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Cynicism is easy, and it's also usually wrong. Being cynical is like doubting that the sky is blue just because it happens to be raining. (And then maintaining that it only 'looks' blue when the skies clear.)
Good things happen if you work for them and keep your eyes open.
There's a lot to like about the new stimulus bill, and probably a lot to dislike as well. What's new here is that we're getting a chance to look at the sausage-making process. We're being asked to behave like grown-ups.
Items I like include money for mass transit and assistance on energy costs to low-income Americans.
In addition to his usual admonition for people to act responsible, President Obama reiterated that his Administration will make the spending transparent to the American people.
“Corporate America will have to accept its own responsibility to workers and the American public,” Mr. Obama said, after alluding to an “atmosphere of irresponsibility” on Wall Street and in Washington that he said had helped push the economy toward ruin. He said, too, that he understands the skepticism that some people feel about the prospect of spending astronomical sums of the taxpayers’ money efficiently. Therefore, he said, his administration will put in place “unprecedented measures,” including Internet postings, to allow the American people to see where the streams of dollars are flowing.
That means not throwing up our hands in disgust, and not stamping our feet because our political opponents got something they want that we didn't. It means looking at the results and deciding whether, on balance, there's more of what we wanted and whether it's better than nothing.
So far, so good, as far as I can see.
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