No where in your article (which I must say is the best I've read from you) did you mention the actual cost of these programs. We cannot just spend our way out of this economic problem. Nor can we tax cut our way out of it. We have an enormous debt right now and for Obama to just push through another package like this with a list of programs that stretch credibility for stimulus, we are being just as irresponsible as the republicans were the last 8 years.

What we need here is real innovation in ideas, something to break free from the old spend more or tax more ideology we have grown accustomed to.

I agree with you in many ways that a green jobs sector and highway development go right into the economy now. It's a good point but those are such a small part of this package. Many of these ideas are very hard for me to justify. My issue with it is that it's every single pet project you could ever think of in one bill. I think this is due to being stuck in that 'government must spend our way out of this' solution. We have to break free from this and look at other ways to actually *fix* the economy instead of propping up a broken system. If what Mark said is true, then re-inflating any bubble is only going to prolong the issue. We need to fix the core problems of our economy.

One additional point, there are two things Obama must do in 4 years. One is repair the economy for short term growth. This is not only for our benefit but it benefits him and the democrats politically. Without it, we won't have a solution nor will we have the power to continue with more tries to "get it right". Secondly, he needs to repair the economy for long-term stability. Again here, this depends on a short-term solution. Without a political victory in the short-term, we cannot hope to continue changing the system for the long-term. If Mark is right, then we have 20 years (or more) of changes to correct. It's probably not going to be done in 8 years and if the effects weren't felt from the 80's till now, then the effects from Obama won't be felt in 8 years either. Sadly I'm not sure this stimulus bill is going to have either a short or long-term effect we can see.

In short, we really need to get this right and I'm not sure this plan is doing it.

I hope she makes it through this and can continue to serve.

or O'Reily, Coulter, and Hannity.

They thrive off of negative publicity. Stop making posts about them unless they somehow matter.

Note I did not put Rush up there as he does sway a large majority of public opinion but responding with hate and disgust at any of them only makes you look foolish and no better than they.

I don't get this. I hope he doesn't do this his whole presidency.

You can't have it both ways Alex. Plus, robocalls are garbage no matter who uses them.

Looks like nothing has changed in Washington yet.

It's a GOP issue that plays well with voters. So it's more of a rock/hard place situation.

Just spending more money by the government isn't going to help politically and is it going to help more economically? I'm not convinced it will.

I have more knowledge than most about public policy and economics but I'm not confident that I could actually be sure of the correct course of action - but I haven't seen anyone else that is either. There are people on CNBC that seem to have all the answers, then there are the Fox news crowd, couple that with the public policy people and "economists" and no one can seem to agree on anything, which tells me that the solution is far from easy.

In any case, whatever gets the economy back to positive growth is not the final issue for me. My issue is that no one seems to be discussing how we got into where we are now. From what I know, it seems to have all stemmed from the sub-prime mortgages and predatory lending. Why are we not fixing those holes in regulatory law? Why are we not making sure that the market does not get us into another situation like this again? Where is that debate and why has it been largely ignored?

Getting the economy in positive growth is one thing but to me FIXING the issues with it is much more important.

That was the first time I ever heard him speak. All I have heard is nothing but good things about him and how great he is.

He sounded like a broken record and his persona was...just poor. If that is the future of the republican party, well they have a lot of work to do.

First time I ever heard him speak and made sure to watch to see what all the buzz was about surrounding this guy.

His ideas were just the same thing we've heard time and time again from the GOP and yeah, his speech and delivery was really poor.

I was not impressed at all.

I have a really hard time believing that rescuing people was hindered by lack of insurance on boats. That's the type of story that gets made up in someone's head and they rant about it to everyone. The key is adding the word 'bureaucrat' so everyone know's it's the governments fault, not anyone else.

Very typical of rants about government I've heard in the past.