Proposal For the Future

Initially I thought that the house not passing the bailout bill was an unbelievable and terrible thing for the economy. Then I read the bill itself, available here.  I obviously know that not passing the bill hurt the economy today, but I am not sure the bill would help the economy in the long term.  It gives too much power to the Treasury Secretary and President, and does not do enough to help the average person.

The Paulson plan, as originally presented on Sept. 20, would have bailed out the institutions holding mortgage derivatives without doing anything about the underlying homes or adequately protecting the taxpayer, who would have been taking the risk without potential for reward. Congressional negotiators addressed those glaring omissions in 'round-the-clock weekend negotiations and announced yesterday they had reached an agreement. Both the House and Senate plan to vote on the proposal this week.

We will never know what would have happened without the largest government bailout in history. And it's far from clear this new New Deal will be the end. Surely there is a better way to dispose of bad assets.   Read Article Here.

I think that a New New Deal is absolutely what is needed.  A new WPA is what the country needs.  It will provide employment for the average person, no matter their education level.  Unemployment is at a dangerous high, even higher among blue collar workers.  And the country desperately needs to be updated.  The harbors, highways and rail system all need to be modernized.  We need to build new factories to produce green technology and products.  It seems to me, that it is high time that the government starts to regulate energy policy and promote public works and green projects.  If it worked to get us out of the Great Depression, it will work to get us out of this Depression.