Feb. 17, 2009, likely will go down in history.

President Barack Obama, using 10 pens, put his signature to the single largest bill ever passed in the United States of America.

“Today I am keeping the American dream alive,” he said.

The huge economic stimulus package, more properly labeled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is indeed historic; 1,434 pages of legislation thrusting $787 billion into our nation’s economy.

Suffice to say not a single member of Congress, nor the president, could have read this legislation in its entirety, much less digested and deliberated over its total content. Only three Republicans voted for the measure.

One can only wonder if our new president has indeed inflicted permanent damage upon his presidency, or if this legislation will truly kickstart our national economy, now languishing in growing unemployment. Over the course of 10 years, interest on this massive legislation will be $300 billion. But whether this is “converting crises into opportunity,” as the president stated during the bill’s signing at the Denver Museum of Science, only time will tell.

Obama told of putting Americans to work doing jobs that needed to be done, such as the biggest investment in the nation’s transportation system since President Eisenhower launched the interstate highway system in the 1950s. Perhaps more importantly, this act is the largest single investment in education in our nation’s history.

Will this stop the bleeding? Observers say it will be two years for all of this “new money” to work its way into the economy. Hopefully this is indeed the beginning of a better tomorrow.

Maybe other strategies should also be looked at, such as the following, a bit of nonsense received via e-mail, but perhaps fitting in view of the Feb. 17 event in Denver. This one is simply titled “The Proposal.” It reads:

“When a company falls on difficult times, it typically reduces its staff and workers. The remaining workers then need to ramp up or risk losing their jobs as well. Wall Street, and certain media moguls, congratulate the CEO for this “tough decision” and the Board of Directors gives a huge bonus. Our government should not be immune from similar risks. Therefore, reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and the U.S. Senate from 100 to 50 (one per state instead of two). Also reduce remaining staff by 25 percent. Accomplish this over the next eight years (two steps/two elections); also do the appropriate redistricting.

Some yearly monetary gains include:
• $44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress (267 members x $165,200 pay/member per year.)
• $97,175,000 for elimination of the above people’s staff. (Estimate $1.3 million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 million in staff per each member of the Senate.)
• $240,294 for reduction of remaining staff by 25 percent
• $7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel earmarks (From those members who are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 billion per year.)

The remaining members of Congress would need to work smarter and harder to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests (and ours) to work together for the good of the country. Fewer and smaller committees might produce more efficient resolution of issues. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

The bottom line: $8,073,383,400 per year estimated savings. That’s 8-billion! And if they need to work 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits there is no telling how much would be saved. Now they get full retirement after serving only one term.

This additional suggestion: Perhaps members of Congress should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could identify their corporate sponsors!”

Well, such is life in the public eye these days. And though the vast majority of Americans are wanting President Obama to succeed, many are wondering if the “honeymoon” is already over. Because behind this unprecedented spending spree is the reality of raising federal taxes to onerous levels to pay down our nation’s unprecedented national debt.

I seriously question if we can indeed spend our way into prosperity. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. The prevailing rule of our capitalistic society is simply this: The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.