A few months ago the U.S. economy was in danger of falling into depression. Aggressive monetary policy and deficit spending have, for the time being, averted that danger. And suddenly critics are demanding that we call the whole thing off, and revert to business as usual.-Paul Krugman (why isn't he on Obama's economic team?) on why the economic stimulus package should be given more time to halt the current downturn.
The President's regulatory proposals, announced yesterday, don't even come close to fixing the problems that brought us to the abyss. As Joe Nocera said yesterday:
...the Obama plan is little more than an attempt to stick some new regulatory fingers into a very leaky financial dam rather than rebuild the dam itself.Mr. President, I've given you the benefit of the doubt for five months now. I am still on board, but my patience is beginning to wear thin. I have friends who have already given up on you. My arguments that "he's got this" and "give him time, he's playing chess while the rest of us are playing checkers" just don't hold water with them any more.
You won last year's election by nine-and-a-half million ballots, with 53% of the vote, and your coat tails brought in extremely strong majorities in both houses of Congress. The Republican Party is rudderless and decimated. Please...quit governing in half measures and broken promises in order to placate the opposition. In the last two elections the American people demanded strong, bold, progressive action, yet your policy proposals are way too careful, extremely centrist, and pro-Wall Street.
Your approval numbers among non-affiliated independent voters seem to be dropping, sir. That would indicate to me that your desire to make policy proposals attractive at a bipartisan level isn't sitting well with them. The economy you inherited is the worst since the Great Depression. Don't you think such a dire situation demands bold, FDR-like action?
Without it, I fear any recovery will sputter and stall.
