Government

Photo Source: Clipart.com

Well it has happened. We have a new president and he is really trying to do something instead of sitting on his duff and taking care of his rich buddies, while screwing up world relations to a fare thee well. The new president, President Obama has announced that there will be no more free lunches for corporations. They will be helped, but and it is a very big BUT, the money that they are lent will be supervised very carefully, probably more carefully than any money the federal government as ever lent out. President Obama wants to make sure that the money is used in such a way that it will ultimately benefit the citizens of this country. As of the writing of this article, on January 28, 2009, he has already made nice to the House and Senate Republicans, trying to foster unity on passing a bill that will provide funds for things like Medicaid money to strapped states, aid for schools and aid for citizens by issuing rebates and making tax cuts.

Unfortunately his pleas are falling on deaf Republican ears. Most of them are trampling each other trying to get out of the shadow of former President George Bush. All of a sudden we have a scenario that mirrors Germany after World War Two, when every German that was asked if they supported Hitler said no and he was a bad man. I am not saying President Bush was Hitler, but I am saying that if you would listen to the Republican members of the House and Senate, no one supported him. Hey guys give me a break, the American public is far to sophisticated to buy that stuff anymore. Most of them, if not all, want their ideas to take precedence. They don't want rebates, they want tax cuts which mean that the poorest segment of our society would get nothing. I have to hand it to President Obama who had told them that HE was now the President.

The stimulus package calls for a whopping 825 billion dollars. It is absolutely the biggest money bill ever. The idea as I am sure you all know, is to get as much money into the hands of people as possible in the shortest period of time. It is thought that when this money is spent, it will help make business healthier and create jobs. It will also increase the deficit. Here is the thing that none of the Republican members of congress are mentioning, as they criticize the amount of the bill, the fact that I am talking about is how Bush increased the deficit to Trillions of dollars already and those dollars that came out of the tax payers pockets weren't geared to help anyone except the fat cats. One of the companies that received a large amount of money was getting a new corporate jet and refused to cancel it, until the government put pressure on them yesterday. On top of this, nine out of ten of the CEOs that led their companies to the edge of ruin are still at the helm.

Will building new schools and improving the quality of the teachers help this country? What do you think? Currently we are falling behind some countries in education. Just look at China and how many doctorates they are pumping out, it would blow your mind. We have to stay at least even with everyone else if we want to be a competitive force in the world. For years American colleges have been at the forefront of education and are respected the world over, but they are getting too expensive for the average Americans to attend. Will some of the money for education be used to make it easier for the average person to get a college education without mortgaging their souls? I was led to believe this after listening to one of President Obama's speeches. If this is the case I am all for it. What good are expensive colleges if we have crumbling grammar and high schools and the only ones that can afford to go to them are foreign students?

States are so strapped that they are failing to meet their Medicaid commitment and they will be helped with aid as the administration looks over the whole Medicare/Medicaid System to try and eliminate waste, fraud and such. It could turn out that the end result might be a leaner. meaner system that will cost a lot less. Let's hope that prosecutions are made and much of the fraud eliminated. There are real problems in this area. As I am fond of saying, check when someone died and if there is a bill by a medical person for services after that date, prosecute them. It is time that this kind of thing was nipped in the bud. Another area is charging for services that were never performed. There is an awful lot of that going on to. A lid has to be put on the drug companies. Some of the insurance companies have dropped some drugs as of January 1, 2009. The prices for drugs are an outrage. When a 30 day supply of Nexium costs $550, something is wrong, very wrong. This is also far from being the most expensive drug. Some of those cancer drugs are thousands of dollars. President Obama has promised to reduce premiums for medical insurance, let's see if he can actually accomplish this.

I can not figure out why some people think that initiating a New Deal type of program, to put people back to work is a bad thing? President Roosevelt pulled this country out of the great depression by creating millions of jobs. He did this by building. He built dams, buildings, roads and even court houses among many different things. People were then able to get on their feet. They started spending money and this created new companies and expanded old ones, which in turn helped the economy grow and made us one of the mightiest countries in the world. We had an economy second to none and we were even able to bail out Europe after World War Two. Rush Limbaugh told Hannity, the newscaster, that if we get a national health care program that will be the end of the country. Sure why should he care, he makes $400,000,000. He doesn't even need health care, medical bills are pocket change to him. His contract runs through 2016.

Here we have a chance to make America great again. We have a president who wants us to be great and citizens who need the essentials. One way to become great is not by war, but by making the U.S. the very best place to live on this planet. We are capable of doing this again, we just need a chance and this may be it. We won't know if we succeed for a few years at least, but we will begin to see signs, signs of things improving, if this plan works. Let's all get together both Republican and Democrat and try and improve the lot of our citizens, who have been battered and beaten, but are not down for the count yet.