The Change We Need
Does President-Elect Obama represent the change we need? His mainstream appointments -- largely veterans of the Clinton administration -- have sparked a clamor from worried supporters. But in one of the critical challenges facing the country -- how to get the country out of what will be the worst downturn since the Great Depression -- Obama is calling for dramatic and long overdue change. While President Bush continues to oppose any major plan for Main Street, Obama has been calling for a substantial recovery program, focused on public investments rather than tax cuts.
His chief economic advisor, Clinton's former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, suggests a "speedy, substantial and sustained" fiscal stimulus, at levels of $350 billion a year or more. A key question is whether the stimulus will be strategic -- investing in areas vital to our future, rather than in simple one-off expenditures for temporary effect.
On this Obama seems clear. The centerpiece of his plan is a down payment towards moving to energy independence and dealing with global warming. He'll generate green jobs by investing in retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, in modernizing the electric grid, in pushing renewable energy, mass transit, and retooling the auto industry.
He could also sensibly use the crisis to make college more affordable again. The cost of college has doubled under President Bush. Grant programs haven't kept pace. States have been limiting their support. Students have had to take on more and more debt to pay the bill.
Now in the crisis, all will get much worse. Tuition and costs are increasing, as states cut even more costs. Teachers are getting laid off; construction projects stalled; class sizes will increase. As private lenders abandon the student loan area, loans are still available -- but the costs and debt burdens are likely to rise.
For this country to prosper as a high wage society in a global economy, we will need greater education for students, particularly in the skill oriented community colleges that are being hit hardest in the downturn. Obama would be wise to raise Pell grants -- the grants that go to neediest students back to the level they once were, when the maximum grant covered about 75% of college costs. That would cost $35 billion a year. The money would be spent immediately -- and it would keep kids in college and off the unemployment rolls.
Critics argue that the spending program should be temporary -- one-time tax rebates, or one-off investments that involve no long term commitments, and can be ended when the economy starts to grow. If we make a downpayment on strategic investments now, they warn, we'll have to find a way to pay for them when the economy recovers.
Exactly. The fact is that we've been starving vital public investments for decades. Just as conservatives pushed for massive tax cuts as a back door way to force cuts in government spending, Obama should be making vital investments as part of the deficit-funded stimulus as a backdoor way to strengthen the argument for paying for these investments in the long run.
A big time recovery plan for Main Street focused on the investments we need is one key element of the change we need. And one that President Obama surely supports.
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I always find it funny that people complain there aren't enough doctors. They would have more than enough doctors if they made it affordable to go to medical school. There are brilliant people out there stuck in dead end jobs that would love to get a degree, but cannot find a way to do it.
Horrible trade imbalance, titanic unemployment, education in the toilet with costs rising, banks failing, infrastructure crumbling, manufacturing vanishing..... Ladies and gentlemen, your tax cuts at work.
indypete... you know what's tragically funny about your post... all those symptoms are a byproduct of democrat policy. lemme 'splain:
HORRIBLE TRADE IMBALANCE: because of our affluence and high labor cost... manufacturers have gone overseas... (not a byproduct of tax cuts)
TITANIC UNEMPLOYMENT: uhh... our current employment figures are better than most of the Clinton years (which was hailed as a golden era)
EDUCATION in the TOILET w/ COSTS RISING: go complain to the teacher's union (democrat constituency since the beginning)... we spend the most per capita but have the poorest performing schools. It's not a problem of funding or of tax cuts.
BANKS FAILING: well, if you're talking about Fannie & Freddie... they've been democrat controlled for decades... AND they blocked any sort of reform or oversight by the Bush admin for years! (not a byproduct of tax cuts).
INFRASTRUCTURE CRUMBLING: umm... local & state governments are responsible for this... they've been misspending the money (not a byproduct of tax cuts).
MANUFACTURING VANISHING: hmm... complain to the unions - they make it prohibitively expensive for companies to do business here... no wonder they're going overseas. Not to mention high corporate tax rates - who wants to pay that when they can set up shop in hongkong for next to nothing.
The dirty little secret is that democrat policies do not encourage economic growth... their ideas don't work (progressive taxes) or are unsustainable (unions, social security, medicare).
The only way out of this financial mess is through tax cuts... oh
oh, the irony...
You used a lot of words to say what I could have heard on Hannity in 5 seconds... and it's not true there either.
What an appropriate name to go by "flossophy." Your philosophy is pure floss. Point one: manufacturers didn't go overseas because we are "affluent and have high labor costs." Manufacturers took their production overseas to exploit cheap labor abroad. Cheap labor makes the maximization of profit possible. They encourage immigration, legal and illegal for the same reason. American workers be damned.
Point two: Mark Twain said "there are three kinds of lies, there are lies, damn lies and statistics." Statistics on unemployment are so juggled by the government, they are completely useless.
Point three: Manufacturing vanishing because of unions? Corporate tax rates are much smaller than yours, if you are a working person. Reagan cut corporate taxes even further to "stimulate the economy" and raised taxes on workers' paychecks, particularly FICA,
Point four: Your ignorance of economics is as severe as your ignorance of political history. Tax cuts have NEVER, I repeat, NEVER led to prosperity. They lead to economic bubbles, which later burst. On the other hand, tax INCREASES, particularly on the dead-beat rich were 70% during the administration of Eisenhower, and the country was doing very well. Bush's massive tax cut for the rich did not result in capital improvements, or research and development. Not a cent went into growing the economy except by mergers and acquisitions (which usually result in job losses) and is a kind of bloat, a filling up with smelly gas, rather than growth.
You got it right Indypete
Need we Change? Yes we can...(can, what?) We are on our way to where? Slogans are nice if they mean anything.
Sammy: Slogans have their place, but the campaign is over...now the real work begins.to ''fix' this monumental mess. Yes..It will take a long time. .It took many years to get where we are. No quick fix here. FIRST..WE need to 'stop the bleeding' Yes..It may be painful, but we must follow through.. We all have to keep advised of what our 'leaders ' are doing. Write, call, e-mail them..whatever it takes to let them know we are watching, so they keep the PEOPLE in mind ! Bush / Cheney ( and others ) were allowed to have their way for too long..without over sight. THat is what caused the housing crisis. It must never happen again. Our kids & grandkids future depend on it. Regulation and oversight are necessary. We now have seen what happens when folks are left to their own greedy ways ! TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOES NOT WORK. FACT: If the middle class have money to spend..businesses' will THRIVE ! It's just basic economics..
"Critics argue that the spending program should be temporary -- one-time tax rebates, or one-off investments that involve no long term commitments, and can be ended when the economy starts to grow. If we make a downpayment on strategic investments now, they warn, we'll have to find a way to pay for them when the economy recovers.
Exactly. The fact is that we've been starving vital public investments for decades. "
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For crissakes! When are people going to wake up to the fact that linear time is a chimera? The truth is that the concept of gradual or rapid increase that has no ending or limit, has in fact, come to an end. We are all challenged now with expanding our vision of what it means to develop. The first thing we need to do is get rid of the term 'spending' when what we really are doing is investing. Spending is something you do to entertain yourself, investing is something you do to protect yourself.
It's time to dump the economists and bring in the physicists to solve our biggest economic problems, They could explain to our politicians, in concrete terms, to starve our families of crucial investments is to starve the entire economy. Starving begets starving. This is a physical law.
The laws of physics deal with the physical world. There are laws governing the conservation of mass and energy and the equivalency between mass and energy. There is nothing about linear time being a chimera or about starving begets starving. Human motivation does not abide physical laws and that is where the economist comes in. They may not always be right but you cannot replace them with physicist.
Obama has already brought some of the change we need just by getting elected president. If he will be able to undo some of the destruction that the previous elected officials that hate government have done to our democratic-socialist-republic then that is icing on the cake. We need investment in people , not greed. Relying on the greed of some has proven REPEATEDLY to be a poor way to maintain the health of our economy and government since they cash out in the end and never give anything back as we are witnessing right now. What we need to do is face SOCIALISM head on and decide once and for all what the minimum level of interest our government is going to take in the well-being of all individuals in America is. I believe that just as security and emergency services, education, transportation, power, and communications are all socialized to some degree, I think health should be completely nationalized. There could not be a faster way to lessen the burden that ALL companies in America are faced with when seeking employees. Let the administrators that have made a mess of everything look for jobs while the blue-collar folks can get back to it because it is cheap enough to hire them again.
Daddyboy Obamas' election has already brought changes. And yes..Deregulation and greed caused most if not all of this huge mess ! Reagan, ( trickle down ) Then Bush & Cheney pushed deregulation to its limits...now we pay the price for their lack of leadership ! However..if we nationalize health care..many are afraid of it's the huge price tag, and have concerns that the govt will waste billions due to mis-management and fraud, as is usually the case. Canada has it's problems with their health care program, such as lower quality care,and long waits for surgeries.. What say all of you on that subject ?
I have to agree with some of the reasoning about these picks. Obama wants experienced people. In Bill Clinton's early years he suffered setbacks by NOT picking experienced people. Now, if Obama is to pick people with experience, who could he pick but people who have worked with Clinton? We would certainly not want him to pick Bush's people! Or Bush sr/ Reagan People!!! Not too many Carter folks around. So he picks from what he can.
And, as many have noted, Clinton ended up being a domestic success. These picks are people who helped Bill Clinton balance the budget and create jobs. Hardly "a terrible crowd."
On the other hand. Many of the Economic picks are from the school - and some directly responsible for - that led to our current troubles. And that is at least a serious issue that ought to raise some skepticism.
And with regard to Foreign policy? The security team is made up of a number of people who are a bit "hawkish" and supported the Iraq invasion.
Nevertheless, Personally need not dictate policy and the person ultimately responsible for Policy is Barack Obama himself.
At this point all we can see is that Obama's agenda still sounds reformist and progressive - despite his hedging, qualifying, and compromising several campaign promises - and his team is intelligent and qualified.
I think we just have to wait and see how they work together and how he works with them.
Let's hope for the best!
http://mattwion.blogspot.com/
Good post. I think you hit the nail on the head on most of your points.
http://www.youspar.com/
My concern is that it is usually difficult to divorce experience from attitude. That is, function and philosophy are tangled together, and extricating the useful functional experience without the baggage may be much more trouble than it's worth, particularly with the egos involved. Bringing in the experience will often simply recreate the philosophy, unless carefully overseen, and Mr. Obama has a limited amount of time in each day.
A lot of the day-to-day stuff is civil service people, anyhow. Mr. Community Organizer should also be aware that there are other pools of administrative talent than previous government experience.
Does it strike anyone as ridiculous how much speculation is going on regarding the Obama presidency?
Many people seem worried that Obama has chosen a number of people from the Clinton Administration... as thougfh that period was some sort of disaster.
Might I remind people that during Clinton's eight years we added nearly 18 million new jobs... the Dow Jones went from roughly 3700 to over 11,000... the number of welfare recipients dropped from over 14 million to a little over 6 million which were mostly children... and we had a record number of people covered by health insurance?
Over the past eight years, the Dow Jones has stagnated... the value of the dollar has dropped like a rock... both now lower than when Clinton left the White House... the uninsured, the unemployed, and the welfare recipients have all skyrocketed... and we are stuck in two wars!
On top of that, we will likely have soldiers returning from the wars to find that they have no jobs, their homes have been repossessed and they most likely will have health problems yet to be discovered or planned for by the Veterans Administration.
Maybe it's a good thing that Obama has chosen many people who know what they are doing and have a track record of success.
I thought Obama was all-knowing. Do you mean he doesn't know what HE'S doing?
Where did you get the idea that Obama was all-knowing. This is the first time I have heard anyone use that term in reference to Obama. Maybe it is that fact that he knows he is not all knowing that makes him special.
The change I voted for is change from the Bush administration's redistribution of money upward to the most affluent; it's starving of basic public services such as transportation; and, of course, the arrogance, incompetence, and corruption of him and his henchman.
Change We Don't Need
Comments and questions:
Comments and questions:
“public investments rather than tax cuts” – A euphemism for tax increases and higher government spending. Government does not earn money, only spends lavishly and foolishly taxpayer and other monies collected. Reagan said it well, “Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.”
modernizing the electric grid – Will drive up costs astronomically. The electricity providers will not bear the burden but pass it on to customers while continuing as bloated industries with exorbitantly compensated executives.
Students have had to take on more and more debt to pay the bill. – Whatever happened with students working to pay their own ways through college?
class sizes will increase – A competent teacher can teach 100s, 1000s at a time. The military has demonstrated this for years and once served as a model for effective teaching and learning. If smaller class sizes are such a great idea would not one-on-one teaching be the ideal?
skill oriented community colleges – Community colleges were created to overcome the shortcomings of a Liberal-dominated, irreparably-broken system of dumbing down for the past 40 years – a generation – and to insert skills training into the system for students incapable of attending a real college or university.
Government may not be the total solution but the antigovernment sentiment that blames government for all our woes is certainly not accurate. Ronald Regan didn’t get everything right and the notion that government is the problem is one example. In the present economic crisis government is the only entity that can offer a solution. There are countries that have learned the importance of government and private enterprise working together. Government came to the aid of Chrysler back in 1980’s and that paid off for Chrysler and the government.
I had no idea Community colleges were created to overcome the shortcomings of the liberal-dominated ... broken system of students incapable of attending a real college. ??? Wierd!
The government really can't offer a solution... only the market can. Growing ourselves out of this crisis is the only way. Unfortunately, democrat policies tend to stunt economic growth.
So it looks like we're in for a slow recovery. Thank you, O-troopers.
You lost me at that reagan quote. A person that believes that the place they work IS the problem has NO BUSINESS working there. You don't cure a disease by throwing still more poison at it, you use an antidote.
Oh woe is me...woe is me. Young people attending college might actually have to pay something out of their pockets for their education. The sky is falling...grants aren't keeping up with the cost of tuition. Welcome to the real world. Somebody needs to show me where it is written that the cost of college should be borne by the taxpayer and not the student. Just another example of the liberal attitude and mindset demanding that the "government" pay ad infinitus.
This is a democracy. The people are the government. I guess there are a lot of people out there who don't believe that the competitive spirit, carried to the extreme, raises all boats. Lately it has been sinking boats and if it was not for government action there would be a lot more boats sunk, maybe your own.
I agree 100%. Same goes for our military academies - those students live off the taxpayers, then graduate and despise Medicare, social services, et al. Will someone please start teaching them the realities of life, and from whence they came?
Many of us who have had long professional careers worked our way through college, grad. school and paid our tuition by working 2 and 3 part-time jobs, sometimes taking a semester off to work full-time (yes, even in the Recession of the late 50s) when the only "aid" we had were scholarships and they were only granted if we had very high, consistently high, GPAs. After about 2 years in college we could borrow but only from our local (home town) banks.
It's time our young people grew up, regardless of political stance.
My dear, see my post below...
I have two (soon to be three-I start next week) part-time jobs, in addition to grants, loans, and a scholarship. I am working my way through school, as much as I possibly can-however, if I wanted to pay for everything out of pocket I'd have to go full-time and try to take as many classes as possible on top of that. I don't know about you, but I put my education first. Getting an unpaid internship is going to pay off way more than spend 40 hours a week at some big box store that will do nothing for my future.
Go tell the Wally-Worlds and Micky Ds of the world that they need to start paying a living wage, if you think that all college students should be working to pay their own tuition.
Fantastic post ! Keep up the good work, I promise it pays off in the end.
Oh, how convenient. Let's just have a college legacy program, so well-off folks like you can continue to be educated and dominate. You know, kinda like homes in America? Pass down the home, and the wealth, as an estate from generation to generation. Since maybe your family has done since what? the Civil War era? Revolutionary War era? But wait Quit, I'm confused...what about those poor Black families that weren't even allowed to buy decent, equity accruing homes in nice neighborhoods until, what, the 1950's or 60's? What "legacy" do they pass on, so their kids can afford college? Here in NYC, most minority students have almost no equity in anything, no way to establish credit to get better student loan rates, no real wage-earning part time employment opportunities....just one great big blank. And a gauntlet of institutionalized racism to run to even make it out of high school. Here, the sky IS falling, Sir. And those kids of today who can't afford an education, are tomorrows problems. Tomorrows prisoners and welfare recipients. Tomorrows drain on YOUR economy. I'm sure you're sorry we can't just deport them or something, but.....
I can almost guarantee your "real world" is 90210, while mine is "The Wire".
MrKINOKO, granted our history of treating African-Americans is despicable.
but.
Many would say that our government policies to right the wrongs (since LBJ) have done more damage to the African-American family by having the state take over the role of the father... a role which it is functionally unable to fulfill. Good intentions with poor results.
As a society, we should learn from these mistakes... not perpetuate them.
Admittedly, there is no easy answer, going forward.
I'll tell you some change we need -- we need to stop getting requests for donations with Obama's name on it for a little while. Let the DNC do its own asking for a while. Good or bad, it's leaving a bad taste in some people's mouthes.
Thanks for you input. I agree.
Not to mention the empty wallet.
The best place to post suggestions and critiques for the incoming administration is...
http://CHANGE.gov
Not unless you want to be deluged with minutia, irrelevant emails, and far worse, constant appeals to "DONATE." When will he stop this, and take control of his own people? We require people who have garage sales to take their signs down after their sales are over with, and politicians, too. I'm getting concerned.
Frankly, the pomp and circumstance (is there an Office of the President-Elect???) since November 4th really needs to go! There is nothing Obama can do right now that he does not have to do, and we need a rest, but certainly do not deserve more appeals from him for money! BASTA.
I wish these news people would just shut up and stop speculating! Please give the President-elect an opportunity to do what is necessary. It took a while to get in this mess and it is going to take a longer while to get out - it took 8 years to create this travesty and it is going to take longer than 4 years to get us out.
Unfortunately, President Obama will probably only have 2 years to make some sort of progress or we may see the majority flip back to the GOP...
Michale.....
that will not happen ever again on the watch of the sane/progressive people of the WORLD!
I hope that it is not so tha the Reps get back in. If they do, we are doomed as a coutnry!
Um thats 16 years bub, ninja loans belong to clinton, so does enron, and day trading.
I voted for President-Elect Obama because I trust him. I get so tired of the naysayers. We should sit back and give him a chance to put his plans to work instead of critiquing every cabinet member he selects. I believed in him on election day and will continue to do so until I see him going in a different direction. We need to pray for him and our country, and give him a chance to complete his cabinet selections. President-Elect Obama will be one of the best presidents we've had in a very long time.
Because prayer and faith worked so well with the last president.
And prayer and faith will work just as well or even more so with this President-elect because contrary to what you and others may think he is a man of faith. It is God who is keeping this man strong and he knows it.
The prayer and faith associated with Doublya and his cronies had nothing to do with genuine or pure religious or spiritual beliefs. It was a complete phony baloney bunch manipulation and calculation that was used to put rings in the noses of the Evalgelical voters who were then herded like cattle and convinced to vote for a president that could have cared less about them. One of the biggest boondoggles of recent history.
The kind of prayer and faith "Politocojunkie" is talking about just might do some good--you know, universal prayers and faith from all people of all religious and spiritual paths all over the world.. Just might be the perfect antedote for the terminal cynicism that W and Co. has infected us with... Have we forgotten to pray and hope? I certainly hope not!
Politicojunkie, I agree with you in substance, but lions don't need to roar.
Rather than look at for whom President-Elect Obama's various candidates have worked (i.e. whose administration), it would be a better idea to look at how these candidates have performed their duties. Obama made clear from the get-go that there would be intelligent people on his team rather than representatives of a party. This, at last, is creating sane government.
So far, he has some of the best minds in the USA on his team. I am excited about the promise of our future. It may be long in coming. That's okay: I wil be happy to see progress being made toward it.
But we ARE looking at how these people performed their duties. From the Senator who failed to read the intelligence report before voting for war, to the economic tools who had a lot to do with removing the regulatory firewalls, to the Attorney General nominee who couldn't say no to pardoning Mark Rich.
It would be nice to have both experience and good judgment, but if forced to choose between them shouldn't the later take priority? Wasn't that the entire rational for picking Obama rather than Clinton?
Did you listen to what Obama said? He wants vigorous discussion, but HE will set policy. You don't get sound policy by surrounding yourself with a bunch of people who all agree with you about everything, because sometimes you are wrong. One thing you can say about these people is that they all are smart and experienced. We know from the campaign that Obama is smart and unafraid of taking unpopular and nuanced positions. It seems to me that you are getting the experience and the good judgement if you look at the whole package. And you'll note that the person with the good judgement is the one in charge.
Let's wait and see what the outcome is, instead of judging his decisions based on our impression of how they might turn out.
Your negativaty is crisp, and sparkling in it's clarity. In your mind, you have already doomed the presidency of Barack Obama. As such, that's your right...but don't try to spoil my high of Hope and Change, when it's readily apparent to anyone with sense that America stands on the very brink of becoming the second Roman Empire.
Senators who failed to read intelligence reports? Are you refering to the same doctored up intel reports that most everyone knew were bogo anyway? And if HRC, as a freshman Senator, had read them...and objected...then what? No more war? Or just another blackballed Democratic Senator? Do you read the instructions for every new gadget you take out of the box?
And are you talking about the regulatory firewalls removed way prior to Clinton by "Politicians" like Phil Gramm, Barney Frank, and John McCain? I don't see anyone speculating on them as possible Obama appointees...do you? Mark Rich? Who cares about him? I care about him about as much as I care about Willie Horton or Joe the Plumber...ok? Why don't you give it a rest for a while, and let the man complete at least 6 months in office before you start the denigrating? Please?
My guess is probably only 10-15 senators read the intelligence reports prior to the war. It is easy to criticize past actions but I think President-elect Obama will be able to disseminate his policies right down the line.
Go Figure!
Well said, Sunshine.
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