The patient is in trouble. That much we know. About that everyone is certain. There are mounting job losses, record deficits, banks failing, mortgages underwater, layoffs looming. Last month, we lost as many jobs as there are in the state of Maine. One down, 49 to go.
No, you won't find too many people disagreeing with the diagnosis. Crisis. Dire. Recession. Depression. Meltdown. Likely to get worse before it gets better. If it gets better.
Just one problem. What to do?
The easiest case to make is the one that may well be the worst: Do nothing. If you're not responsible for anything but high ratings or scoring debating points, this is your ace in the hole. Whatever anyone suggests is wrong. Full of holes. Not detailed enough. Unlikely to solve the problem. Pork laden. Deficit producing. An abandonment of free markets.
The only problem with doing nothing is that almost everyone who is responsible for anything or has been in the last six months — and I mean Treasury secretaries both Democratic and Republican, presidents and presidential candidates both Democratic and Republican, ranking committee members, government economists, Federal Reserve chairmen, just those folks — believes that doing nothing is the worst thing we could do, sure to make matters worse, sure to cause more pain and not less.
But once you decide to do something, there are no perfect solutions. Not even close to perfect, truth be told.
You go to the doctor when you're sick, and you don't want to be told in terrible detail just how sick you are. You don't want to be lectured about who is responsible for the sickness or what someone might have done last year or last decade to avoid it. You don't want to be told how little we know, how much worse it could get. You certainly don't want to hear that no one knows anything, and that the illness may never get better.
You want a cure. You want an answer, a magic bullet — twice a day for two weeks and good as new.
No such luck.
The market tanked because Tim Geithner, the new Treasury secretary, was supposed to come out with a plan that would ensure that the unknowable amount of troubled assets out there would be troubled no longer. He was supposed to cure polio in his second week in office. When his plan made clear that the magnitude of the problem hadn't been resolved since yesterday, investors were disappointed. Where is Jonas Salk?
Barack Obama, in his first presidential news conference, was certain of some things. He was certain that some action is required, that the only ones who will win if we do nothing are the overpaid talk show hosts who get high ratings by railing against big government, as if deregulation hadn't played a major role in creating the mess. Ah, the luxury of total unaccountability.
But he didn't pretend that the plan the mere mortals in the House and Senate have been trying to agree on is perfect. It isn't perfect. Anyone who studies it carefully is certain to find things wrong with it. He didn't promise that it would be a sure-fire cure for our economic ills. He admitted that it was flawed in ways he doesn't even know yet.
It's not what you want to hear from your doctor or your president. Can't we talk about A-Rod instead? Can't we go back to fighting about the octuplets?
The short answer is no. The president is offering, pushing, cajoling Congress to pass a plan that he knows isn't perfect, but that he and the people around him are certain is better than nothing.
Is he right? How do I know? I'm not a doctor. I'm not an economist. I haven't spent the last 20 years studying markets. Then again, neither have the blowhards who spend their days attacking him and their nights avoiding the economic mess confronting everyone else. They don't know any more than I do. They certainly don't know more than the president.
For my money, he's smarter — and has more talent around him. He's taking his best shot and being honest about its limits. It may not be what we want to hear, but it's what we need to hear and what we elected him to do. Sausage for supper. Here's hoping.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
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9 Comments | Post Comment
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Thank you for your article. I agree that doing something is better than doing nothing. The President is inteligent and those he have around him are too. what bothers me is that he's been in office 3 weeks and the world expects him to know everything and do everything right now. It took former President Bush 8 years to get us in this mess which was allowed by GOP and Democrats. 6 of those years the GOP had control. So now it is going to take time to get us out of this mess. President Obama has inherit an overwhelming problem and we have inherit a big mess. the GOP don't want to do anything but they rush to sign bills for the first bailout money that the people did not receive anything at all. Maybe we have a chance with the new stimulus. GOP is the problem. But guess what they all have money so they can take there time with the taxpayers that are suffering. McCain we know by his own admission that he is weak in the economic business. that's not his only weakness, but he calls the legislation 'generational theft'. he says he know we needs as stimulus, need tax icuts, we need to spend money on infrastructure and other programs that will put people to work. the bill does all three. So what is the problem. His weak grasp of economic realities makes me wonder why he stopped his campaign to run and support Bush on the first bailout plan which is worst than this one. He is standing his ground against President Obama. I think it's more about him losing against Obama, than the care of this country and of what it's people are going through. No jobs plus crime is an aweful combination. the stimulus should be bigger than the amount requested.
Comment: #1
Posted by: Prezz008
Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:41 PM
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Thank you for your article. I agree that doing something is better than doing nothing. The President is inteligent and those he have around him are too. what bothers me is that he's been in office 3 weeks and the world expects him to know everything and do everything right now. It took former President Bush 8 years to get us in this mess which was allowed by GOP and Democrats. 6 of those years the GOP had control. So now it is going to take time to get us out of this mess. President Obama has inherit an overwhelming problem and we have inherit a big mess. the GOP don't want to do anything but they rush to sign bills for the first bailout money that the people did not receive anything at all. Maybe we have a chance with the new stimulus. GOP is the problem. But guess what they all have money so they can take there time with the taxpayers that are suffering. McCain we know by his own admission that he is weak in the economic business. that's not his only weakness, but he calls the legislation 'generational theft'. he says he know we needs as stimulus, need tax icuts, we need to spend money on infrastructure and other programs that will put people to work. the bill does all three. So what is the problem. His weak grasp of economic realities makes me wonder why he stopped his campaign to run and support Bush on the first bailout plan which is worst than this one. He is standing his ground against President Obama. I think it's more about him losing against Obama, than the care of this country and of what it's people are going through. No jobs plus crime is an aweful combination. the stimulus should be bigger than the amount requested.
Comment: #2
Posted by: Prezz008
Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:41 PM
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McCain got mad when the 3 Republicans join the democrats to vote stimulus in. who do he thing he is. i expect him to act just like he is acking. He is a bitter, angry mean man.
Comment: #3
Posted by: Prezz008
Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:46 PM
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Susan, Barack Obama campaigned on the premise that he knew how to solve these problems. Just read the huge bill and tell me there is no pork in it. If a family gets into trouble financially, they don't spend their way out of it, they start by cutting and doing without until they work their way out of their financial trouble. The only thing this bill does is ensure that all of Barack Obama's supporters get their pet projects through. We need a whole new Congress because they are the ones that are supposed to have answers, but they created most of the problem. Let's vote them out. Look what it is doing to health care, just read the bill.
Comment: #4
Posted by: Anne
Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:01 AM
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Susan, I normally love ya (even though you're a Democrat) but this time you've taken leave of your senses.
Reid says the bill will be almost a trillion dollars, and he's sweating having to run again. He's a smart man regardless of what people say about him.
Lindsey Graham says everyone on the hill is freaking out about the phone calls and emails and letters to small hometown papers. He's a sharp guy, too.
You know as well as I do that 2010 is gonna be a bloodbath. They said they wouldn't overreach and then turned around and did precisely that. It's 1994 all over again.
What is it with you people? What's with the lack of emotional control among Democrats? Is that why the Democratic conventions every four years always look like the bar scene from Star Wars? You'd think they all need to be on anti-depressants. Maybe they should. Maybe we wouldn't have spent a trillion dollars of taxpayer money this week that we don't have if they were.
Make no mistake, conservatives are ramping up in southern states. When the tax increases come down, we're gonna see a wave of outrage that possibly has never before been seen in this country. Even Californians are getting tired of it. There's only so much money, Susan. The government can only tax so much and that's it.
I'm not half as interested in Obama as I am in what comes after him...because he's not gonna be there for very long. Americans won't put up with it and we can't afford it.
Comment: #5
Posted by: Larry
Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:49 PM
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"Is he right? How do I know? I'm not a doctor. I'm not an economist. I haven't spent the last 20 years studying markets. Then again, neither have the blowhards who spend their days attacking him and their nights avoiding the economic mess confronting everyone else. They don't know any more than I do. They certainly don't know more than the president"
Ronald Reagan knew, and his plan worked!
But he was a president that believed in helping people help themselves. He respected the individual freedom, rights and choices. The ability to strive for success or learn from our failures with our dignity intact. This administration is condescending. It believes its people are like sheep and need protecting. Bailouts and pandering. How righteous and kind are these protectors. We should feel so grateful and continue to vote for them. bah!
Ronald Reagan said the following:
"Well, there are poor people in this country who should experience just such an elation if they found the economic freedom of a solid job, a productive job -- not one concocted by government and dependent on Washington winds; a real job where they could put in a good day's work, complain about the boss, and then go home with confidence and self-respect. Why has this Nation been unable to fill such a basic, admirable need?
The government can provide subsistence, yes, but it seldom moves people up the economic ladder. And as I've said before, you have to get on the ladder before you can move up on it. I believe many in Washington, over the years, have been more dedicated to making needy people government-dependent rather than independent. They've created a new kind of bondage, because regardless of how honest their intention in the beginning, those they set out to help soon became clients essential to the well-being of those who administered the programs.
An honest program would be dedicated to making people independent, no longer in need of government assistance. But then what would happen to those who made a career of helping? Well, Americans have been very generous, with good intentions and billions of dollars, toward those they believed were living in hardship. And yet, in spite of the hopes, the government has never lived up to the dreams of poor people."
Now that was a President!!!!
Sara Perz
Texas
Comment: #6
Posted by: Sara Perz
Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:04 PM
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Susan, Susan, Susan. I think you're great. I love hearing your point of view despite the fact that I almost always have a different perspective. I think you're fair and even-handed - most of the time. (Sometimes I think you've been out back in the parking lot sipping kool-aid from a brown bag, though) But, I'll also admit, there have been times when I've changed my point of view (a bit) based on your arguments. And, to top it all off, I think you're pretty hot ...
BUT I do not agree with your premise here which is essentially that we have to do something, so anything is better than nothing. There is so much crap in this bill that it will take generations to get out from under it. There is no question that there are earmarks. Obama lied about that. Outright lied. His remark that there are no earmarks is parsing of the worse sort - worse than asking what the definition of "is" is ... moreover, the Dems are spending money we do not have. We'll be printing new greenbacks before you can blink. Inflation anyone?
There are MANY smarter, more experienced (than Obama) economists that have been extremely vocal about their opposition to this package - and yet Obama told the nation the other night that he knows of no economist that opposes the plan. Please.
I could keep going on my anti-Obama tack but what would be the point. I do not agree that he's the right guy for the times. Nobody has EVER been able to offer any accomplishments of his that qualified him to become president in good time much less today.
Of course we need to "do something" to address the economic problems we face as a nation. But the hysteria with which the "solution" is being rammed down our throats tells me that there is so much more in play here.
Comment: #7
Posted by: Seadon
Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:16 PM
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Dear Susan,
How sad it is to have expectations exceed ability to deliver. Obama oversold the public on his ability to do anything to solve these problems. And the chickens are coming home to roost. Obama's lack of experience shows in the choices hemade for his cabinet and top echelons of his government. The infighting is bound to be ferocious and the fall-out will be a disaster for the Democratic party.
Obama may be a glib speaker and have a smooooth manner about him, but he is in way over his head. And the happenings of the last two weeks clearly show that. Looking confident is not the same as BEING confident.
Comment: #8
Posted by: robert lipka
Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:10 PM
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Good Day Susan:
I must admit that I usually do not agree with your opinions. I do find your opinions interesting and thought provoking. I was amazed when I read your latest coumn in the Salina Journal "The patient is in Trouble". Even I had goosebumps when I listened to President Obama give his inauguration speech and I did not vote for him. I was filled with hope that maybe he wouldn't do all the things he promised. Maybe the change he talked about was good.
All I can say after reading your article is that you don't listen to the same news I do. Why the hurry to get the bill and now he screws aroun waiting until tomorrow to sign it. If it is so important to have something fast instead of good then get it signed. Quit wasting our money zooming around the country speaking. DO some work.
How can anyone that has a modicum of good sense think that slamming a trillion dollar spending bill through congress with no time for even our representatives to read it is a good thing? If you really believe that I would like you to sign the back page of the contract I have printed out for you. Don't worry about what it says on the other ten pages. It will be fine. Trust me.
I am not sure where all the smart and talent are in the Whitehouse that you referred to. Yes, Obama is smart, he pulled the wool over 55% of the population and now he has the job. The only smart I see from the man is that he is a consumate politician, he is in office and he still say's thing that are not true and the liberal media who swoon at his feet believe it. The rest of us who are looking at reality are treated as if he we are some sort of alien life form because we dare question the great and powerful Wizard Obama.
The President is not smart in my view. He took a break at Camp David and let the special interest Democrats in the house write all their favorite projects into the plan. He should have jumped into the fray and helped it along.
What will you say about how smart he and the Democrats are a year from now when we are three trillion dollars (plus) in debt, the auto manufactiurers are still sucking on the teat of the American people and our taxes are going through the roof? Thanks for your time. P.S. You are hot.
Comment: #9
Posted by: david
Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:45 PM
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