Barack Obama has not even taken the oath of office but is already demanding Congress pass his economic stimulus plan. Of course when a liberal begins speaking of the economy everyone should reach for their wallet because the government, in good Keynesian fashion, will try to meddle the economy back into shape. When it comes to the economy the liberals only have one page in their playbook—expand government.

President-elect Obama surprised me when he came out for tax-cuts. For a moment I lost my head thinking he defined these the way I did and he now understands that letting American’s keep their money is the only solution. Wrong! A Democrat defines a tax-cut as whatever he wants it to be. Those who pay the taxes will continue to pay and those who don’t pay will get a check while they claim to cut taxes. Let me spell this out: Only those who pay taxes can get a tax-cut! Most of those whose taxes he is claiming to cut don’t pay anything. I know, many who don’t pay income tax still pay employee taxes, but that’s who the earned income credit is for. At a certain level you pay no taxes, and get your employment taxes back, so how can you get a tax-cut?

Though the details of Mr. Obama’s plan is being withheld we know that it includes rebates of $500 or $1000 for a couple. We tried this last year, it failed and we have the increased deficit to prove it. Just like last year these stimulus checks will not work for the American family receiving it. The only ones getting a boost will be the lawmakers who bought low income votes at the expense of prosperous hard-working Americans.

Besides this, a few more hand-outs are in the works like unemployment benefits for part-time workers. Huh? You only work part-time but expect compensation when this job closes. Most part-time jobs are meant to be a source of extra money, or for those without employment history to get a start in the working world. Since unemployment insurance is paid for by the employers this expansion of the public dole will be paid for by business owners. How far will this go? It is well known that many people expand their work force at Christmas time and then let them go at the end of the season. Will these seasonal staff be included in this? After all is it the workers fault that Christmas only comes once a year? I guess under the Obama administration Christmas will be all year.

One of the most disingenuous parts of this plan includes letting the Bush tax-cuts expire as scheduled in 2010 instead of repealing them sooner. I thought these were only for the rich and of no benefit to the economy. If these were as bad as Nanci and the gang told us, why aren’t they being pulled right away? They are being left in place because even Democrats know that to suddenly raise taxes would destroy the economy and they would take the blame because the evil Republicans have been sidelined.

We’ve been given a good clue for the next four years. How can you tell President Obama is expanding government? Is he talking?