February 5, 2009 – Thursday

The Action Americans Need
Category: News and Politics

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.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We’ve seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

Every day, our economy gets sicker — and the time for a remedy that puts Americans back to work, jump-starts our economy and invests in lasting growth is now.
Barack Obama
The President of The United States
(Yea, he writes op-ed pieces too)
LINK 1

Barack Obama, yea that guy, wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post today, taking his message to the people. So, not only does our president apologize, he writes op-ed pieces to speak directly to us, the electorate.

He knows how critical this time is for our economy, and the future of our country. Two wars, infrastructure in the worst shape in decades, capital markets collapsed, job loses continue at record pace.

With all of this, the answer I keep hearing from the small loud obstructing party (GOP) is the same we have heard for the last 25 years. Tax cuts!

I actually had a Republican tell me (ok, he claimed to be a libertarian, whatever 😉 that one example of tax cuts that work was the Harding-Coolidge tax cuts of the 1920s. Never mind we found ourselves in the great depression within 5 years of passing the cuts. Look at the $1.3 Trillion dollar tax cuts of BushCo, and look where we are now. Look at the Reagan tax cuts, and the recessions we had both in his administration and in Bush I’s.

I watched Representative Barney Franks on Sunday remind us all that no tax break every fixed a bridge, never educated a student, never built a road, never paid a fire fighter, never brought new teachers to education.

Is the congress’ stimulus bill perfect? Hardly! But watch it when it comes out of the Senate. It will have a lot of things cut out, a lot more infrastructure spending, and will gain some support from Republicans. Those that don’t vote for it, well I hope they go home and tell their constituents that they fought hard to NOT bring jobs home, and did all they could to ensure that the rich get richer, and the public web that binds us together crumbles further.

I’m with Obama on this one. I did not like the whole tax mess with several of his appointments, but for the first time in 8 years, the president said “I screwed up”. Wow! There is change in the air, and if you can’t get behind it, get out of the way.

Peace,
J