This sunday sermon is about the facts of the state of America..
What will Barack Obama Inherit when he assumes the Presidency 1/20/09.
let us start with a little informational video from GOOD.
we thought about what can we do to help with the process. what can YOU DO ? We should all ask ourselves that question. We should all commit to doing something to HELP Fix the Mess, Personally. it's just that easy. We believe that a personal investment in cleaning up the mess will give each of us a feeling of personal stock in America. You Fix It Up, You Own It. No More Squatting. Lets All Be Owners - Starting Now.
This is a teriffic video about How to Do Something to Help - Volunteer. Think of it as "Helping Yourself"
We began our process of volunteerism with signing up for Volunteers in Action Network wayyyyy back in 1999. we joined Volunteer Match and donate lots of hours in work and special project production yearly. we run several lists which allow people to network, for the good of community and selected organizations. Just today we called a green contractor and volunteered to assist in grantwriting duties to get some of this training and greening cash rolling into communities here. MI needs it NOW.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm is working hard to green Michigan. she's been on a green revolution since her re-election last year. she has met with the President Elect on both the economy; and the state of economic calamity in both Michigan and the Country. He recognizes her vision and desire to save and repair a badly damaged formerly republican economy. Gov. Granholm has our support 100% because she wants what's best for her state, above all else.
the clowns from the auto companies - well we'll not discuss them, because this is not about larry moe and curley. this is about a serious plan to fix and restore Americas' economy and economic stability. Moving Forward Not Standing in Place.
Lets take a look at some of President-Elect Obama's Plans for the Economy, and Recovery. Thanks to AP/utube - (12/06/08)
This story is from the Washington Post 12/06/08
By Michael D. Shear
President-elect Barack Obama today proposed an economic recovery act that spends billions of dollars to make public buildings energy-efficient, to rebuild the nation's crumbling highways, to renovate aging school buildings, to extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas and to modernize hospitals.
Obama's plan, announced in the weekly Democratic radio address and online video, came with no price tag and few details.
Nevertheless, it was the first glimpse of the government spending spree that Obama envisions to lift the country out of an economic recession that has already cost millions of jobs -- 533,000 of them in November alone.
Obama said the country needs to act quickly because of the "rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season."
"Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades," he said. "That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million."
In response, Obama said he will push Congress to enact legislation that he said would "help save or create" 2.5 million jobs, "while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars."
The plan, as outlined by Obama, includes:
-- A "massive effort" to make federal buildings energy-efficient by replacing aging heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. Obama said the effort would save taxpayers "billions of dollars each year" and put people back to work.
-- The largest investment in roads and bridges "since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s." Responding to concerns that new transportation money might be caught up in red tape at the state level, Obama said states must quickly invest in road and bridge construction and repair -- or lose the federal dollars.
-- The "most sweeping" program to upgrade and rehabilitate the nation's schools by repairing buildings, installing energy-efficient systems and buying new computers for the classrooms. The idea, he said, is to create "21st-century schools."
-- A new push to extend broadband Internet into places of the country that still lacks high-speed connections. Calling it "unacceptable" that the United States ranks only 15th globally in high-speed adoption, Obama said that "every child should have the chance to get online."
-- And a plan to modernize hospitals and medical offices by making sure they are using "cutting edge technology" and electronic medical records. He said that would "cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes and help save billions of dollars each year."
The plan would amount to the largest infusion of federal money ever into the American economy, and is certain to generate objections from conservatives who worry that it will not be spent wisely.
Anticipating that criticism, Obama said that the economic recovery act will "measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve."
Obama did not say how much any of those proposals will cost. In recent days, the president-elect has declined to put a number to his plan, saying his advisers are working together and with members of Congress to determine how much is needed.
In a news conference last month introducing his economic advisers, Obama said, "I'm not going to discuss numbers right now, because I think it's important for my economic team to come back with a recommendation."
But, he added, "We are going to do what's required to jolt this -- this economy back -- back into shape."
Many members of Congress have speculated that the spending package could reach $500 billion or more, while some economists have predicted the government might spend as much as $1 trillion to restart the job-producing economic activity that has withered in the last year.
In his radio address, Obama said the recession raises serious questions in the minds of many people.
"Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband's job or your daughter's job be the next one cut?"
But he also expressed optimism that the economy will recover, as long as the government provides some help.
"We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands," he said. "And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again."
We Agree with the WPA Reenactment Idea which would create a huge instant pool of workers and cash to pay them. this worked for FDR, and apparently President-Elect Obama has seen the logic in this. Hopefully he will also put the arts programs back into action - as they produced some of this countries finest modern artists; and art.
this is from the NY Times - on 12/06/08. Fabulous !December 7, 2008
WASHINGTON — President-elect
Barack Obama committed Saturday to the largest public works construction program since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago as he seeks to put together a plan to resuscitate the reeling economy.
With unemployment on the rise and no end to the recession in sight, Mr. Obama began highlighting elements of the economic recovery program he is trying to fashion with Congressional leaders in hopes of being able to enact it shortly after being sworn in on Jan. 20.
Mr. Obama’s remarks sought to expand the definition of traditional work programs for the middle class, like infrastructure projects to repair roads and bridges, while also pushing a federal effort to bring in new-era jobs in technology and so-called green jobs.
Although he put no price tag on it, he said he would invest record amounts of money in the vast infrastructure program, which also includes work on schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electric grids, dams and other public utilities. He vowed to upgrade computers in schools, expand broadband Internet access, make government buildings more energy efficient and improve information technology at hospitals and doctors’ offices.
“We need action — and action now,” Mr. Obama, said in an address taped for broadcast Saturday morning on radio and YouTube.The address followed the latest grim economic report indicating that the country lost 533,000 jobs in November alone, bringing the total job loss over the past year to nearly 2 million. Although Mr. Obama remains weeks away from taking office, the report heightened pressure on him to assert leadership before his inauguration.
Mr. Obama and his team are working with Congressional leaders to devise a spending package that some lawmakers have suggested could total $400 billion to $700 billion. Some analysts forecast even higher costs.
A big part of that will be public works spending, particularly on projects aimed at conserving or expanding energy supplies and cleaning up the environment. “We will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s,” Mr. Obama said. He did not estimate how much he would devote to that purpose, but when he met with the nation’s governors last week, they said the states had $136 billion worth of road, bridge and other projects approved ready to go as soon as money became available.
They estimated that each billion dollars spent would create 40,000 jobs.“He hasn’t given us any commitment, but we are fairly certain it’s going to be large,” Gov.
Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Democrat and chairman of the
National Governors Association, said in an interview Saturday. “I think he understands if you’re trying to reverse the economy and turn it around, this is not the time to do it on the cheap. This is not the time to do it in small doses. It’s got to be big.”
President Bush and other Republicans have resisted such an approach in part out of concern for the already soaring
federal budget deficit, which could easily hit $1 trillion this year. Borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars today to try to fix the economy, they argue, will leave a huge bill for the next generation.
Conservative economists have also long derided public works spending as a poor response to tough economic times, saying it has not been a reliable catalyst for short-term growth and instead is more about politicians gaining points with constituents.
Alan D. Viard, an economist at the
American Enterprise Institute, told Congress recently that public works spending should not be authorized out of “the illusory hope of job gains or economic stabilization.”
“If more money is spent on infrastructure, more workers will be employed in that sector,” Mr. Viard told the House Ways and Means Committee. “In the long run, however, an increase in infrastructure spending requires a reduction in public or private spending for other goods and services. As a result, fewer workers are employed in other sectors of the economy.”
Mr. Obama implicitly tried to counter such arguments by invoking the federal interstate highway program, widely seen as one of the most successful public works efforts in American history. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act in 1956, ultimately resulting in the construction of 42,795 miles of roads. In 1991, the government concluded that the total cost came to $128.9 billion, with the federal government paying $114.3 billion and the states picking up the rest.
Mr. Obama also responded to criticism of waste and inefficiency in such programs by promising new rules to govern spending, like a “use it or lose it” requirement that states act quickly to invest in roads and bridges or sacrifice federal money.
“We won’t do it the old Washington way,” Mr. Obama said. “We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve — by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.”Mr. Rendell said such rules would help get people to work right away. In his state, he said, contractors generally have 120 days to turn in bids for projects, but he will cite these rules to cut it to 30 days. “If they complain and moan and whine,” he said, “I’m going to say, ‘use it or lose it.’ ”
A substantial part of the proposed economic package will go toward creating so-called green jobs, those that benefit the environment or save energy. That part of the package could run as high as $100 billion over two years, according to an aide familiar with the discussions.A blueprint for such spending can be found in a study financed by the Political Economy Research Institute at the
University of Massachusetts and the Center for American Progress, a Washington research organization founded by
John D. Podesta, who is a co-chairman of Mr. Obama’s
transition team.
The study, released in November after months of work, found that a $100 billion investment in clean energy could create 2 million jobs over two years. Daniel J. Weiss, an environmental analyst at Mr. Podesta’s center, said the government should start by providing fresh money to the beleaguered automakers, preserving hundreds of thousands of jobs, on the condition that they commit to cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars, like plug-in hybrids.
Then, Mr. Weiss said, Washington should invest money in existing programs that create work while cutting energy use, like home weatherization programs that have been chronically underfinanced. Congress authorized $900 million for the federal weatherization assistance program this year but only a third of that has been spent.
Mr. Obama has also spoken of retrofitting schools, post offices and other public buildings with high-efficiency heating and cooling systems and cool-burning fluorescent lighting. Money could also go to mass transit and solar, wind and biofuels projects. A senior Obama adviser said the transition team was trying to translate his campaign promises into a legislative blueprint. “Part of what we’re doing is taking a look at that entire proposal and seeing what elements could be accelerated and what could be done as a down payment on the larger plan,” the adviser said. “We are also looking for things to the greatest degree possible that would spend out over two years and be a natural short-term investment.”
Several Congressional committees are planning hearings, including one next week by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senator
Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico and the panel chairman, said in an interview that he would focus on energy-saving projects that could be financed quickly and create jobs.
Mr. Bingaman noted a huge backlog of maintenance projects at national parks and other federal lands. Such a program would be similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, which built many of the original roads, bridges, trails and buildings on public lands in the 1930s.“We have a queue of projects that are ready to go immediately if we can get the funding,” said Gov. James E. Doyle of Wisconsin, a Democrat. “These could produce large numbers of jobs here in Wisconsin, from Ph.D. researchers in our labs to people working in manufacturing, agriculture and forestry.
We’re not trying to resurrect the past, but we’re looking to the kinds of jobs we’ll have in the future.”I've given you the Good so now it's time for the Ugly,on a tie in tip, I'd like to ask you to listen to this short piece about
Hillary Clinton and her associations with the Congolese Blood Mineral Trade. It explains how the the Gertler Mines - this is a Cobalt Mine; Cobalt is used in Electronics and Cellphones; is related to the Clintons, and their Clean Up.I'm scratching my head wondering if this is the issue that President Elect Obama asked them to resolve before she met the criteria to accept the appointment as Secretary of State ?
having congolese blood on your hands is not good; especially when this is not a NEW Issue. this company, the Hope International Mineral Fields group - with the Clintons represents one of the reasons we can't see an end to the war in Congo.
I'd just like to ask you to think about this long and hard before making any decision; and if need be - listen to the rest of the series, to be sure of the facts.
Can We Allow the Blood of Congos' Children to be on Our Hands ?