The rightwing meme regarding economic stimulus spending seems to be that the stimulus is "socialism". What about the stimulus money that is being spent on things like roads, military bases and sewer treatment plants, on contracts awarded by competitive bidding? Any company qualified (proper bonding and insurance, etc.) to do such work can submit a bid to do the work, and the low bidder gets the contract. Private companies competing to get the work, hopefully to make a profit, that is socialism now?! Let's jump down under the fold, (into the looking glass maybe?) and see how the tea party types try to spin this.
I work in construction, and I go on work related forums to read about new equipment. One thread was about how infrastructure construction creates jobs, (and markets for equipment manufacturers, etc.) Of course, like any other forum, there is always somebody with the echo chamber spin. You know, "any government spending is socialism and it's all a trick to make the government bigger,". The standard Fox/talk radio talking points. And most interestingly, that it's a "War on Capitalism".
WHAT?! Allowing private companies to compete for the business of building things the taxpayers need is a "War on Capitalism"? You Have Got To Be Kidding Me! Hmm...wonder where they got that BS from? A search with the magic of Google and behold, (if you can stomach it) http://www.foxnews.com/...
The usual suspects. Fox "News". Notice Fox's reference to a union protest on Wall Street earlier this year. Here's a link to a newspaper story of the protests at the time. http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...
The newspaper article has a more complete quote of the guy from Long Island NY, that was quoted in Fox's article
"We need Wall Street to survive, but we need banks to do the right thing. They were bailed out, so let them start freeing up some of that money, give it to people who've been struggling," he said.
Note how Fox conveniently left out the first part of the quote,
We need Wall Street to survive
and
They were bailed out
.
So there you have it folks, the Fox News Bizzaro world. Companies competing to make money as a socialist plot to end capitalism. The average working guy no longer portrayed as the celebrated "hard hat" of the 60s and 70s, but now as someone out of an Ayn Rand fever dream persecuting the hard working bankers to confiscate their money. This is the 21st century "welfare queen" boogeyman.