Are we stimulated, yet? Let's recap: the banks continue to drown in the swill of toxic derivatives and bad loans, 19 million American homes now stand empty, and unemployment is rising rapidly. To escape this, even a poor boy can't join a rock n' roll band. At the same time, Obama is looking to jump start the next economy of green jobs and alternative energy resources.
The Senate continues to add on new gimmes, which bring the bill over $900 billion. And that doesn't include another gazillion for bank bailouts. Obama has been holding all today one-on-one meetings with Republicans to talk about gaining some bipartisan support for this bill. Now what does that mean--McCain and Kyle will be in Germany, conveniently missing the vote, Gregg has promised to abstain, and Minnesota lacks a Senator. So what is the real supermajority needed? You have 96 possible votes now. With a handful of Republican Senators--Snowe, Collins, & Specter, this should push passage over 60.
The bill is obviously too little to accomplish all the goals of the Administration. The Society of Civil Engineers claims we need 2.2 trillion in infrastructure spending to get our country up to snuff. Environmentalists claim that the stimulus doesn't provide enough to jump start the Green economy. States feel there is not enough to bail them out of bankruptcy. Those focused on the housing sector say there is not enough to guarantee against future foreclosures and to bring stability to the real estate market.
But we should all remember, there will be budgets to be considered and voted on, where some of these concerns can be addressed. It is also the place where Republicans can actually make principled stands as opposed to bloviate for their base. Also, there will be the defense budget, a separate item altogether. But some of the complaints like from the environmentalists do not consider the absorption rate in their field. Some of the "Green" businesses simply can not handle more federal funding without alot of waste.
Health reform may have a long delay. Tom Daschle was considered the only one who could have navigated the political waters and had the knowledge enough both to understand and explain comprehensive health reform. Even with a quick replacement, the odds are now against it.
Some of the economic dire straits can be cleaned up through regulatory reform and the passage of new laws on the credit card business, bankruptcy and bank regulations. A very major issue facing the Obama Administration is what to do with the banks' "toxic assets". Almost everyone of note advises strongly against the government having a "bad bank", which would hold all these liabilities. This would be presenting the taxpayer with the real ticking time-bomb, not the fantasy time-bomb of Fredo Gonzalez. Others suggest the American taxpayer should have stock in the various banks are determined by the size of the bailouts allocated. And people like me suggest creating the "good" bank and start lending immediately.
So let's move on with the show.
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