Thoughts on Stimulus and Economic Status.

I hope Obama is doing what I think he is. So far he’s only let out 11% of the stimulus money to the states. Which in my view is brilliant, let out a portion of the money and monitor its usage. Why? You ask, in this time of fiscal crisis. To prevent the all too common wasteful spending associated with our federal and state government. This money is intended to be spent on projects that will stimulate our economy, hence the name. Much of the 11% has not even been used and good portion of the rest was used to offset state deficits. It seems as if the president was aware this might happen and set up the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board as a watchdog for the use of Recovery Act funds. If they follow through with their mandate, soon, we should start seeing some strong arming by the administration on governors and state legislators to start spending the money in the best interest for economic recovery or future stimulus monies might be withheld.

Newly created sites like Recovery.gov and Fedbizopps.gov are providing a level of transparency and attempted efficiency yet seen in our Government. If you look beneath all the sensationalized news reports and articles there really seems to be an underlying reconstruction of our governmental operations. Sure, Obama will make a few missteps along the way (already made a couple) but I’m willing to stick with him if he believes the majority of what comes out of his mouth and he stays dedicated to untangling the mess of bureaucracy, corruption and outright wastefulness that we are all too used to.

I must remind everyone that we are a representational government, meaning we pick our representatives. If you don’t trust the government or think it does a lousy job, then that is a direct result of you or your fellow citizens who are not paying enough attention or getting involved. Unfortunately due to the lack of true journalism left in our major news outlets and their resulting corporate interest corruption, it has become increasingly hard to find the facts, which would lead to rational thinking and problem solving. Now were blessed with this constant tit for tat, back and forth bullshit that calls itself news. Stop being sheep and search for the facts you’ll be surprised people. If it helps try to think of our government as a giant nonprofit who’s mission is only to protect and serve its citizenry. It’s efficiency and its overall usefulness relies on all of us to pull our heads out and pay attention. I seem to hear this constant drum beat of “let the free market decide”. This seems truly naïve that we would base our social welfare decisions on an economic philosophy which relies on how successful a business is in attracting customers and making a profit. Really WTF people?!!!


It’s way too early to be so squirelly.
So sit back, relax and sorry if you have to pay a little extra tax.
Give this thing called change a chance.
You just might find your lives truly enhanced.