Reply #30: Responding to the fully edited version :o) [View All]

(I tend to do quick updates to my posts as well, so I have sympathy)

I've already responded to the unemployment number issue - I don't disagree that the actual numbers are larger.

Yeah, ARRA helped me directly by subsidizing my Cobra, am hopeful that it was enough to turn the economy back to the + column.

Nobody 'liked' the Wall St. bailouts, though Bush did set this into motion and Obama chose not to 'disrupt' a policy that seemed to be stopping the freefall of the banking system. Did I like it? No, nobody liked it - but I gave the new kid a 'pass' on this as I can't imagine he had the expertise to deal with so many crises simultaneously (banking collapse, housing collapse (related), automotive industry collapse, Afghanistan & Iraq, Gitmo & working on ARRA - all on his plate right away - not an enviable position.)

As stated above, I'm not sure that he has had enough time to catch his breath and work on the injustices in our economic system yet. There was a reason that I mentioned FDR not passing the WPA until 2 years after the unemployment rate hit 25%. The President is neither a dictator, nor can he do too many things at once without losing focus on what is important - in this case simply stopping the free-fall was job 1. Will he make fundamental changes to our "way of doing business" in the future? I don't know - the political climate in this country is horrible - people seem to care more about 'teams' than getting anything done (nobody on the left or the right is exempt from this statement.) Look at my O/P again and think about how long it has historically taken to change things - this in a country that prides itself on being 'strong and stable'. We can help or we can be 'in the way'. I will try to help progress in any way that I can.