Obama’s vision will move U.S. economy into the 21st century
Monday morning’s NPR news broadcast had an interview with an economist from Japan. He relayed the experience of Japan during its own recent real estate-financing crisis. During this financial disaster, Japanese GDP dropped only slightly. Economic activity outside of the financial sectors remained active mainly because the government spent billions of dollars on infrastructure improvements. Unemployment stayed below 6% during this time.
Over the last several years, we’ve heard of the problems with our bridges, our highways, our country’s lack of adequate public transportation, the deteriorating status of our inter-city train system. And in many of our towns and cities water systems are leaking more water than they are delivering. Electric utilities have resisted upgrading their plants to include better environmental safeguards simply because they are allowed to resist. Access to broadband is limited both by where you live and how big your paycheck is. And the capital for alternative energy installations is woefully inadequate.
Later, I listened to the Treasury Secretary explain how important it is to give large finance institutions $700 billion perhaps over $1 trillion in order to keep them in business. It is unlikely that any of this money will “trickle-down” to those of us who do not frequent the corporate board rooms. And of course this is not government money, but taxpayer money.
The Obama Administration will have an opportunity with a strong majority in a Democratic House and Senate to enact appropriate legislation to rebuild our country’s infrastructure. It will have the vision to move forward with 21st-century technology to solve these pressing problems. We will see how irrelevant the Bush-McCain Campaign’s mantra, “Drill for oil in the Arctic national wildlife refuge” really is.
Charles A Nester Jr.
Webster Groves
With an Obama Administration, this country will go farther down the drain.
Obama was standing around with his thumb up his butt yesterday stuttering something about debates and had to be summoned back to Washington by the President.
Obama has allied himself with the same corrupt toads who caused this mess - Barney Frank, who has fought reform of Freddie and Fannie for years and still refuses to acknowledge there is any problem; Chris Dodd, who has fought banking reform for years while taking thousands in contributions from the same lenders who gamed the system; former Fannie May CEO James Johnson, who is a current Obama campaign advisor, took over $20 MILLION in compensation while running the program into the ground; http://www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/FNMSPECIALEXAM.PDF Franklin Delanoe Raines, another former CEO of Fannie and Freddie who left the program in disgrace after being forced to pay a 3.8 MILLION fine for accounting and lobbying report fraud. He’s also an Obama campaign advisor.
There’s nothing “visionary” about a potential Obama administration. Disastrous would be about the best thing you could call it.
“The Obama Administration will have an opportunity with a strong majority in a Democratic House and Senate to enact appropriate legislation to rebuild our country’s infrastructure. It will have the vision to move forward with 21st-century technology to solve these pressing problems.”
Sure they will. Believe that and you’ll belive anything. How will we pay for Utopia?
How are we supposed to digest some of this Demorat claptrap? Does the Messiah’s grand vision come with Rev. Wrong, William Ayers, Farrahkan and his mother ship plus a laundry list of socialist tenets? Or is Barry just bringing hot air for us to inflate our tires?
— JD
“With an Obama Administration, this country will go farther down the drain.”
Impossible
STL
Nothing is impossible.
By the way, how old are you?
Just to keep things in perspective; For the $700,000,000,000.00 (700 billion) Treasurary Secretary Paulson wants to spend on a bail out, you could give every man woman and child in the United States (population 306 million) one million dollars and still have $699.6 billion left over.
James R:
“For the $700,000,000,000.00 (700 billion) Treasurary Secretary Paulson wants to spend on a bail out, you could give every man woman and child in the United States (population 306 million) one million dollars and still have $699.6 billion left over.”
I suspect other Obama supporters are mathematical whizzes such as you. By my calculations, you could give every man woman and child in the United States about a dollar and 30 cents to have $699.6 billion left over. That’s hardly within eyeball range of one million dollars each.
Mr. Nester, I applaud you on such an upbeat, optimistic letter. I, too, echo your hopes for the future president and his adminitration.
Charles A Nester Jr.;
“The Obama Administration will have an opportunity with a strong majority in a Democratic House and Senate to enact appropriate legislation to rebuild our country’s infrastructure. It will have the vision to move forward with 21st-century technology to solve these pressing problems.”
This is an extremely optimistic vision of the Obama Administration. I have a more realistic view, I see Obama sitting in the Oval Office in a powder blue sweater telling us to turn our thermostats down, and air up our tires, not necessarily in that order. I see stagflation with a misery index that includes unemployment at 8 percent and inflation at 13.5 percent. The Big Oil windfall profits will go far in buying shoe leather but other methods of transport will be more limited.
Some attention must be paid to the President’s security so the Secret Service will be armed with fishing boat oars to disable swimming killer rabbits, with prejudice.
We’ve seen it all before and it ain’t 21st Century, it’s 1978 all over again.