Obama won the election much to the chagrin of republicans across the nation. In his acceptance speech he spoke of the challenges that we are facing and that the solutions could take years or even an entire term before we see change. Legislation takes time – we’ve got to understand that he is only a man – hopefully he will be a great leader and fulfill his promises. Obama had his first press conference and was backed by some of the best economic minds in our country.
Jessica and I have talked about potential paths to creating jobs and stimulating the economy. For the past 8 years much of the growth has been in the military industrial complex. We’ve spent billions on improving our military while fighting a war. Much of the money has gone to contractors that provide a variety of services to military members stationed overseas – they fed me while I was in Iraq and I’m glad we were paying them instead of sending more military members overseas to cook.
Civic projects will probably be one of the highlights of the Obama administration. Roads and bridges are in dire need of renovation and repair (save for the bridge to nowhere). I think we’re going to see new schools, hospitals, and libraries constructed across the nation. The fall of the housing market has crushed the construction industry and our nation could use the work. We’re going to pay for the work – and in reality – it’s not that bad. The masses aren’t standing in soup lines and food and other commodities aren’t being rationed like they were during the world wars. Change is going to be tough for America. We have the grit to make the change but we’ve all got to give. I give my service to my country and I pay taxes. If I had to pay more in taxes to fix the problems at hand I would. I wouldn’t want to but these things are necessary evils. In order to make money we’ve got to spend some money.
I was just telling husband the other night that I’d rather pay to get our roads and bridges squared up than bail out more banks et al. We know the infrastructure needs work, we know construction folks are running short of work, we know unemployment is getting worse, we know the economy needs a boost… seems like a winner all the way ’round.