I'll agree he's in a box, but if Bush can totally ignore the idea that taxes go up during wars and spend $10 billion a month for Iraq, I believe Obama can ignore advisors that tell him he can't take on more debt to get the economy going.
Bush failed to fund a war, just printed money to fund it, his first estimate was the whole war would cost $20 billion.
If Obama wants to get started right, the first thing he'll do is make all Health Insurance plans available to Govt. Employees are available to all at the same price paid by the Govt. and the Employee combined. This is totally revenue neutral as this wouldn't pay for the insurance for anyone, but it would provide for insurance for all sorts of people who either currently are paying substantially more because of pre existing conditions, or who can't afford insurance because of pre existing conditions, or who have inferior insurance that they overpay for because of pre existing conditions. I really don't believe this insurance is drastically lower then those who don't have anything the insurance companies consider a problem can get, and people in great health may be able to buy better insurance cheaper, but many will suddenly be able to buy quality insurance at reasonable prices. I believe the American people would see this as a step in the right direction, and perhaps they'd follow the other changes he wants to implement as well.
The good news for many employers should this be done is they may find the Govt. Insurance plans are cheaper then what they're currently paying. Companies would have the option of changing to govt. plans which cut their medical costs, or they might find their current insurance is willing to cut rates to be competitive with govt. plans.
As I stated earlier, if Obama and a Democratic Congress fail to act positively in the first two years we could have a second Republican Revolution 2 years later. I want to see the Democrat's succeed, but if they do what they did the first two years of the Clinton Administration they'll deserve what they get.
Gary |
