hair on fire?

Okay, I did not watch the President last night. I'm finding little enthusiasm for politics in my psyche lately. It's bad enough to hear the 5 minute news summaries in the a.m. on KUHA though I do miss listening to AlJazeera reports on KPFT - my timing on driving to work . . . So I have little stomach for the ongoing chatter from D.C. while the country continues to be pummeled by lack of available work with liveable salary. However, is it possible we may be turning a corner of sorts - will the dialogue actually become about jobs and people needing work and less about deficit cutting (which mostly seems to mean cutting social security, medicate, medicaid, etc.)? Maybe a ray of sunshine falls with purpose on Paul Krugman's keyboard?

First things first: I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected. It’s not nearly as bold as the plan I’d want in an ideal world. But if it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.

Of course, it isn’t likely to become law, thanks to G.O.P. opposition. Nor is anything else likely to happen that will do much to help the 14 million Americans out of work. And that is both a tragedy and an outrage.
...

The good news in all this is that by going bigger and bolder than expected, Mr. Obama may finally have set the stage for a political debate about job creation. For, in the end, nothing will be done until the American people demand action.

what an awful mess . . .

Okay, I've promised myself to give the President the benefit of the doubt for a full six months, and I will continue this course because I realize I am not in a position to fairly judge day by day decisions until either there is a pattern (as there was early with W - a pattern of deceit and incompetence for the most part) or enough decisions have been made that it appears there is no real overall goal. Economics is not my strong suit. But, here is the person whose judgment I've learned to trust saying that under President Obama the Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem. This bothers me.

The Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won.

The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank. As Tim Duy put it, there are no bad assets, only misunderstood assets. And if we get investors to understand that toxic waste is really, truly worth much more than anyone is willing to pay for it, all our problems will be solved.

I'm not freaking out yet, but I must admit that I'm watching the calendar.

yes

Paul Krugman uses a different word.

Stimulus Package

Just a small voice to all the kvetching and moaning about the various pieces of the final bill ... I'm aware of some stuff I would rather change (let me be honest here, if Paul Krugman wonders if this is enough, then how can I not wonder something very similar......?). BUT, with the right wing publicly soiling their undies over this thing, it's getting stinky around here and it's time to see if this thing will help ... let's keep in touch with our local officials (mayors council members, etc.) about not allowing any of the $$ that may come their way to slide into some deep black wormhole.

Let it stimulate / let it stimulate / let it pour.
I don't want to smell your stinkin' undies no more.