Paul Krugman has the audacity to hope (mostly)!

[BurtWorm]

This is the most optimistic Krugman column I think I've ever read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html?pagewanted=print

February 27, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Climate of Change
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Elections have consequences. President Obama’s new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy trends over the past 30 years. If he can get anything like the plan he announced on Thursday through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course.

The budget will, among other things, come as a huge relief to Democrats who were starting to feel a bit of postpartisan depression. The stimulus bill that Congress passed may have been too weak and too focused on tax cuts. The administration’s refusal to get tough on the banks may be deeply disappointing. But fears that Mr. Obama would sacrifice progressive priorities in his budget plans, and satisfy himself with fiddling around the edges of the tax system, have now been banished.

For this budget allocates $634 billion over the next decade for health reform. That’s not enough to pay for universal coverage, but it’s an impressive start. And Mr. Obama plans to pay for health reform, not just with higher taxes on the affluent, but by putting a halt to the creeping privatization of Medicare, eliminating overpayments to insurance companies.

On another front, it’s also heartening to see that the budget projects $645 billion in revenues from the sale of emission allowances. After years of denial and delay by its predecessor, the Obama administration is signaling that it’s ready to take on climate change.

And these new priorities are laid out in a document whose clarity and plausibility seem almost incredible to those of us who grew accustomed to reading Bush-era budgets, which insulted our intelligence on every page. This is budgeting we can believe in.

Many will ask whether Mr. Obama can actually pull off the deficit reduction he promises. Can he actually reduce the red ink from $1.75 trillion this year to less than a third as much in 2013? Yes, he can.

...

[KharmaTrain]

1. Simple Economics...

How few forget how not only was the government reducing the defecits in the 90's, but the states were also enjoying surpluses. The reason? More people working at decent wages meant more people spending, more businesses investing and more taxes flowing into the many government coffers. The big lie that only the rich create jobs or wealth has been a mantra that is about to be proven a farce as we've seen 30 years of economic disintigration that destroyed the middle class and has turned this economy into a shambles...the debt bomb has exploded and the economy has stagnated.

Dr. Krugman is a bright light in the darkness...and to expect 30 years of fiscal abuse to straighten up in a short time is pipe dreaming. There will need to be more bail outs and stimuluses to restore confidence and balance to the economy, but I feel a lot better knowing there's a President Obama at the helm than a McCain and Phil Gramm :scared:

[Captain Hilts]

2. We now have both houses of congress and the WH. We're two ahead of what we had in the 90s and 3

ahead of the '00s.

We need a few more senators, but we'll work on that.

[Myrina]

3. ... but those Dems "we have" must stand up to the obstructionist GOP ...

... and also not cave in to their own lobbyist pals.

It's time for everyone in DC to put on their big-boy pants and do what's right for the people of this country.
For once.

[KharmaTrain]

4. The GOOP Has A Far Worse Problem Than We Have

I've been pleasantly surprised at how unified the Democrats have been in the Senate. With the exception of Ben Nelson, virtually every other Senator has been solidly behind what President Obama is trying to accomplish. It's the GOOP that are having problems. All President Obama needs is to pick off a Specter here, a Snowe there, a Voinovich here and he has the 60 votes that all but shut the GOOP down. And they're already screwing the pooch as the anger on the far right is starting to aim at the remaining moderates and this rift could provide even greater dividends for President Obama down the road. If a Specter knows he's gonna face a far right primary challenger, he's not gonna give a rat's ass what McConnell says and see his ticket for re-election as voting with President Obama than trying to obstruct. McConnell has no votes to spare. Even Droopy Lieberman has been behaving...as long as the priorities have been domestic, he's been voting with the Democrats 100% of the time.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Yes, me too. There's no Sam Nunn there now. Or Chuck Robb. nt

[Captain Hilts]

5. That's exactly right. nt