Happy New Year 2009

Hopefully the new year and the new administration will bring a new sensibility to Washington. The devastation left by the outgoing Republican George W. Bush Administration will be more than hard to correct, but with a new vision and a realization of the purpose of Government might just be enough to begin the long journey to righting the ship of state.

Before Mr. Obama even takes office the challenges are growing daily. The Bush Administration is hell bent on doling out the remainder of the TARP money without any oversight. They are declaring Corporations to be bank holding companies so that they can receive a chunk of the money before the Republicans flee Washington and join the Corporations that received the government largess. The Obama Administration must not shy away from investigating all of these hand outs to these Corporations in the last few months. It is their duty to not only investigate why this money was given out but what was done with it and why it has failed to free up the credit markets as promised by the Bush Administration, The Fed and the Treasury Department. To allow this money to be used at the whim of these Corporations to continue to pay exurbanite salaries and bonuses is an insult to the American workers who have toiled at poverty wages for the last 60 Years to build this Nation to the economic engine that it was before the free for all of the Republican Bush Administration began.

The Obama Administration must recapture as much of this money as possible and get it into the hands of the American People who are the consumers that will prime the economic pump and prevent a further deterioration of the fragile economy left by the foolish economic policies of this failed Republican Administration.

The Obama Administration must stick to their ideals of changing this Nation's economy from a fossil fuel burning economy to a renewable sustainable energy economy at all costs. Even though oil is dropping perspicuously in price making alternative energy a most costly form, the new Administration can not be stalled in their quest to remake the energy policy of this Country. The future depends on it.

2009 promises to be a year of further economic chaos as the fallout from retail sales and empty commercial real estate takes center stage in the next few months. The unemployment rate will continue to rise, montages will default in record numbers and the Credit Card Industry will be next in line looking for unrestricted Government assistance. The Obama Administration must be prepared to say no to the credit card industry that have been acting like loan sharks throughout the Bush years and allow them to collapse and foster the emergence of a new leadership in consumer credit that has all of the government regulations and restrictions that were removed over the years by the Republicans as favors to the financial lobbyists at the expense of the American People.

The Obama Administration must stand up for the people who elected him and stand against the Corporations that have ravaged our economic life with their financial games and schemes. They must look to the future at the same time as they are trying to repair the present. This will not be a Happy New Year. It will be a new year of tough decisions and realistic approaches to correcting the damage done by this Bush Administration and the Republicans.