Nothing new here

How do you stimulate an economy? A republican says cut taxes - help those who already have money keep more of it. A democrat says spend, spend - give money to people who don't have it. Nothing new here.

Republicans would like to see the economic stimulus package divided rather evenly between spending and tax cuts, since they don't think government spending is really the way to give the economy the 'ol jump start. The problem with that argument is that it assumes that a person has an income that is being taxed. Job losses were a record 598,000 in January alone. If you don't have a job, you can't spend money. If you don't spend money, the economy grows weaker, and businesses lose revenue. If businesses fail, more jobs are lost. It's a vicious circle. A tax cut doesn't do any good to someone who has little or no income to begin with.

On the other hand, if you create jobs by making money available for school construction or road repairs or new broadband infrastructure then, well, you've created jobs. Which in turn leads to more spending. Apparently the republicans do not agree. What got cut? Money for school construction, broadband initiatives, research, science, school nutrition. Typical things Republicans hate.

Check out Rachel Maddow's take on it. Oh, if only they could say "bullshit" on television.