In Yesterday's column, "Obama faces his Anzio", Paul Krugman describes how President Obama failed to act decisively and now the Democrats and progressives face disaster over the next few election cycles.
We are still suffering from the Reagan debacle of 3 decades ago, and we will pay for decades to come for GB. If the radicals that call themselves Republicans, get access to power in the midterms, and we get a president Palin in 2012, the sky will truly have fallen. The America that we believe is possible, will be lost forever.
1st, some notable quotes from Krugman;
Obama faces his Anzio
Yet there was a national element to the election. Voters across America are in a bad mood, largely because of the still-grim economic situation. And when voters are feeling bad, they turn on whomever currently holds office.
And challengers did well even if they had no coherent alternative to offer. Mr. Christie never explained how he can reduce property taxes given New Jersey’s dire fiscal straits — but voters were nonetheless willing to take a flier.
This bodes ill for the Democrats in the midterm elections next year — not because voters will reject their agenda, but because all indications are that a year from now unemployment will still be painfully high. And Republicans may well benefit, despite having become the party of no ideas.
His actual actions, however, were cautious rather than bold. They were enough to pull the economy back from the brink, but not enough to bring unemployment down.
Thus the stimulus bill fell far short of what many economists — including some in the administration itself — considered appropriate. According to The New Yorker, Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, estimated that a package of more than $1.2 trillion was justified.
Meanwhile, the administration balked at proposals to put large amounts of additional capital into banks, which would probably have required temporary nationalization of the weakest institutions. Instead, it turned to a strategy of benign neglect — basically, hoping that the banks could earn their way back to financial health.
Not only was the stimulus too small, but it was misdirected. Trying to revive a housing and credit bubble is doomed to failure and will drag all of us progressives down with this failing policy.
There are 2 main reasons why I believe Republican victories in 2010 and 2012 would bring disastrous and permanent changes to the U.S.
- Peak Cheap Oil;
Great Analysis of Peak Cheap Oil
The "drill baby drill" tea-baggers that will hold power, will squander our last chance to use fossil fuels as a transitional technology to move to a sustainable alternative energy economy. Fossil fuels, especially OIL as the main transportation fuel, is the life blood of our economy.
All indications are that we reached peak Oil production in 2004 and will remain there for several years before production drops at 3-5%/year there after. Each time we approach the peak production levels, the price will skyrocket and the country will be plunged into a deeper recession. As part of that cycle, unemployment will reach higher and higher levels, leading to the election of more radical extremes who can control the propaganda that leads the uninformed majority to do things we haven't seen since the 1930's. And we all know, nobody controls the propaganda like the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs.
- Global Warming;
We are rapidly approaching tipping points, in several positive feedback mechanisms, that will lead to major economic upheavals. Crop failures, super storms, droughts, forest and fishery failures, will all put major strains on our economy and will bring great suffering to millions of Americans. When people are suffering, they make bad decisions and fall prey to the demagogues who will lead us deeper into the abyss.
The President is in trouble, so what can he do?
- The Geithner/Summers team has to go!
They have convinced him to try and reinflate a dead bubble. The new legislation extending and expanding the $8,000 new home buyer program is a perfect example. It's a subsidy to the real estate industry and costs about $45,000 for every home that wouldn't have been sold without the program.
- We need a massive stimulus program that is aimed at producing jobs for a new economy.
No more new highway programs that compound our problems of Peak Cheap Oil. No more handing money out to states to waste in too numerous ways to count. No more tax cuts for people who should be getting a tax increase! We need solar panels (made in America), on every roof, more buses to transition us to the time when we can build high speed trains, wind generators throughout the great plains, retrofitting existing buildings for energy efficiency, a smart grid to transmit power, Research in batteries for electric cars and distributed energy storage, research in geothermal energies, bio-fuels, tidal power ..., demonstration alt-e power plants, and on and on.
But the jobs program should not simply be doling out money to private companies to supply these needs (at mostly great expense), much of it needs to be an FDR CCC type program where the government provides the jobs directly at a low, but livable wage.
- Use the new power of the Government;
We OWN several big banks! We bailed them out, and now we should direct (FORCE) them to loan to all the Alt-E startups that will spring up as we make it clear we are moving to a low carbon economy. We OWN a couple of car companies! Everything from now on should be a diesel-hybrid until we can transition to a mostly electric personal transportation system. For the reasons I stated earlier, I don't believe we'll get another chance, so use the power of the government to make the changes, no matter how loud the tea-baggers scream!
- Us the Bully pulpit;
Quit going around the country saying everything is going to be fine when we reinflate the housing/credit bubble, it's not going to be fine, it's going to lead to unimaginable suffering. Give the speech you should have given the 1st week you were in office. 28 years of conservatism, and semi-conservatism under Bill Clinton, has wrecked our economy, and brought us to the brink of an environmental holocaust. It's going to take a WWII effort to bring America back to a place of world leadership and admiration, and to repair the damage done by policies that benefited the most wealthy at the expense of our nation and it's future.
What can WE do?
Criticize the President for his lack of boldness and his attempt to maintain the status quo. Don't get me wrong. The President has made some great progress in health care and foreign policy, but at this time in history, it's not enough, it's not nearly enough. We don't need a manager as president, we need the strongest, most bold leader the nation has seen since Lincoln.
I have a firm belief that President Obama has the best of intentions, but his actions are timid and weak. Don't let this president fail because of his poor choice of advisers and our misguided praise of his every move. It is only through strong criticism from progressives like ourselves and Paul Krugman will we have a chance to convince this president to come forward in this critical moment in history and become the BOLD leader he promised he would be, and that we desperately need!