing but a boondoggle.

a billion dollars worth of roads and bridges has been under construction on the first third of my morning commute for the last year.

maybe your governor was too proud to take the money?

Explains why more shovel ready jobs were created two canines than Obama's jobs plans have created.

Christie knew the tunnel project would run way over budget and New Jersey would be left holding the bag which would mostly benefit New York City. New York City has sucked upstate New York, Connecticut and New Jersey dry.

ruveyn

So you agree that there are things which need to be done for the sake of society as a whole and not just for personal gain? Perhaps there's hope for you yet.

We all drink the water. Better it should be clean. However, this does not imply that government is the ideal instrument for looking after our physical basic needs. Governments are astounding in their corruption and incompetence. As a group, politicians are the stupidest and the most short sighted people in our society. They are the dregs.

ruveyn

How is that possible? Aren't people who follow great fools even greater fools? The problem is we have a system which rewards politicians who bury their heads in the sand on the big issues and only vote on proposals based on whether or not they can get pork in it for their constituents. And that's everyone's fault.

Having money going to signs saying that basically say this project was paid for by Stimulus all over the country is nothing more than a campaign ploy that has taxpayers footing the bill.

How old are you?

I'm 35 and i recall seeing those signs (indicating federal tax dollars at work) in the 1980's. Under the George H. Bush administration.

Aside from that - you should benefit from the federal taxes you paid? Perish the thought.

I'm 28 years old.

Your memory is pretty bad because George H.W. Bush was Vice President from January 1981 to January 1989. He was President from January 1989 to January 1993.

The President in office from January 1981 to January 1989 was Ronald Reagan.