Give it a chance?

Today, yesterday, and on most days since Jan 20, much has been publicized about the potential for failure of the President's new incentive plan.

Admittedly, the Republicans that oppose the incentives were against the ones of the past administration, and they were right in doing so.

However, the Bush/Paulson idea was to blindly give money to the big financial corporations, who took it and promptly used it to expand the very thing that I feel caused the collapse in the first place.

When I heard the other day someone whose name I failed to remember saying, "instead of using it as the administration intended, the banks used their money for acquisition or were simply 'saving it for a rainy day' ", I was truly hostile!!!!! How did it get to be "their" money in the first place? I really resented the terminology "their" money! It was money we paid the government for its operations to continue our existence as a nation.

Some of you may already know that I was extremely hostile to the George W. Bush concept, which seemed to imply that the purpose of a strong economy is to attract capital. Whether Mr. Bush actually believes that or not, I don't know, but he shouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it!

I was googling back to the year 1992 this morning, trying to find a written version of the statement that Bob Dole made in mid-November of 1992, which told the world that the Repubicans must oppose everything that Bill Clinton tried to do.

Apparently, obstructionism has become the norm among the Republicans, now. I can easily remember the days when I thought that good government required the input of opposing viewpoints, and compromise. I still believe that.

It appears though, that today's politics has become EXTREMELY partisan, and maybe it's come about since that day in 2002.

Do we all really believe that tax cuts, however much we individually love them, are the answer to a faltering economy? I really think that we've had tax cuts in the past, and where have they gone? Not to bolster the economy, but to save our hides from bill collectors. If anyone really gained from Mr. Reagan's and Mr. Bush's tax cuts, it's because they really didn't need them in the first place. I'd like to see some proof that either of them was benificial to the economy.

So, to get back to what this diatribe was supposed to be about, the $700 Billion giveaway 0f taxpayers' money did not seem to improve my situation any. Did it improve it for anyone else?

What if we just say, "OK, that didn't work, let's take some Federal money and put it into infrastructure improvements that are really needed". Too long have we thought that what we do today is forever, just as we think we can continue forever on an oil based transportation system.

I truly think that putting money into tangible improvements to our country can create jobs and maybe help to bring the economy up out of the gutter. I also think that putting money into enhancing the bottom line of mismanaged corporations will definitely not.

Let's give Mr. Obama's idea a try. It will do no more to indebt our grandchildren than an unnecessary war, or a corporate dole.