So on the “What Now” subject: The economic stimulus bill is up before Congress this week and it’s going to have a rough time in the Senate. The House has the votes along party lines, but the Senate, well, you know the score.
If you’re like me and you live in a state with a rational Republican senator, email/call/picket his or her office (I’m thinking Specter–my Senator–the two from Maine, Voinovich…you know what I mean.) Harass the hell out of ‘em. Flood their offices. We need this passed and we need it now.
I’d prefer if we could get this back in, but Obama had to at least look like he was willing to compromise. If the Republicans keep stonewalling, we need to remind ‘em who won this election.
We all do a lot of talking and writing, some of it can certainly go in the direction of elected officials. If one of those people isn’t your Senator, fake some sort of a connection and go for it. State you were born in? State where your grandma lives? State you slept in once on an all-night booty call? Whatever.
Let’s do this.
I’m curious as to why you’re so gung-ho about the stimulus being passed, and right now. You’re so confident about every line item in it being completely up-front and transparent that you’re willing to have it signed off and put into play right this moment? I’m wondering what you know that noted economists do not, given their hesitation about it’s implementation. What do you know that Geithner doesn’t, given his hesitation to even give the smallest iota of detail, preferring to defer to the statement that it’s a challenge and has many moving pieces? A more proper response, I believe, would be for you to challenge your readers to go to the senate website and download the pdf of the plan, all 400 something pages of it, and read through it. If there’s something in there you (the collective you) don’t understand, THEN call your (the collective your) congress person and ask for clarification.
Signing things that weren’t understood or completely read was one of the reasons we’re IN this mess to begin with.
Even the NY Times has gone so far as to publish a warning piece on the dangers of doing too much too soon all for the sake of doing something. Exhibit A, Your Honor: Japan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/world/asia/06japan.html?_r=1&em
So you post me one article in which Republican economists say that Japan’s stimulus, which pretty much everyone agrees worked, left the country in debt? Um, maybe I’m missing something here.
The country is hemorrhaging jobs, and people without jobs cannot spend money. Our infrastructure is crumbling (maybe you remember Hurricane Katrina? I have friends who lost homes and everything they owned down there because the levees failed. Or that bridge in Minnesota?) and my own city, Philadelphia, is laying off thousands of municipal employees because of budget shortfalls, including firemen, teachers, and librarians.
I agree that we need to take a hard look at the banks’ structure, and re-regulate a lot of the credit markets. But right now, putting people back to work WHILE at the same time modernizing our infrastructure and making our country a safer, better place to live seems like a pretty win-win situation to me. It’s a hell of a lot better than doing nothing.
There’s, y’know, this: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/us/28health.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
and this http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/28/obama-policy-technology
and also this
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/opinion/09krugman.html
or this
http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/Crisis.cfm
and this:
http://bastardlogic.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/perspective/
I mean, yes, I tend to assume that most of my readers agree with me here. And if you don’t agree that public works spending is a good thing, then you’re never going to, I suppose.