Jindal does his best "Ronald Reagan"

Bobby Jindal is foolish.

That is the nicest way I can say it.

In response to Obama's Presidential address Gov. Jindal said the following:



Governor that is simply a standard G.O.P variation on the Reagan Mantra: "government is not the solution, government is the problem."

Oh Really Bobby?!

Do you, Governor, honestly believe that the best way to create jobs is through income tax breaks? Do you honestly believe that the credit, housing, and banking crisis was brought on by too much government regulation?!

Look Bob, tax breaks will not create jobs nor encourage spending. Given the depth of this present recession the federal government is the only entity left wit the power to dish out the funds needed to create jobs.

My dear Mr. Jindal, the deregulation of the Bush and Clinton presidencies got us in this mess. Tax breaks - Bush's central economic "plan" - did nothing to stop us from getting into our dire situation, how then will they lift us out of it?

I understand you plan to refuse stimulus money. That is rather odd, since as governor you have quite a large say about how that money is spent.

Wake up Governor! Milton Friedman had departed from us; it is time his economic philosophy departed with from us as well.

Your tired rhetoric about keeping the government out of our affairs and helping ourselves out of this mess is absurd. One can sometimes pull oneself up, but not if one is drowning. Sometimes you just can't make it without a helping hand.

Fact and Fiction in the Stimulus Bill

Much has been claimed about what the stimulus will or will not do. Factcheck.org has a very good article for helping get past all the political bluster and looking at the facts of the matter:

http://www.factcheck.org/politics/stimulus_bill_bravado.html

Among the main points are the following:

"Obama repeatedly said the plan "will save or create up to 4 million jobs." Obama downgraded that estimate to 3.5 million once the House and Senate agreed on a less-expensive compromise bill. The projections come from at least three economists, but all say there is great uncertainty in their estimates.

Republican House members claimed their substitute legislation tops that, creating "6.2 million jobs." But their calculation is even more fraught with uncertainty and is not backed up by independent economists.

Obama said the bill doesn't contain "a single earmark." But whether one calls them "earmarks" or not, the Senate certainly added items that will benefit particular states. For example: $50 million for programs under the California-Bay Delta Act and $500 million for National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Md.

Obama claims that funds in the bill will result in "every American" having health records computerized "within five years." But experts doubt it can be done that quickly.

The president also says electronic health records will save billions of dollars. But the Congressional Budget Office says that even a decade of expected savings are unlikely to pay back the government what the government will spend on health IT

The president said the bill will modernize the nation's electricity grid, reducing consumption by 2 percent to 4 percent. That's optimistic. Industry reports say that a new grid could reduce energy consumption by up to 4 percent, but not until 2030 and at a cost much greater than the stimulus bill would cover." (factcheck.org)

Recovery.gov Launched.

How will the stimulus be spent? Well Recovery.gov is now up and running - it even includes graphs!

This is part of the Obama "transparency" pledge. Check it out and follow how the stimulus is being put into play.

What Obama's Stimulus got right

In this clip the benefits of the Stimulus are expalined:

At long last is health care reform upon us?

Despite the fact that the stimulus does not do enough for Health care reform, some much needed reform is included. In particular the bill calls for changing health care records to electronic form by 2011, saving a great deal of money and time, as well as creating IT jobs.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a good account of what the stimulus includes with regard to health care reform.

The GOP and conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh are appalled by the health care provisions in the stimulus. They claim that the democrats are using the stimulus to introduce federal government control of health care -- which they see as a great horror.

What these objectors are so worried about is the creation of a 15 person government committee that will oversee and evaluate data on what treatments are effective or not. The N. Y. Times has a piece explaining this committee, and it appears that the opponents of this committee are making much ado about nothing.

However, the state of Minnesota has passed a bill that will create a single-payer system in the state. I reported on this for Huliq News the other day.

Single-payer health care is greatly feared by many in the united states. They fear it will be inefficient and will give the federal government far too much power over our autonomy and health. But it has been forcefully defended by many, including Noble Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. And Single payer systems are hailed as quite successful in countries like France, England and Canada.

It may well be that health care reform is finally here. Let us hope that it is. Our system as it stands is broken. Health care is the leading cause of bankruptcy in our country, we spend 16% of our GDP on health care costs, and still 47 million Americans remain uninsured.

I hope that the provisions included in the stimulus and the bill in Minnesota are the beginning of much needed and long overdue real reform!