Health care reform

An important debate is brewing within the progressive community about the current state of health care reform..while we all agree that the Senate bill is disappointing and unacceptable, we differ vastly on whether we should support it..

I don’t know…I am trying to see both side of the argument and it gets hard sometimes. I think progressives, like tea baggers, tend to shout down people that we don’t agree with. We start to accuse them of betraying their liberal and progressive ideologies. The good thing is that we have many voices within the progressive community unlike the tea baggers.

I don’t think the answer is as clear as black and white. I don’t think we can dismiss something simply because it is not perfect or what we want. I also don’t hold the illusion that just because we control the legislative and executive branch, we can get what we want.

There are a lot of arguments against this current reform and people like Andy Stern of SEIU are coming out against it. I absolutely agree that we should do what we can to improve the bill. However, at some point, this bill will either be killed or go to a vote.

You can find plenty of arguments for killing the bill on the net. Here are a couple of bloggers discussing why we should support the passage even if we think it’s unacceptable..I think I’m picking writing from familiar progressive voices and not people out of no where.

Paul Krugman wrote:

There’s enormous disappointment among progressives about the emerging health care bill — and rightly so. That said, even as it stands it would take a big step toward greater security for Americans and greater social justice; it would also save many lives over the decade ahead.

Kevin Drum from Mother Jones brings up good points about this current form of health care reform:

If healthcare reform dies this year, it dies for a good long time.  Say what you will about the Democratic leadership, but Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi, and Steny Hoyer all know this perfectly well.  So do John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.  (Boy do they know it.)  But if it passes, here’s what we get:

• Insurers have to take all comers.  They can’t turn you down for a preexisting condition or cut you off after you get sick.
• Community rating.  Within a few broad classes, everyone gets charged the same amount for insurance.
• Individual mandate.  I know a lot of liberals hate this, but how is it different from a tax?  And its purpose is sound: it keeps the insurance pool broad and insurance rates down.
• A significant expansion of Medicaid.
• Subsidies for low and middle income workers that keeps premium costs under 10% of income.
• Limits on ER charges to low-income uninsured emergency patients.
• Caps on out-of-pocket expenses.
• A broad range of cost-containment measures.
• A dedicated revenue stream to support all this.

What’s more, for the first time we get a national commitment to providing healthcare coverage for everyone.  It won’t be universal to start, unfortunately, but it’s going to be a lot easier to get there once the marker is laid down.  That’s how every other country has done it, and that’s how we did it with Social Security and Medicare, both of which had big gaps in coverage when they were first passed.

This is where I am struggling…I don’t know if we are letting our emotions cloud our better judgement. Are the consequences of killing this bill and doing nothing better than the future that this reform would create? What are the chances of reform in the future  if we were to use our pressure and kill it today? What is the right pace for progress? Is it taking one giant leap or taking multiple smaller steps?

I don’t know

Reflections on the Oscar

Unlike most, I didn’t watch the Oscar, any of the pre- and post award shows or find out about who looked the most Fab. I did find out about who won, congrats to “Slumdog Millionaire” btw. How can you not when it is pasted all over the news. I didn’t watch it because I don’t go to a lot of movies, probably around 4 or 5 a year. I will eventually catch up on some of the films through rentals, but some I will never get to. Not just that, these award shows don’t, in my mind, truly honor the films that are outstanding. It is all about buzz, politics and what is “in” or “hot”. Most people can probably name a few films that have been great, but will never get the honor it deserves. For example, why didn’t films like Batman and “Gran Torino” get nominated or recognized for excellence? What makes “the Reader” somehow better than “Gran Torino”? Oh..and what’s with if you don’t understand or don’t appreciate some “deep underlying theme about humanity” behind the film, that you are somehow less sophisticated or less intelligent? I watch movies to be entertained, not to learn something about the human condition or be taught history that may be misrepresented or revisionist. I can learn that without paying 10-20 dollars to watch a 2 hour film. But that’s not the real reason why I didn’t sit glued to the TV watching “celebrities” walk down the red carpet or give their acceptance speech. I didn’t watch it because I don’t get it.

These awards shows are basically rich people patting each others on the backs, congratulating themselves on a job well done. I don’t get it. They didn’t do anything extraordinary. They are actors. It is not their job to play their roles and entertain us? If they accomplished that, then they have simply done their jobs. Yet, people watch them and idolize them for not doing anything spectacular. Their struts down the red carpets, their fancy tuxes and dresses and their lavish lifestyles are only setting unrealistic expectations and a false sense of what success is for our society. Instead of honoring values that are more important like civics and compassion, we teach our new generations to value false glamor, fake senses of beauty, materialism and individualism based on what you have, not who you are.

The people who have been truly extraordinary in their lives are the ones we need to celebrate and put on TV. Soldiers that sacrificeed themselves to protect their brothers in arms, the teacher that helped a student get off the streets, the social worker that allowed a family get back on their feet, the research teams who came up with a new treatment for AIDS or Cancer, and blue collar workers that worked tirelessly to provide for his family without even a whimper. These are the heroes that we should celebrate and promote.

Tale of two parties

To follow up on my last post..main stream media has now caught on that the GOP opposition is all about party renewal and nothing to do with the Stimulus, in fact, they are banking on the Stimulus package to fail in order to win elections.

From Washington Post,

But the Republican Party has made its own bet: that the stimulus package that Democrats rushed through Congress will have been deemed a failure by the time the 2010 elections arrive, leading voters to rebuke Obama and reward the GOP with much-needed victories.

Republican Party, instead of working to lift this nation out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, are now hoping that the stimulus package will not work and the country will sink deeper into this recession. Meanwhile, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress know the risk of this bill politically, yet they fear the consequences of inaction more. Democrats are willing to bet on their political future because they believe that the future of America is bigger than any individual or political party.

“Now, look, I won’t lie to you,” Obama told a crowd in Fort Myers, Fla., last week. “If it turns out that a few years from now people don’t feel like the economy’s turned around, that we’re still having problems, that folks are still unemployed, that our health-care system’s not more efficient, then, you know, you guys won’t applaud me the next time I come down here.”

The president never shied from calling the stimulus package “my bill” while stumping for it around the country. With only three Republicans supporting the measure in Friday’s votes, there is almost no political cover for Obama if it doesn’t work.

…

“We stand as Democrats ready to be accountable to the American people for this legislation and for the results we predict it will bring,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said shortly after the bill passed the House on Friday.

This is the tale of two different political parties, one that cares of the future of this country and one that cares only for it’s political future.

——

This little snippet from the Washington Post article clearly shows the hypocrisy of the Republican Party when it comes to deficit and spending..

Republicans rarely worried aloud about the deficit during the spending spree of George W. Bush’s presidency, as Bush largely ignored the mounting red ink as he waged war in Iraq and battled terrorism.

But the massive stimulus plan has given Republicans a political opportunity to try to erase the memory of those years by convincing the country that they have found religion again when it comes to spending.

How can you trust a party like the Republican Party. If you are truly a fiscal conservative, can you trust their words after eight years of Bush and a predominately Republican Congress? Spending and deficit is only bad when a Democrat is in office. There’s an old saying that Bush butchered, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Will you continue to let the Republican Party pull the wool over your eyes and fool you over and over again?

Executive pay cap in the Stimulus

I’m glad to see that the Stimulus contained some form of executive pay cap, although I don’t think it’s enough. It didn’t cover enough executives and there are loop holes around it. However, people on wall street are now complaining about this cap, arguing that it would send talented manager into Hedge Funds and other institutions that have not received government aid.

“This is a big deal. This is a problem,” said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the nation’s largest financial services firms. “It undermines the current incentive structure.” – Of course this would come from the mouth of a lobbyist.

I am confused..This is NOT A PROBLEM..It is really not that complicated and fairly logical. if the company didn’t fail, they wouldn’t require government funding. If they don’t need bailout money, then they can still dish out the billions in bonuses to their top executives. You screw up, want the government to use tax payer money to bail you out and you expect NO REPERCUSSIONS at all? Do they want a hug? Yes..it’s the free market and the market should dictate compensation appropriately..Your company makes record profit, you take home record bonus. when YOUR COMPANY DO NOT PERFORM AND LOSE BILLIONS, free market dictates that you don’t deserve the top money makers for your institution..You failed and yet you expect to keep your top performers by paying them MONEY THAT YOU DON’T HAVE?!?!? How does that work? These banks that take tax payer money, want their cake and eat it as well. There is an old saying, “there are no free lunches.” Maybe someone should tell these banks that there are no free lunches even for the elites. You take my money to save your company and there should be some consequences. It’s got to hurt or how else will you learn the lesson? If you end up losing talent to other institutions that DID NOT take government bail out money, then IT IS YOUR OWN FAULT and not the fault of the compensation cap.
This is what pisses Americans off..It’s not the obscene amount of money that they make, because Americans celebrate success and achievements. It’s the attitude, ego and audacity of these people that sit in their comfy offices and play with other people’s money. They think that they are somehow above the rest of the world. In the “normal” world, if you screw up, you don’t walk away with millions in severance or bonuses. In the real world, if I failed to perform, I don’t get to keep my job. In my reality, If my company fails, we don’t get billions, even millions, of dollars from the government to keep us going. In my world, my compensation is dictated by my performance and the company’s success, not by the compensation fairy that apparently lives in the rich part of Heaven.
WAKE UP WALL STREET..If you want to keep your comfy lifestyle, the nice cars, the house in the Hamptons and your upper class income, then manage your company properly. Take other people’s money seriously and realize that you and your compatriots have more power in your hand to ruin lives than you may think. With great power comes greater responsibilities. Do a good job and you WILL be rewarded with riches beyond my imagination. Do a shitty job and you will have to face the some consequences.

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2010 countdown

the 2010 election countdown has officially started for the remaining GOPs in Congress. We saw today that Republicans in the House care little about the average American or the economic welfare of this country. Once again, they unanimously voted against the Stimulus compromise package. Once again, the Republicans have shown to want to play politics instead of halting this economic recession. Let them play their silly little games. This package will pass the Senate, President Obama will sign the bill, and Republicans will be on the wrong side of history, again.

DCCC chief Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland congressman, released a statement declaring: “House Republicans are fast becoming party of No-bama. Americans will hold Republicans accountable for being the party of no – no to President Obama’s economic recovery, no to children’s health care, and no to equal pay for women doing equal work.”

This is very simple to any one out there not understanding this. The GOP didn’t come up with some complicated and intricate plan to restore power. Republicans are banking that the stimulus package will fail. They hope that it will fail, because they believe that it will result in Americans voting the Republicans back in power.  Still confused? Republicans WANT THIS STIMULUS TO FAIL! They want to see this country fall deeper into a recession and for unemployment to rise. Why, you ask? Let’s take just a quick look at our history. President Hoover (Republican) lost his re-election because he failed to halt the Great Depression and FDR (Democrat) was elected and renewed the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has been in a decline thanks to eight years of George W. Bush and the failed conflict in Iraq. They need a way to reinvent the party and they will do it on the backs of the American people. They see history as the way for them to be reborn. If this Stimulus fails, come the 2010 election, they will be able to say that they were against this stimulus the whole time. The thinking is that the people will then vote GOP back into power as a reaction. So, it all comes back to one thing. They want the stimulus to fail. Republicans would rather do nothing than to support a stimulus that may or may not work. The GOP wants you to fail. The worse off you are, the better they are positioned politically. It’s really that simple.

Know the truth behind the GOP’s opposition to the Stimulus package and know who really cares about the people of this country. Keep this in mind come 2010. Do you want your represented official to sit idly by as this nation sinks deeper into a financial crisis or do you want your officials to take tangible actions to halt it, even at the risk of it not working. History will ultimately judge the success of the Stimulus, however, we don’t need history to tell us that failure to act now is more devastating than passing a bill that partially worked. The Democrats are willing to risk the 2010 election and beyond, because they care and understand that fact. Do you think the Republicans do?

Tick, tock..the clock is ticking..

What is in the stimulus package

Thanks to TPM, here is a quick glance at what is in the Stimulus package..

Spending

AID TO POOR AND UNEMPLOYED

_ $40 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, and increase them by $25 a week; $20 billion to increase food stamp benefits by 14 percent; $3 billion in temporary welfare payments.

DIRECT CASH PAYMENTS

_ $14 billion to give one-time $250 payments to Social Security recipients, poor people on Supplemental Security Income, and veterans receiving disability and pensions.

INFRASTRUCTURE

_ $46 billion for transportation projects, including $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair; $8.4 billion for mass transit; $8 billion for construction of high-speed railways and $1.3 billion for Amtrak; $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers; $4 billion for public housing improvements; $6.4 billion for clean and drinking water projects; $7 billion to bring broadband Internet service to underserved areas.

HEALTH CARE

_ $21 billion to provide a 60 percent subsidy of health care insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program; $87 billion to help states with Medicaid; $19 billion to modernize health information technology systems; $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities.

STATE BLOCK GRANTS

_ $8 billion in aid to states to defray budget cuts.

ENERGY

_ About $50 billion for energy programs, focused chiefly on efficiency and renewable energy, including $5 billion to weatherize modest-income homes; $6.4 billion to clean up nuclear weapons production sites; $11 billion toward a so-called “smart electricity grid” to reduce waste; $13.9 billion to subsidize loans for renewable energy projects; $6.3 billion in state energy efficiency and clean energy grants; and $4.5 billion make federal buildings more energy efficient.

EDUCATION

_ $47 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid to school districts, with great flexibility to use the funds for school modernization and repair; $26 billion to school districts to fund special education and the No Child Left Behind law for students in K-12; $17 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $500 to $5,350; $2 billion for Head Start.

HOMELAND SECURITY

_ $2.8 billion for homeland security programs, including $1 billion for airport screening equipment.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

_ $4 billion in grants to state and local law enforcement to hire officers and purchase equipment.

Look at all that wasteful spending, per Republicans..hiring police officers, homeland security, upgrade our power grid, infrastructure, etc.

Politics as usual

A couple of days ago, I blogged about the Republican Party using the Stimulus package as a way to help reinvigorate the party, and that they voted against the stimulus package for political reasons. This little tidbit came across Jack Tapper’s blog yesterday, which a lot of people seem to have missed. Transportation Secretary LaHood, a Republican, talked to the press about the Stimulus Bill and whether Republicans will vote for it this time. This is what he revealed about the GOPs on the Hill,

“I’ve talked to my friends and former colleagues in the house and they know the importance of this. You know what their answer is, they have been concerned about the process and the way the bill was put together” … “LaHood said he spoke to 11 Republican congressmen today and “not one of them said they were concerned by what we were trying to do on the transportation side of things. But, you know, they like to be in the room when these things are put together. And they haven’t been. And so I think they were a bit offended by that.”

The Republicans voted against the Stimulus package, not because of the bill, but because they were .. OFFENDED by the process?!?!? They like to be in the room or they were used to being in the room because they had controlled the Congress or had a Republican President for the past eight years? and guess what, they were involved in the process, Obama had consulted Republicans since the beginning and it took THREE centrist Republicans willing to work with Democrats to work out the Senate version. It’s not that they weren’t involved, The Republicans didn’t want to be involved, so they can lie to the American people about how Democrats locked them out of the process. Locking you out and refusing to participate are two very different things.

So the truth finally comes out of a Republican’s mouth. Their opposition has never been about the package, it has always been about showing up the Democrats, who control the Congress, and pretending to be upset about the package. Let me revisit one thing that I’ve said over and over again. I do not remember the Republicans involving the Democrats during the years that the GOP controlled the Congress and the White House. George W. Bush never attempted to reach across the aisle when he had a Republican congress. So, don’t give me that hypocritical crap about “not being involved”.

Republicans are playing dangerously with fire and when you do that, you will eventually get burn. Except in this case, it will be the People of the United States of America who will suffer the consequences of Republicans playing politics as usual.

Wall Street will never learn

This is why we have to cut off the source of the problem before we can fix the economy. The problem lies with the people in control of Wall Street firms and the banks. They will never learn and we are doomed to repeat history.

Sam Stein of Huffington Post reported on bailed out firms, Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney,  giving out “retention payments” to their financial adviser. It’s basically bonuses but for PR purposes, they want to call it “retention payments.”  Estimates of these packages are around 2-3 Billion dollars. Let us not forget that these two firms got a combined amount of over 60 BILLION dollars from the government bail out fund.

The soon-to-be-merged financial giants — Morgan Stanley and Citigroup’s Smith Barney — announced the payments during an internal conference call last week, but warned advisers against describing them in terms that would cause PR headaches.

“There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus,” said James Gorman, co-president of Morgan Stanley. “It is not a bonus. It is an award. And it recognizes the importance of keeping our team in place as we go through this integration.”

“I think I can hear you clapping from here in New York,” Gorman joked during the call, after announcing that the payments would be linked to ’08 performance. “You should be clapping because frankly that is a very generous and thoughtful decision that we have made. We spent a lot of time kicking this around. We could easily have done it from the point of closing, which is obviously going to be somewhere in the latter half of this year or around the middle of the year. But we just decided… that it was right thing to do, to give you that certainty that it would be based off ’08. ’09 is a very difficult year… So that degree of anxiety, which many, many of you have emailed me about… is now off the table.”

This is ridiculous. Tell Wall Street people to walk around in other people’s shoes and see how many average Americans that have a job still are getting bonuses disguised as “retention payments.” Also, why bother with “retention bonuses”. If these financial advisers are so displeased with the money they are making, let them go and try to find another job in this market. I am sure there are plenty of top talents out there just waiting for an opportunity to get in the doors with these two companies. Retention payments are just BS now and if you are going to give out bonuses, base it on the overall performance, not just a selected point in time. Using tax payer money to pay out these stupid payments is not the right thing to do. These financial advisers should be anxious about having a job, not the amount of bonus they are getting.

“These firms are attempting to continue to pay their people the way they have in the past and in the current job market here in New York, I don’t think it is necessary,” said Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics. “You certainly don’t need to pay people to stay in their jobs right now, because they are praying to Jesus that they just don’t lose their job generally.”

Another example of how these cancers sitting in their posh offices just don’t get it and continue to play the American people as fools. To cure our economy, these cancers must be removed.

Amused

I am very amused by Wall Street’s reaction to Geithner’s speech this morning. Right after the speech, DOW tumbled, down almost 400 points. I especially love some of the comments coming from Wall Street..

“Geithner’s speech “basically puts a spotlight on the fact that the government has no idea how to fix the problem,” said Jeff Buetow, senior portfolio manager at Portfolio Management Consultants. “People bought on rumor and hope, and now they’re selling on reality.”

Geithner’s speech “basically puts a spotlight on the fact that the government has no idea how to fix the problem,” said Jeff Buetow, senior portfolio manager at Portfolio Management Consultants. “People bought on rumor and hope, and now they’re selling on reality.”

Why do I find it amusing amidst the continued devaluation of my IRAs? Because the same people that put us in this mess are now complaining that the Government isn’t helping them out of the mess that they created fast enough. I still remember they don’t like government to get all up in their business. When I spilled water on the floor or got into trouble as a kid, I had to face the music and get myself out of it. If I screwed up at work now, I’ve to untangle my mess or get fired. On Wall Street, apparently failing is acceptable and applauded. If you fail or screw up, just tell the government that it’s the privilege of the American people to bail out the financial institutions with tax dollars. If you mismanage, just walk away with millions and get another job after spending some quality vacation time. When you create a massive economic meltdown, just look the other way and point the finger at poor people, government, or other companies. Afterwards, tell, not ask, the government to bail you out of your mess. Never acknowledge and learn from your mistakes. When you think the government are not doing enough or giving you enough tax dollars, complain more. You are righteous.

The real problem lies with the people that sit in their cushy chairs in their tall skyscrapers. The ones that gambled and lost and the ones put us in this mess in the first place. In America, we like to treat symptoms and not the source of the disease. Aspirin for headaches, Mucinex for sinus, and so on. Maybe we need to take a cue from Eastern medicine when it comes to solving this problem. The real solution is to cut the cancer out from the source and then treat the symptoms. We can treat the symptoms, but without fixing the source, it’s useless. We can bail out every single bank and save every investment firms, but if they continue to have the same people sitting behind the same desks, running the same kind of organizations, we are doomed to repeat history over and over again.

So..yes..I’m quite amused at the panic reactions on Wall Street. I am amused at watching my investments lose value because of unsteady fingers and wild reactions, and most of all, I love watching the bigwigs on Wall Street squirm and complain about the government not doing enough to bail their asses out of their mess.

It’s unacceptable for GOPs to play politics with the Stimulus

It really bothers me that the Republicans are playing with our future. The House passed the stimulus package with no Republicans voting for it. Today, the Senate pass their version of the Stimulus bill, this time nearly avoiding a filibuster when three centrist Republicans sided with the Democrats. Instead of working alongside to fix the economy and improve people’s lives, the GOPs have apparently decided to stake the political future of their party on their opposition of the Stimulus. So, in another word, they would rather see the country go down in flames than to compromise and pass a bill that they may not completely agree with. This is completely unacceptable.

I understand that the two parties have distinctively different philosophies and approaches to our economy, however, I also believe that they understand the dire situation that we are currently in. Just recently, we found out that the country was on the brink of a complete collapse, when 550 billion dollars were removed from the money market in a matter of two hours. Had the federal reserves not acted accordingly, an estimated five Trillion dollars would have left the economy in 24 hours. That would’ve led to the destruction of our economic system, our political system. The world economy would’ve followed suit within hours of such a meltdown. Members of congress were briefed on this and understand the severity of the circumstances. I also know that they see difference paths to recovery. Yet, it is completely unacceptable that they would rather play political games with our economy and hold the country hostage than to pass this bill to stop the bleeding. This is why I’m pissed. The Republicans know the dire consequences of inaction, yet they were more than willing to play the usual political games and use this Stimulus package to position themselves politically. They don’t seem to see or care about the world outside of the halls of Congress, instead they see only potentials for self gain and self interests. Of cours, not all GOPers are like this. Some, like Arlene Specter, see the need to work and compromise. Others like Republican Governor Crist of Florida, being closer to the people as the head of a State, fully supports the stimulus package, because they have seen and felt first hand the impact of the recession. However, out of the Republican Congress members, only THREE voted for any form of the stimulus packages. That’s all I need to know and it is unacceptable.

GOPs like to complain about a lack of compromise from the Democrats and that is a bunch of crap. First off, I don’t remember the Republicans making any kind of efforts to reach across the aisle when they had control of the Congress and the Presidency. All they did was to shove things down the Democrats and the people’s throats. Second, I do recall that it was a Republican controlled Congress and a Republican President that set this country down this path to where we are right now. It was the Republican Congress that authorized an illegal war that is costing TWO BILLION dollars a week in Iraq. It was a Republican controlled Congress who eliminated regulatory protections set in place to prevent such a financial market meltdown, and it was a Republican President, who had a Republican controlled Congress during most of his eight year tenure, that increase the size of the government, doubled our national debt and left us with almost a TRILLION dollars in deficit. Finally, don’t tell me that President Obama and the Democrats didn’t try to compromise. They included modifications to the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) that most economist disagree with in order to please the Republicans. The package contains a large tax cuts that, again, most economist don’t believe will help. They eliminated provisions in the stimulus for schools, police, states support and other programs that the Republicans, again, don’t like for various reasons. It took THREE centrist Republicans, who were willing to work with Democrats, hours of hard work to come up with a package that they felt comfortable to vote for. President Obama made every effort to reach out to the Republicans, asking for their inputs and asking for their support. In fact, the same Republicans that are now attacking the stimulus supported various aspects of it, like the tax cuts, early on. President Obama, in his first Presidential Press Conference even brought this up,

Now, just in terms of the historic record here, the Republicans were brought in early and were consulted. They were pleasantly surprised and complimentary about the tax cut that were presented in that framework. Those tax cuts are still in there. I mean, I suppose what I could have done is started off with no tax cuts, knowing that I was going to want some and then let them take credit for all of them. And maybe that’s the lesson I learned.

Their opposition is not with the package or a lack of consultation. They oppose it because the Republican party wants to use it as a springboard to rebuild the Republican party. They want to rebuild the party on the backs of hard working Americans. That is unacceptable.

Is this stimulus package sufficient? Not in my mind. They eliminated a lot of good projects and didn’t put nearly enough into infrastructure. Will the stimulus package work? We don’t know, no one will know for sure, even the naysayer Republicans can not tell you if a plan will work or not. All we can do is speculate and make best estimations. However, there is one thing that I know for sure and that the people sitting in Congress know for sure. If we do not act and act swiftly, this financial crisis will continue to worse dramatically, unemployment will continue to skyrocket and credit will remain in cold storage. That’s unacceptable.

Despite all of the doom and gloom, I know that as a country, we will survive this just like when we pulled out of the Great Depression. Because human beings are survivors. However, it took action and leadership from our government to get us out of our last great crisis. Despite what some GOPers like Conyer believes, the New Deal worked to help get the country out of the recession. Could it have been more successful? sure. Did it fail in some areas? absolutely. Was it perfect? Not even close. This stimulus package and future packages will go through the same thing. Some items will work and some will fail. We may need more intervention and pump more money into the system. However, to deny it a chance for success is to deny the American people a chance to climb out of this recession. That’s unacceptable.

This old adage that President Obama and others have been using maybe cliche and old, but it has never rang truer than now. We absolutely can not let our need for perfection be the enemy of what is necessary. For we know not what perfection will look like, but we all know what inaction will represent.