Despite a lack of public disclosure on the details of the bill (where are you on that one, Barack?), ProPublica has succinctly analyzed what they could and have provided a graphical breakdown of what was cut and changed in all three stages of deliberation on this bill (The House version, the Senate version, and the joint conference version). At first glance, it looks somewhat balanced though I wish the energy conservation funding would have remained. Seems like an obvious win…
Posts Tagged ‘president obama’
I heart Paul Krugman
February 9, 2009From what I’ve read, this guy is the shit. He opens up his Op-Ed today in the NY Times with this little political-nerd joke:
What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses? A proud Centrist
Zing. Take that bipartisanship! Who does Krugman blame and why? In his own words,
I blame President Obama’s belief that he can transcend the partisan divide — a belief that warped his economic strategy.
Now, I am all for playing well with others and bridging gaps where one can. But to let state governments, public education, unemployment aide, etc. stumble because one wants the facade of bi-partisanship starts to pull the president away from some of the more appealing aspects of his campaign promises. Namely, letting social programs die on the vine in the name of small government. Last time I checked, that was kind of the point of government; to protect and serve the people. Sometimes, I think Republicans and neo-conservatives are really anarchists in disguise .
Obama directs the Dept. of Energy to do its job
February 9, 2009I was pleased to see the Department of Energy reintroduced to its 33 year old directive to set appropriate energy efficiency standards for common household and commercial appliances. It should be no surprise that the Bush era DOE was too cozy with the private sector and was eventually sued for their inaction. It’ s a logical mandate given these times, private sector be damned. You’d be a bit embarrassed if you compared our progress to that of Japan. They are political and cultural crusaders on the matter. It’s quite remarkable what we are capable of should we dedicate ourselves like the Japanese:
Japan’s population and economy are each about 40 percent as large as that of the United States, yet in 2004 it consumed less than a quarter as much energy as America did
Looking at this graph from Carbon Kids blog, we oughta be getting on the whole mandated home energy conservation bandwagon.
