Reply to S/O How Will Romney/Ryan Improve Economy, Debt, Jobs..etc

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm the original OP in the other thread.  Been away for a couple days, but wanted to respond to a couple of things.  I can't find it now, but criticized Obama's stimulus package.  here's where that money went.  I'm wondering what the problem is here:

60% of the stimulus money went to tax cuts to individuals, small businesses, etc. 
$153 billion or so went to help states with Medicaid expenditures and to protect teachers and first responders from layoffs. 
$117 billion or so went to building and repairing roads, bridges, rail, and other crucial infrastructure. 
$100 billion to help people hurt by the Bush recession, 
$88 billion for Pell Grants, NIH, upgrading health care IT, special education, etc; 
$75 billion for energy efficiency, science and technology, R&D, broadband

Someone also wonders what is wrong with Keystone and how could it possibly RAISE U.S. gas prices:

The purpose of the pipeline is to give TransCanada greater access to the international market.  It would divert oil from midwest refineries.  These refineries produce more gasoline than those in any other US region, and is sold to US consumers.  That oil will instead be diverted to gulf coast refineries which produce as much diesel as possible, and the majority would be exported.  So, taking oil from the midwest refineries and diverting it to the Gulf Coast diesel refineries will decrease the amount of oil available to American consumers.

Also, the midwest currently enjoys Canada crude at a deep, deep discount.  The Keystone will increase the cost of a barrel of Canada crude by $20-$40.

So, to recap:  increased cost of production at US refineries, decreased supply of gasoline in the US, and the loss of our discount from Canada = higher gas prices

TransCanada originally pitched the Keystone idea to Canadian regulators as a way to "increasing the price of crude in the US."  transcanada did admit to congress that the pipeline would increase US gas prices and that it's main purpose is to export diesel from the gulf coast to the international market.    
[/quote]

ok, i'm guessing you either have little grounding in economics or do not accept as its primary purpose to efficiently allocate resources.  Still, I'll try:

[b]I'm wondering [u]what the problem is here[/u]:

the 60% in tax cuts wasn't spent, as we entered the crisis with too much debt and recipients used to begin deleveraging.  That's why we didn't see the typical rebound coming out of this sharp a downturn.  Traditional conservative (i'm not one) would say..you took my $ and gave it to someone else.  Or, more accurately, you borrowed $ from my kids and they'll have to pay it back somehow.

$ to states:  yes, state budgets were and are careening out of control so they needed disaster relief from decades of irresponsibility.  Did you know the increase in public education employees over the past 20 years FAR exceeds the number of students enrolled?  And no one would contend the results have improved.  Regarding first responders---can you tell me over the past 35 years we have 40% fewer fires yet 40% more firemen?  If they're doing something else shouldn't we so call them (and, maybe, get them out of the firemen's union?)

$ to infrastructure--we should have spent most of the $ there..we'd have saved the construction industry and gotten something good out of it.
"bush recession"  --  please google "correlation v causality"
Pell Grants--this is a separate thread about dumb Federal spending on higher ed
"energy efficiency, et al"  = industrial policy, which the soviets learned doesn't work and Obama is starting to get

Keystone--ok, so if you accept the premise that free markets are about winners and losers, we subsidize gas for the Midwest at who's expense?  And who gets to decide that?

btw, as an aside, I'm not the one tying ideas to presidents--"obama" this and "bush" that.  who's the one lacking some independent thinking?

I really don't know for whom i'm voting, but would be helpful at the least to have a discussion beyond powerpoint bullets.[/quote]

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