Barack Obama has a unique opportunity to be another FDR at a time when America needs a new deal to sustain itself. He has not enjoyed a good economy for a reason. The Republican/fiscal conservative agenda has hollowed out and weakened our economy. America cannot continue to be a great economy with a pyramid economy. It has to be changed. That is the reality.

Obama has a choice to deal with reality or ignore it, presumably because it’s just too difficult politically to do so. But those are his only two choices, There isn’t a middle way. Either you bail out the financial economy and say to yourself “mission accomplished,” until the next financial crisis. Or you bail them out, scrap the too big to fail doctrine, and get busy rebuilding the American economy by enacting climate change legislation and single payer universal health care, generous public financing of higher education, and serious systematic reduction of the national debt.

It’s up to Obama to choose the economically progressive path, and to get the necessary votes, and to mete out appropriate punishment for those who fail to vote in support of his initiatives. Let’s hope that Franken gives Obama a boost in the right direction.

http://online.wsj.com/article/…..inion_main

The problem is indeed the virtually unstricted free flow of money from corporate America into the halls of Congress. Campaign finance reform is required to stem that, so Congress won’t be dependent on lobbyists for financing their increasingly expensive campaigns.

http://www.publiccampaign.org

Good morning everyone.