Senate Bill: Pacific Crisis Stimulus Act (Enacted)

[DemPGH]

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Sponsor: Senator NCYankee

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In his hurry he left the sponsor off, which is my fault becomes I am rushing him.


I figure since repeating previous failures is acceptable course for immigration policy in RL, I would reuse the failed strategy from the Mental Health Bill here.

Actually Nix asked that it be done this way.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I kind of expected Nix to have posted by now.

Anyway when I last discussed the matter we planned on 1) hiring the Pacific state employees ourselves or 2) if the Pacific was restored by court rulling to support the Pacific Gov't doing that through two means:

1) Fed buying their Bonds
2) Us backing their bonds up to 100% of face value for a set period (basically a gov't backed loan)

We also discussed the matter of banks exposed to bonds that might pose a threat (not just Pacific, but all bonds could be hit by this)

And finally a General stimulus in the range of $100 to $200 billion (basically the stimulus that Romney apparently never proposed) including a strong component of infrastructure spending.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I thought the infrastructure spending would be national, no?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

That would be acceptable. My point was I got the impression from our PM exchanges that the stimulus spending portion would be national so as to stave off a nationwide potential recession.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Remember, Nix, just the uncertainty alone is enough to cause a recession and keep in mind that this has been a crisis since mid June (really months before that if you count the inactivity too), so don't think a favorable court ruling is going to magically wish the economic problems away.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I would also recommend healthcare facilities, ranging from general practices to more specialized operations in certain areas.


How do you want this structured?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

By which I mean distributing the funds of course.

[Donerail]

I'd say my #1 infrastructure priority right now for the IDS is expanding our ports to post-Panamax specifications by 2015, as well as development of intermodal rail yards for ports.

[ZuWo]

The #1 infrastructure priority in the Mideast was and still is the "Mideast High Speed Rail Act", which has the support of prominent Laborites, Federalists and members of other parties. Looking at the way the debate in the "High Speed Rail Expansion Act" turned out, however, I must conclude that the Senate has other priorities.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

What is our surplus right now? Are we still even running one? If the goal is truly to stimulate the economy, I can't say say that I believe a bunch of construction jobs are really going to make a difference, especially if we're looking at a national economic crisis that could begin in the very short term. Construction projects take time to get off their feet, and it could be months before we see even the first jobs being created here.

In 2010, the Associated Press found that ARRA really had no local impacts on unemployment. I don't want to use this crisis as an excuse to run a deficit just so we can improve infrastructure. If we want to improve our roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, let's find a balanced way to do it. That's fine. I'm for that. But let's not pass it off as stimulus so we can do it all at once.

I might embrace the idea more if we're not really in deficit territory, but I think we kind of are. That's why I'm on the fence.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We had a narrow surplus of like $20 to $50 billion, but that will be gone now by virtue of the slowdown in the economy, which started back in May or April according to the employment charts.

I am almost certain we now have a deficit.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I concur Mr. President.

[Napoleon]

Something like this:

I - Federal backing for Pacific debt
II - $50-100 billion for the Pacific (distributed by IA to Pacific Region based on Senate-established guidelines)
III - $50-100 billion for the other regions (distributed by IA to other four regions based on Senate-established guidelines)

Don't forget that deeming the NM-AM a terrorist organization is essential to any rebuilding in the region.

Invoking Godwin: you don't end the Holocaust and let the Nazi Party continue to rule.

[Gass3268]

Something like this:

I - Federal backing for Pacific debt
II - $50-100 billion for the Pacific (distributed by IA to Pacific Region based on Senate-established guidelines)
III - $50-100 billion for the other regions (distributed by IA to other four regions based on Senate-established guidelines)

Don't forget that deeming the NM-AM a terrorist organization is essential to any rebuilding in the region.

Invoking Godwin: you don't end the Holocaust and let the Nazi Party continue to rule.

Except NM-AM isn't a terrorist organization...

[Napoleon]

Invoking Godwin: you don't end the Holocaust and let the Nazi Party continue to rule.

Any violence or threats of violence will be met with criminal charges, obviously.

However, someone advocating for the banning of a political party ought to be cautious of drawing any comparisons to the Nazis only a three days away from the 80th anniversary of the Gesetz gegen die Neubildung von Parteien.

Its not a political party, its a terrorist organization that destroyed the lives of millions. Case in point: we are here debag in . this bill.

[Sbane]

NM-AM has certainly engaged in economic terrorism against the Pacific.

The most important thing we can do right now is to project stability in order to improve the economy. Stabilizing the bond market is th best way of doing so. Infrastructure projects are great, but they won't have that much of an effect.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

There is no such word as "rapid" in the construction industry. Hell, I'd rather forgive some student loans. At least we'd get some money circulating and really help a few people out.

[Napoleon]

IIRC, the last major recession in Atlasia occurred during Lief's presidency (please correct me if I'm wrong). I'll look back to see what worked then.

I'm pretty sure the recession didn't officially end until my presidency. And I guess the next guy comes in and let it collapse again. I should probably run again.

[Napoleon]

The Atlasian economy was in recession for three years?

Depression, whatever you want to call it. We struggle. Hard.

[Sbane]

NM-AM has certainly engaged in economic terrorism against the Pacific.

And how would we prosecute them for that? We have no federal laws re: "economic terrorism." I am consulting with Attorney General DemPGH about what kind of legal action would be appropriate, but I am inclined to believe that we have no constitutional authority to eliminate the NMAM or otherwise curtail their ability to participate in the democratic process.

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Why couldn't infrastructure projects have some effect? Rapid implementation would be essential, of course, but I'm not sure why we couldn't write a stimulus bill that encourages this.

I think at least censuring the NM-AM is in order, even if we don't have the authority to shut them down.

I am not against an infrastructure bill, I just don't think it will be that effective. It doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, because we do need infrastructure improvements in any case.

[Napoleon]

That's definitely in depression territory. How did we end it?

Reforming entitlements, modest tax cuts, ending the wars we were involved in, reducing unemployment by giving tax breaks for hiring new employees, among other things. If you want a more detailed review later tonight I can do it.

[TJ in Oregon]

I think a payroll tax cut is a good idea to spark immediate spending.

Do we have any national sales tax? If we do, that would be a good think to grant a holiday from.

[MaxQue]

I'm not very aware about payrolltaxes, but who would have the money freed? The employer or the worker?

[Napoleon]

I'm not very aware about payrolltaxes, but who would have the money freed? The employer or the worker?

The employee. It's taken directly out of their paychecks.