… an unwillingness to actually use government power to do anything but bail out private interests. It’s one thing to save the bankers and stock brokers from themselves, allowing most of them to stay rich. America’s elites understand that sort of action. But what really needs to be done, which is to bring insolvent firms under government stewardship and either wind them down or reinflate them, goes against everything the past thirty years has stood for. It’s just not the sort of thing neoliberals and neoconservatives, with their touchingly childlike faith in “free” markets, believe in, understand or can even seriously consider

Ian Ian Ian, how do you continually write such brilliant stuff?

I think that with a Democratic presidency to go with the Dem Congress there’s a chance for a new start (of sorts). The current Congress is showing it can get things done, so long as the Repubs are harnessed to bad polls. If there’s a Dem president this horse & buggy could really zip along.

That means the question is whether they’ll have the right instinct for the kinds of things you’re suggesting. Will they invest ONLY when it’s needed? Will they let banks fail instead of ’saving’ them for perpetual insolvency? Will they invest in people with a health care reform we can believe in? Will they do productive things in a largely bipartisan manner that will hold up for the long run?

Time will tell, but I think Congress is pretty much there, so we’re sorta waiting for Pres. KoolAid.

Don’t get me started on that…

But… Keeping the banks from going belly-up, allowing the rich to remain rich (gawd blessum, inclu. some relatives I won’t name), but not addressing health care gap and, seriously, the bridges are either failing or about to in many places. I could take you on a tour that would make you park your car forever…

I absolutely LOVE your emphasis on public transportation. Ohio lags shamefully in this area, yet seems intent on covering umpteen trillion square miles more with pavement which, as often as not, is substandard and starts crumbling from day 1, thus astronomically worsening multiple problems from pollution to loss of green-space, pollution, run-off rather than replenishment of moisture, over-flowing sewage treatment plant(s?) (Akron plus), fouling of the Great Lakes, soot-filled air, etc. etc.

Thank you much for your stab at part of the problem which, unless pols and everydayfolk start taking these problems seriously and doing something to back away from the brink.

Yes, Voinovich thinks we oughtta keep firing up OH’s filthy coal plants more & more. Perhaps our quest for improvement could involve concerted efforts to find replacements for some like him, truly.