Change?

I believe Obama represents a genuine attempt to create a post-partisan atmosphere -and- I see folks like Rush putting forward stuff like this in an effort to preserve the old order. Same goes for the House Republicans (lead by our very own, and very well tanned, Mr. Boehner).

It's an interesting bet they are making (and probably a safe one) that the current stimulus plan will fail and folks will fall-back on bitter facetious arguments of left/right. Then they can say they weren't any part of the debacle and the pendulum swingeth again.

Ya know: Dubya got popular in Texas; because, he worked extremely well with Democrats in the government there (who, I believe, were very much in the majority at the time). Then Gov. Ann Richards represented the epitome of partisan government -and- she was very popular. It was almost unthinkable that she could be beat. George did it -and- was going to bring his magical "new tone" to Washington DC, remember?

That didn't work out so well. I'm increasingly convinced that this two-party ideology has been carefully contrived to keep itself in power by squashing any such attempts at unity. And we've fallen for it, almost exactly: 50 / 50

I'm hoping that Barack has broken that cycle. (can you say: Crazy Eddie?) Unfortunately, he is not the Democrats in control of congress. He's just one guy, and my guess is that he'll butt heads with Pelosi & Reid soon enough -or- some 9/11-like thing will distract us all. Then it'll be back to the same-ol-same-ol.

That said: If there is any chance that throwing trillions of dollars at our economy would actually fix it, I think the plans put forward by Rush and Boehner have a much better chance of success. Frankly, the Dems really are outta their minds. Blinded by Barack's victory, they see no differences between different types of spending and these $$$ might as well be used to pay for all the little pet projects they've pined for over the years.

At least the "loyal opposition" is suggesting structural change -- for instance, lowering tax rates (instead of offering tax rebates). That kind of action gets folks stoked. They can plan on it -and- move forward with whatever business they're into. I'm pretty sure nothing like that is actually gonna happen. So, from the perspective of a businessman, there's no real long term relief to count on (and everyone just sits on their money -- using layoffs to hit the next quarter's targets and appease Wall Street).

The false assumption everyone seems to be going on here (IMHO) is that doing nothing is, in the long run, worse than doing something. And I believe it's the height of arrogance for our government to think they can fix anything. When was the last time that happened?

My plan would be to have the government back off completely from TARP and all bailouts. Use some of that trillion dollars you save for a program that genuinely helps people in the aftermath that would no doubt ensue (i.e. micro-lending programs, job training, food & housing assistance for the destitute, etc). And do a thorough overhaul of the tax system. Abolish the Fed, the IRS and ALL income tax, and instantiate the Fair Tax plan

Now there's change I could believe in ;-)