News and Politics | February 05, 2009 | 48 comments

The action Americans need by Barack Obama ( a letter to you, from him)

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020403174_pf.html

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bansheewail
By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

.....The rest is at the link. I strongly urge you to read the whole thing. -Bansheewail
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48 comments // The action Americans need by Barack Obama ( a letter to you, from him)

  • beekay
  • cerealforeal
    • 0
      cerealforeal  

    • Economic crisis was planned, yall thought this was all a coincidence? The presidential candidate that wanted a voluntary standing militia got a depression in his lap. What do people do when there is no work to find? Join the military.

      Yes.... just a coincidence that right when the financial crisis has made huge impact (3 million job losses?), the man with the plan comes into office. If it makes you sleep easier at night, then keep on thinking that it's only a coincidence.

    • 3 years ago
  • ocanada
  • Jenkins
  • sueathome
  • akamaial
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • sueathome:

      If I recall neoconservatives oversaw two recessions in two terms with the second surviving so long that it may be the worst and deepest since the great depression. Before that George H. W. Bush oversaw a recession and your lovely Reagenomics caused the end of thousands of small businesses accross the country while executive compensation rose to unparalleled heights. When Nixon took office the average ceo made around twenty times the amount of money as the average employee by Reagen it was seventy and under Bush it reached 500 and we saw the full shame of it with Enron and the 18 billion in bonuses handed out to failing banks on wall street while the nation bails them out. Oh and I nearly forgot your also the party and idealogy of do nothing Herbert Hoover. Congratulations!

      I forgot to mention that every democratic president in the twentieth century oversaw economic growth larger than his republican successor save Carter and that even despite the stagflation of the 1970's the combined averages of every democratic and every republican administration still shows that the economey generaly prospers under democrats and faves crises under republicans. I wonder why that would be my friend.

    • 3 years ago
  • courage
    • 0
      courage  

    • How is it the problem that people keep there own money.
      How does spending a trillion dollars we dont have shorten a economic down cycle.Economy is a cycle it goes up it goes down hard or soft it always comes back around this is political fearmongering to shove the socialist marxist democrat agenda down our throats before anyone starts paying attention. oh wait 52% of you voted for the goverment to control everything never mind Change and Hope baby change and Hope!

    • 3 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • courage:

      Because we had a major drop in the value of our currency over the last two years and this staflationary bust has caused our currency to begin to appreciate in a major way. As bad off as we are we have better long term sustainability as well as being in a better off situation to other countries with formerly good credit such as iceland and great brittain. China made a killing off our notes as a result and is in a bartering position with the rest of the world to cash in those treasury notes or use thier leverage with us to thier own advantage. Not the best situation but not the worst because it means thier success is tied to our own and they will continue to loan us money. Right now even with all of our combined debt it stands as a lower percentage of gdp than in Japan, Great Brittain, or other major industrialized nation as does our stimulus attempts. If the model of the depression holds we need to shift this deflationary cycle and stimulate demand thats why we need to do this. The principle is sound its time to discuss the execution.

    • 3 years ago
  • damnneargenius
    • 0
      damnneargenius  

    • Wow! This means I can continue to write in my normal relatively run-on style as I always do, because apparently the president does the same thing; only using semicolons as breaks.

      Kick ass.

      Regardless of what anyone wants to say good, bad, ugly or politically, I appreciate the fact that Obama is a communicator, since honest, open communication is the key to any successful relationship.

    • 3 years ago
  • metalcookiesxy70
    • 0
      metalcookiesxy70  

    • I must say he is a sort-of fair as being president so far, but we must urge him to keep improving, until we are competely satisfied with his decision makings..

    • 3 years ago
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  

    • I love how we rushed the first stimulus package under Bush through Congress so quickly and the money had no oversight. Hell i STILL have no idea where that money went. However, Obama's plan actually has oversight and MOST of it is going to public works programs to make MILLIONS of jobs and yet not a single member of the GOP voted for it in the House. The Republicans must live just to suck on the nuts of big business. Honestly its sickening.

    • 3 years ago
  • splattered_ink
    • 0
      splattered_ink  

    • I hope something is done. I'm about to get laid off. I need a job to pay my car note and gas so I can get to school and back! My college is an hour away from home. I don't want pity. I want a job!!!!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • blood77
  • Scarabus
    • 0
      Scarabus  

    • I've tried calling my senators' offices, but the lines have been tied up by Rush Limbaugh's dittoheads. I did send them email, and I did write a letter to the editor of our local paper.

    • 3 years ago
  • Solar_Wind
  • Bren589
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  

    • I think Obama's message needs to be about cost savings, job creation, and the knowledge that you will be safer if you do lose your job. Because these are very real affects of this bill.

      The health and education measures save money from state coffers freeing up states to expand hiring in the short term and preventing massive layoffs from State and local agencies and millions being forced off of the unemployment, food stamps, housing assistance, medicare/medicaid, and COBRA programs at a time when there is almost no hope that they could find employment. That would drive up healthcare costs for everyone else and expand the unemployment numbers even further forcing a longer and more protracted contraction of the econemy

      Many of his measures are either designed to bring down prices for needed services such as healthcare in the hopes that the increase in disposable income generated by lowering those costs, and the increase in consumer confidence generated knowing that there is a safety net bellow them will allow them to make the leap of faith and start spending again.

      Couple that with cost savings and job creation from the energy components of the stimulus package, twenty billion in tax credits for green energy production. Eleven billion in modernizing our grid. Weatherizing four million low income homes and you get a stimulative affect. You have long term infrastructure improvement coupled with job creation and long term cost savings creating disposable income

      With education in the stimulus. You have an expansion of the pell grant program at a time when student loans are at a standstill and families are sacrificing education or forestalling it. Thats a cost to our econemy that is hard to calculate but very real. It means more people in the unskilled labor pool vying for jobs that are already stretched to thier limit, which means more unemployment and a contraction of wages. It also means a great loss for our long term sustainability as a nation. Couple that with the job creation that occurs by modernizing 10,000 schools accross the country, and the cost savings acrued by making those schools mor energy efficient and you have a combined impact greater than the money applied which means long term stiumulus.

    • 3 years ago
  • DouginLA
    • 0
      DouginLA  

    • Now if Congress would just take the 110 billion in pork out of the bill it would be excellent. As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Obama has some good ideas, but Congress is still the same bunch of corrupt fat cats as always.

    • 3 years ago
  • velma3857
  • Saladin
  • drewsuf721
    • 0
      drewsuf721  

    • Thanks for the link, I was hoping to read this today.

      Woot! for a president who finally gives the educational system some funding.

    • 3 years ago
  • sickinjersey
    • 0
      sickinjersey  

    • 54321 obama you need to step to the plate. you are up.it is your turn . it is our turn.you seem a bit on the unsure side. i am not.make a move baby.

    • 3 years ago
  • frady
    • 0
      frady  

    • Obama is off to a rocky start. No matter what happens he is somewhat damaged politically by these opening blunders. He has nominated all Washington insiders for his cabinet, which I find disturbing. More depressingly, he seems to think that the American people have even a tiny shred of respect for the wishes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. He has the power to separate himself from these two idiots and should use it.

      Most depressingly, though, is his Bush-like 'doomsday is here if we don't do what I want right now' mentality.

      He can turn it around. At this point I wish he'd step back, take a deep breath, and start over on this stimulus package, writing it himself with his advisors. It's going to take years to dig out of this mess, a week or so delay is not the end of the world.

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • frady:

      Your point is valid but it relies on incorrect information and some faulty premises..

      First off, what is exactly is a "Washington insider?" People that are experienced in politics? What kind of person did you expect to him appoint? Or are you talking about those three corrupt motherfuckers that had to get booted for tax evasion?

      I agree with your Bush statement, but the circumstances are different because uh, things ARE really that bad.

      Plus, unlike Bush, if you sat Obama down and made that point he would probably listen and explain himself. Bush just used it as a shield for all criticism of any plan, be it national security or anything really.

      There is some criticism to be leveled at the stimulus bill, but if you agree with it in concept than there's not much that should be changed about it.

      Most of the criticisms Republicans have offered are utterly false, they just throw rocks at him whenever they can.

      It's true that there are some parts of the stimulus bill that are unnecessary stimulus-wise, but they're all necessary funding measures for the most part.

      Sure, providing money for education doesn't really stimulate the economy, but do you think that it's an unnecessary measure?

      I think the reason all this extra spending is in there is because Bush wrote this year's budget and Obama doesn't want to wait another full year before we bring needed aid back to programs like science and education.

    • 3 years ago
  • Scarabus
  • DoNotGoQuietly
    • 0
      DoNotGoQuietly  

    • It's a very intriguing plan that on the surface seems to work but unfortunately despite the president's flattering words to the public it's mostly temporary.

      Infrastructure projects end and businesses that don't work still fail despite the amount of loans that you give them.

      Educating teachers is great but you need to address that in it's own piece of legislature. The entire systems needs to be taken down and rebuilt. Public school was not originally designed to do what we ask it too.

      I agree with some of the items in the President's ideas that have been imparted into the new stimulus bill but it's too much. Spending tax payer money to boost a failing economy is like screwing someone to keep them from losing their virginity to someone else. In the end they were still screwed.

      Bad businesses need to fail. That way more efficient ones can rise up and take their place. That's how free market enterprise basically works. There's much more in it but I won't go into all of it.

      Stop spending my money on things I didn't vote for.

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • DoNotGoQuietly:

      Actually, spending on infrastructure is what got us out of the great depression. It's not short term if the infrastructure you're building also creates other jobs. I.E., you build a power factory, you just made jobs.

      The "market will take care of itself" is a tired out old dogma, one that got us into this mess. because if you believe that then you believe that government has no purpose even regulating or enforcing sane laws, which is what allowed this mortgage insanity t ogo on in the first place.

      Plus it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

      Duh, of course things will EVENTUALLY get back to the way they were. But if we did what you suggested? Expect to wait more than two decades.

      The market is only self-correcting force assuming ideal conditions, also known as a perfectly competitive markets and totally dependable consumers with not much debt and a strong reaction to market changes.

      We have none of those things in most parts of the nation, especially not right now.

    • 3 years ago
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  
    • DoNotGoQuietly:

      @ Saladin

      While I agree that this nation's infrastructure needs some serious work and i do in fact agree with Obama's plan(its 1000x better then the shit Bush made us eat) the New Deal is not what got the U.S. out of the Great Depression. The full scale mobilization of U.S. industry following our involvement in WWII did. Thats not to say that the New Deal did nothing however. It put many unemployed people to work and helped to beautify the U.S. The greatest success of the new deal was to give the people HOPE. Rather ironic given that Obama ran on a platform of change and hope for the future and is now trying to get another New Deal started isnt it?

    • 3 years ago
  • Scarabus
    • 0
      Scarabus  
    • DoNotGoQuietly:

      Setting aside the importance of the war (we have one of those already, and it it's obviously not helping the national economy--Haliburton, yes. America, no), the New Deal brought economic growth. Its worst year was 1938, when Roosevelt yielded to critics and cut back government spending. The New Deal helped those who were hurting worst. Not the Wall Street guys worried about their $1.2 million office remakes or their $15 million dollar bonuses, but the working and middle class people who are losing their homes.

    • 3 years ago
  • akamaial
    • 0
      akamaial [removed]  
    • DoNotGoQuietly:

      Actually, departing from embedded liberal economic theorem as the baseline of our economics since 1945 and embracing the neoliberal economic theorem in the late 1970's, and the advent of the Fair Housing Act (1968), the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act and then the final nail in the coffin was the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services. With virtually nothing other than token oversight by the Banking Regulatory Authorities, the FDIC, SEC, et al ad nauseam, the stage was set for the inevitable collapse of the national economic engine that had no one at the controls.

    • 3 years ago
  • mynameskelsey
    • 0
      mynameskelsey  

    • This is the type of dialogue a president should have with his people. Transparency is the change needed to restore faith in the government. Admit when you're wrong. Defend your policies. And let the American people decide for themselves. President Obama has restored my faith in the future.

    • 3 years ago
  • powerhungry
  • j_alexander00
  • powerhungry
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  

    • "In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive"

    • 3 years ago
  • unashamed_muse
  • bansheewail
    • 0
      bansheewail  
    • unashamed_muse:

      A new green energy grid would mean, jobs now and no power bill later. Our kids are going to laugh at us for buying energy. They're going to say, "What the Fuck Grandpa? Didn't the sun shine back then? Didn't the wind blow? Didn't the ocean move? You were so stupid back then in 2008. Let's go have a pic-nic. It's National Barack Obama Day."

    • 3 years ago
  • unashamed_muse
  • onechance
  • powerhungry
    • 0
      powerhungry  
    • unashamed_muse:

      If you took the money (1 trillion dollars) and gave each person that pays taxes in the USA. Each person would recieve 2 million dollars each. That would stimulate ANY economy. Instead, lets give the money to those who drove us over the cliff in the first place (The big banks, companies and govt.)

      Banshee, you are nothing more than an Obamite that would believe anything you are fed by that man. The bailout is ignorant! It was started by Mr. Bush.

    • 3 years ago
  • ocanada
  • powerhungry
  • Saladin
  • bansheewail
    • 0
      bansheewail  

    • Look everybody, a President that can complete a sentence!!! Hooooo ray!!! We're saved!!

      No seriously. If you want to understand the Obama Stimulus Plan a little better, read the article at the link. It's pretty plain language to explain a complicated situation. He keeps it "positive", as usual. He leaves out the Obstructionist tactics of the Republicans in Congress. They are clearly putting Power over People and the Party before Country. I hope you all see that. Don't believe the spin. If you have any questions please email me here at Current. If you would like to engage in a rational, truthful debate, by all means contact me. If all you have are criticisims and Rush Lame-baugh's comedic talking points, keep them to yourself. Don't poison my mind with that garbage.

      Bansheewail, over and out.

    • 3 years ago
  • KI4CLZ
  • onechance
  • Solar_Wind
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