History is on Our Side

[louis c]

History is on our side, but most people who should understand, either don't or don't want to.

The same general Republican principal created the economic disaster which brought us to the edge of the abyss on September 15, 2009. Republicans, much the same way as they did in the 1920's, followed a philosophy of helping the rich. Tax breaks for the wealthy, redistribution of wealth to the already wealthy and from the middle class, demonizing and destroying labor unions and no regulations or oversight of the stock market or banks. I remember my history. They refereed to this as Laissez-Faire government. Enter the Democrats. The Liberal, New Deal, Keynesian Democrats. The same philosophy that our Great Grandparents, Grand Parents, or Parents revered. They did not turn it around overnight. It took years. Barack Obama is the heir to this philosophy and we all should realize it.

Sweeping changes. Roosevelt took us off the gold standard, ran deficits, created the WPA, the FDIC to save banks, Social Security to save pension, unemployment benefits to feed the hungry. He followed Jon Maynard Keynes' philosophy when questioned about, "how do we pay off this debt in the future?" Keynes answered, "In the future, we're all dead". The translation of Keynes is this. If your family is starving now, and you must eat to live and you must borrow to buy food, borrow the money to survive, then worry about how to pay. We've done it before during great calamities and we'll do it again.

The problem is the very people who will benefit the most from what President Obama is doing are his harshest critics. They want him to accomplish in 8 months what FDR did in 8 years. Many in the right wing Media are setting the bar so high that Obama appears to be failing, when in reality, he's succeeding.

While some lament the fact that the stimulus package will not prevent unemployment from reaching above 10%, I contend that without it, it would be approaching Depression Era numbers like 20%. He always stated that it could create or save existing jobs. Saving jobs just modifies unemployment increases, it will not eliminate them.

As we approach the one year anniversary of our economic melt down on the watch of George W. Bush and caused by a Republican Congress that changed all the laws in favor of the greedy from 2001 to 2006, we have to point out that we, the Democrats, took over a patient that was on life-support and are now stabilizing it. We may have past the critical stage, but the patient is still in serious condition. We must, just as a family of an accident victim, be patient. Let's not heed the calls from the quacks who caused the patient's demise, but instead follow the tried and true formula for recovery, which is to put money back into the hands of hard working, blue collar, middle income Americans.

I'm sticking with Dr. Obama.

[louis c]

1. kick to stay alive

[jimshoes]

2. September 15, 2009?

You know something we don't? ;)
Just kidding, I suspect the date should read Sept. 15, 2008.