Pulling out of Iraq; is a great idea. Not going in the first place would have been better, but that's water under the bridge. What would pulling out of Iraq do for the economy at this point? Thousands of Americans work at jobs that provide everything from bombs to buns to support the war effort. Thousands of others are deployed as reservists and civilian workers. Billions of dollars are being pumped into economy as a direct result of the war and still, the economy is failing.
So then, ending the war would displace thousands of people from their jobs, thousands more would return home looking for work, the current money being spent would no longer be flowing and we are already in recession; and this is the #1 good idea; what must be the bad idea?
The number two best idea was increasing government spending on domestic programs; which would indicate that those polled believe the government has some money to pay for those programs. This solution would also indicate that those polled don't get out much. Debt is already the problem don't ya know? The war is a domestic spending program. All wars are and always have been.
We constantly chastise deficit spending and ever greater tax collection, and then trot out greater spending as a solution?
Lower taxes; was the number three solution, rating just behind more government spending and more unemployment due to ending the war effort. Let's see, we incur more debt, but collect fewer taxes to pay back the debt, and that will end the recession? I agree that it would end the recession, but trading recession for depression seems counter to the effort.
Giving rebates to the poor in hopes of spending ourselves out of recession was the final idea. This is the idea that Congress and King George embraced. The idea is genius. Mail out checks from the government's checking account that is $9 Trillion in overdraft to all of the public who earn under a certain amount and they will spend it on Chinese imports that will ensure that the Chinese loan us more money with which to back the loans that the Chinese will have to cover for the printing of the money that was sent out to the poor people. I like that one the best.
So who is to blame for the recession? 44% of those polled think that King George is the culprit, while 37% said it was Congress, but 56% thought mortgage lenders did it (they could vote on more than one villain).
What about which entity could pull us out of recession? 10% thought the Federal Reserve could print up some more funny money, lower interest and get the job done nicely. Only 8% believed that Congress was up to the task and George Bush only received a 7% vote of confidence. In other words, few see a way out.
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