Tuesday, February 17, 2009
White House Comments
Note: former whitehouse comment e-mail address, comments@whitehouse.gov has been taken out of commission. You have to use the form, www.whitehouse.gov/contact , but they have increased the size of the comment field to 5000 characters, so you can get in several pages of text if you need to. Everyone should take the time to communicate with the government regularly!
Banks and Economic Reform
"Nationalization" is a loaded word, as we all understand, but Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman, and Joseph Stiglitz are clearly correct that some form of RECEIVERSHIP for the biggest insolvent banks is going to be necessary, and delaying it will only make matters worse. I urge President Obama to hold a major conference within the administration, inviting the best progressive economists from OUTSIDE the Wall Street club that has infected the thinking of Geithner, Summers, Ruben, etc. and work out what it will really take to restore a banking system that works for the people.
In general, I believe that the president must realize that the current crisis will take BOLD, PROGRESSIVE reform, which gets our country back onto a production footing, reforms the financial system so that it is smaller and no longer a parasite on the production economy, and puts forward an agenda of multiple rounds of stimulus and job creation, since it is quite clear already that the Stimulus is a good start, but not enough. Future stimulation of the economy should not involve tax cuts at all; we can't afford them.
The Republicans, unfortunately, have made it clear that their game plan is obstructionism. The President must develop and articulate a major progressive reform agenda, and must take it directly to the people, constantly, and relentlessly, so as to make the people MAKE their lawmakers pass this agenda. Bipartisanship will not work.
[sent to new comment form (5000 char. limit]: whitehouse.gov/contact
In general, I believe that the president must realize that the current crisis will take BOLD, PROGRESSIVE reform, which gets our country back onto a production footing, reforms the financial system so that it is smaller and no longer a parasite on the production economy, and puts forward an agenda of multiple rounds of stimulus and job creation, since it is quite clear already that the Stimulus is a good start, but not enough. Future stimulation of the economy should not involve tax cuts at all; we can't afford them.
The Republicans, unfortunately, have made it clear that their game plan is obstructionism. The President must develop and articulate a major progressive reform agenda, and must take it directly to the people, constantly, and relentlessly, so as to make the people MAKE their lawmakers pass this agenda. Bipartisanship will not work.
[sent to new comment form (5000 char. limit]: whitehouse.gov/contact
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Don't "fix" social security
Dear President Obama,
I read with alarm where some in your administration are apparently transfixed by the mythology that Social Security is 'broken' and needs 'fixing.' Social security is not broken, and in fact is solvent with only minor need for adjustments in the future. Medicare, largely due to a generally broken health care system, is of course a different story. Please understand. The people who elected you did so in large part as a rejection of Bush economic policies as well as other failed and terrible policies: decidedly including his terrible, stupid plan to destroy Social Security. Social Security is a touchstone of stability and minimal financial security for ordinary Americans, and we will not tolerate any attempts to "jigger" it or reduce it.
Thank you.
David Studhalter
I read with alarm where some in your administration are apparently transfixed by the mythology that Social Security is 'broken' and needs 'fixing.' Social security is not broken, and in fact is solvent with only minor need for adjustments in the future. Medicare, largely due to a generally broken health care system, is of course a different story. Please understand. The people who elected you did so in large part as a rejection of Bush economic policies as well as other failed and terrible policies: decidedly including his terrible, stupid plan to destroy Social Security. Social Security is a touchstone of stability and minimal financial security for ordinary Americans, and we will not tolerate any attempts to "jigger" it or reduce it.
Thank you.
David Studhalter
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