Economic "bankruptcy bill": behind the unprincipled politicking going on with the stimulus bill is the sobering reality that the nearly $800 billion price tag will do nothing to stimulate the economy.(ECONOMY)

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As the massive new stimulus bill accreted new costs in the Senate, Americans wondered how much the final price will be. At one point during Senate deliberations, House Majority leader Steny Hoyer, responding to concerns that the Senate version was already tens of billions of dollars larger than the House version, sheepishly told reporters that "the objective is to have a bill of less than $900 billion." Yet less than 24 hours later, the cost of the Senate version of the stimulus package was well over $900 billion and continuing to rise.

Republicans tried to mount a feeble opposition, trotting out a provocative list of line items that, they claimed, would do nothing to provide the promised stimulus. But the total amount of the allegedly objectionable programs totaled just $19 billion--a formidable sum, but insignificant compared with the overall bill.

Eventually, Republican opposition forced a "compromise" bill that, as of this writing, stands at about $790 billion, a stimulus package that President Obama has promised to sign.

But behind the petty bickering and unprincipled politicking going on in connection with the economic stimulus bill is the sobering reality that the nearly $800 billion price tag will do nothing to stimulate the economy. Far more likely is that this monstrosity, in conjunction with the $700 billion Bush bailout bill and hundreds of billions of additional taxpayer dollars already thrown at failing and failed corporations, will devastate the American economy.

"Stimulus package" indeed; what the president and our irresponsible Congress are now preparing to sign into law may well be remembered in history as the "bankruptcy bill."

Washington's Free-spending Ways