I was reading an article about how Barack Obama is considering allowing the Bush tax cuts to continue until at least the end of 2010, rather than end them early.  To his credit, it seems Obama may be opposed to raising taxes in such a rough economic environment.  Well, as I got to the end of the article, I saw a shocking quote from Charles Schumer regarding a stimululs package:

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat who is part of the majority leadership team in the Senate, told ABC's "This Week" that an economic recovery package between $500 billion and $700 billion is needed and could be ready by the time Obama takes office on January 20.

"I think it has to be deep. In my view it has to be between five and seven hundred billion dollars," Schumer said


     The government has already spent almost $1 trillion dollars on bailouts, and that doesn't count additional industries that may visit Washington with their hands out.  I've been reading about proposed stimulus packages in the $100 billion to $200 billion range, but the $700 billion figure seems to be coming out of left field.  I'm guessing that an amount of that size will easily pass and our elected representatives will act like Santa Claus in their home districts.  Giving gifts is always nice, until the bill has to be paid.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081123/pl_nm/us_usa_obama_taxes