A real stimulus: "Replace the smell of decay with the smell of construction."
Does Obama deserve any credit for stabilizing the economy? Does he even want to take credit for it yet?
I say maybe not. There is still no job creation. So although a great depression was avoided, this is not the time to sit back. Now that we've leveled off, let's build!
Shep Smith of Fox News challenging Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) on why the public option will allow for the type of reform that the country needs. Why is this notable? Well, Shep Smith is from Fox News. Fox News' general stance on the public option (which they call the "government run option") appears to be going against the effort (link here and link here - Youtube). Upwards of 60% of the country is in favor of the public (non-profit) option. Apparently Shepard Smith agrees.
Watch the exchange below:
Here's a key exerpt from the exchange:
SMITH: "Over the last ten years health care costs in America have skyrocketed. Regular folks cannot afford it. So, they tax the system by not getting preventative medicine. They go to the emergency room in the last case and we all wind up paying for it. As the costs have gone up, the insurance industry's profits, on average, have gone up more than 350%. And it is the insurance companies which have paid, and who have contributed to Senators and Congressmen on both sides of the aisle to the point where now we cannot get what all concerned on Capitol Hill seem to believe and more 60% of Americans say they would support, which is a public option. This has been an enormous win for the health-care industry, that is an unquestioned fact. But I wonder, what happens to the American people when we come out with legislation now which requires everyone to have health care insurance -- or many more people -- but does not give a public option? Therefore millions more people will have to buy insurance from the very corporations that are overcharging us, and whose profits have gone up 350 percent in the last ten years. It seems like we the people are the ones getting the shaft here. ... But with every vote against the public option is a vote for the insurance companies, sir, it is." (Huffington Post)
Amid a number of battles the U.S. finds itself in the trenches of (foreign efforts, health care reform, drug law reform, big pharma, etc.), the questions swirling around the country's economic solvency have started to bring focus away from the symptoms and closer to the root. The place of Capitalism within our Democratic fabric is now within the cross-hairs of filmmaker Michael Moore. Closing in on the opening day of his new film "Capitalism: A Love Story", the filmmaker is making his rounds on the television interview circuit (links below).
Sept. 30, 2009, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted down two Health Care bill amendments proposed by Sen. J. Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) [in above photo]. (Link from NY TIMES)
Proponents of the public option are still optimistic--despite the 15-8 and 13-10 votes against--that the final Bill will include it. Four of the five Bills throughout the House include a public option. Opponents of the public option remain poised to defeat it.
"Politics" is a tricky game. But it is, at the end of the day a Game. Like any other game, there are rules and a way to play. Strategy, planning, oscillating pressure, utilizing your tools (the media and yes, the public) in order to score, playing defense and offense, training, practice, success and failure. Understanding the game without playing it, however, is where most of us get lost.
No matter what side of the political aisle you stand, this blog is designed to make sense of the game--or at least attempt to make sense of it.
One principle of the Politics game remains true here. You need a team. By reading this blog, you and I are now teammates. Let's learn and let's grown.
Welcome, to Poli-Babble: Where Politics, Policy and Law make sense...Sort of.
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