All cuts, no revenue

Now that we have a compromise, I'd like to point out once again that the whole crisis was a tempest in a Teapot, or should I say, in a Tea Party. The debt ceiling gets raised all the time and is something of a formality. Why make a big deal about it now?

The reason, of course, is the 87 freshman Tea Party House Members elected to congress in 2010. I realize that the Tea Party people were as exercised about all the spending during the Bush era, but I really wish they had gotten elected back then to cut spending, rather than trying to force it now at the time when it would actually be more helpful for the government to pump some more money into the economy.

The problem, of course, is that nobody in the Congress really wants to do something to create jobs, because it's not something that the government has a lot of control over, short of directly hiring people a la the Works Progress Administration. Or they could send new block grants to the states to keep all those teachers and police officers employed. That seemed to be helping until the stimulus money ran out.

So, Tea Party freshmen: it looks like spending cuts are in order. When do all the new jobs start?

Over it

I know there are lots of people getting worked up about AIG bonuses, and all the money going to those bankers who made the very mistakes that got us to where we are today. And I am glad that there will be consequences for those mistakes - public opinion and politics are catching up to accountability, a few billion dollars later.

What I wonder about, though, is how much of this is really just a spotlight landing on a symbolic target? It wouldn't surprise me if there are other wealthy bankers out there who are drawing the same salary and bonuses as ever and anon, in spite of getting caught up in the flood of easy credit. Still, I agree it looks bad to be getting hundreds of thousands in bonuses when people making significantly less than $100,000 a year are losing their jobs.

So, all that being said, I'm about ready to be over the recession. People who have good credit and a 20% down payment can get a house. People with not-quite-as-good credit can, too, they just have to pay a higher interest rate. Inflation is inching up, ever so slightly. There are utility crews all over the roads, fixing things up. Stuff is working, slowly, and we're just not in the same situation as the Great Depression.

This isn't to say that people who have been laid off aren't in trouble, or that it's easy to get a job now, just that some of the trends are slowly reversing. The one thing that's very difficult, though, is health care. Hospitals are laying off nurses because their work is dropping off. Not only are people putting off surgeries, but uninsured people are leaving easily treatable conditions untreated until they become deadly. This is how it has been with our health insurance system, but with the recession, things intensify.

Maybe I shouldn't say "over it," just "ready for it to be over."