Much is made of the comparisons between 2008 and 1932, both in terms on economics and the tasks incoming presidents -- Obama and FDR respectively -- face. The smartest people are hoping for a replay of FDR's first 100 days, a time that saw the creation of the alphabet soup collectively known as the New Deal.
Indeed we need a New Deal for the 21st Century, and I believe Obama knows it. It is evident in his plans to create or save 2.5 million jobs announced in the wake of reports that we lost 533,000 jobs in November alone. what I would like to suggest, though, is that the Obama Administration gear up not for the first 100 days, but the first 100 hours. We need to work to have these tectonic shift-level policy statements signed into law before Feb. 1, 2009.
First, infrastructure investment is great, but define it broadly: not just roads and bridges, but cutting edge telecommunication and broadband, a 21st Century electrical distribution network (don't just think "grid"), high speed rail, and other common resources to make us competitive, connected, and greener.
Second, we must have a tax system that ceases to redistribute wealth upwards. Significantly increase the Earned Income Tax Credit. Set the Alternative Minimum Tax to about $400,000 and have it indexed to a realistic Consumer Price Index. Close loopholes. Remove the distinction between income and capital gains, and lower middle class tax rates so that retirees won't get walloped yet hedge fund managers will adequately contribute to maintaining the system that has made them super wealthy.
Third, we must unburden our small businesses of the expectation that they provide health insurance by instituting a totally universal single-payer system. Not only will this bring peace of mind to the families of 47 million in the U.S. without coverage, but it will make U.S. businesses more competitive.
Fourth, we need to take a page from the other Roosevelt's playbook and get into the trust-busting business again. If a business is "too big to fail" -- an excuse that has justified many a recent bailout -- it is too big for the market it is in to be truly competitive. The last good (nontechnological) thing to happen to the telco industry was the breakup of Ma Bell. AIG should have been broken up, as should many of the corporations we're bailing out. Throwing good money after bad is no one's idea of good fiscal policy (except maybe Henry Paulson).
Fifth, financial markets must be reestablished as mechanisms for capital to flow to enterprises that want to build on to our economy, not a derivative Vegas for the hedge fund guys. Maybe, then companies like GE will refocus on their core competencies, like, say, electrical and electronic components.
Sixth, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is vital, but it should be only the first stem in restoring the power of the working person in our democracy. Collective bargaining is a right of association and assembly, as outlined in Amendment 1. It needs to be buttressed by policy and law in ways that a future Republican administration and their pirate masters cannot disassemble.
Pelosi and Reid (or anyone else with a spine) can start drafting now. January 21 is a work day, as good a day as any to hit the disloyal opposition hard and reclaim this nation for everyday folks of every stripe.
Address the war. Discover how we got into the civil liberties/international mess we find ourselves in after eight years of Cheney/Bush and hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable. Restore Constitutional rule of law. Rebuild New Orleans. Design a car that runs on Diet Coke and Mentos. Ponder whether the lies Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath constitute impeachable offenses. Enforce subpoenas (subpoenae?). But all that can wait until March.