Recovery.Gov

I want everyone to know about http://www.recovery.gov so as many people as possible view what the United States government is doing with the money we put into it. In fairness, some would say that we are watching what is being done with the money that our children and grandchildren will put into it, but that remains to be seen. President Clinton produced surpluses during his administration and it's possible that President Obama and future presidents will do the same by the END (when all is said and done) of their tenure. Some people assume that when the government spends money, it all goes down a hole. If we are rational (Yes, I understand that that word is my judgement, but let us agree that being rational about politics and finances is a good goal.) about examining what happens to the money that the U.S. government spends, we can follow the trail and see if what we are doing is actually stimulative. That is, now that President Obama and his team have VOLUNTARILY created RECOVERY.GOV we can visit the site and see how our money is spent.

Some are not rational about this. They simply say that government spending is bad or more to the point, they don't want the U.S. government to take money from us in order to spend. They're like young school children who simply repeat what they are taught. (Did you know very young kids can be taught to do Calculus? They won't necessarily understand what they are doing, but they can be taught to do it.) It's fair to say that all human beings are fallible and that with human beings involved in government, mistakes will be made. But that is no different than you and me in nongovernmental activities every day. And, with a government large enough there will almost inevitably be corruption somewhere among those millions of people in government and doing business with the government. However, every day on TV or the net or other media I see and hear about people who are NOT involved in government who are committing crimes and that includes the crime of corruption.

Yet there will be successes. Let's look to praise the successes and correct the mistakes. Let's not expect the government to do nothing except tax cuts. I want better transportation systems and adequate police and fire resources and head start and better public education for kids and advanced education for those who take that path. I want better doctors than the one who squeezed my son's hand and knocked him out from the pain and sent him into an apparent seizure when he had never had one before. People who expect the government to do nothing (or to hardly exist, if at all) are building a (what's the opposite of spectacular?) fantasy world that they apparently want to live in. I think what they're doing is not helpful to their psychological well-being, too, and I guess in the United States of America that is their choice. But I sure don't want them to force me to live in their fantasy world which is really a nightmare for the poor and even lower-middle class. It's a pretty hard slog for the plain old middle class, too.

Hurray for Recovery.gov!

Now back to your regularly scheduled messages...


Keep walking!