Start in D.C.

With the stimulus bill already becoming a cumbersome piece of legislation as it works its way around Congress, Ms. Pelosi has stated that it will be ready to pass by mid February. Obviously, Ms. Pelosi and crew do not read the news, major corporations announced layoffs yesterday, January 26, 2009 across a broad spectrum of American Business from heavy machinery manufacturers, Caterpillar, to coffee shops, Starbucks. Yet the Congress seems unfazed, only when the banks come crying that their risky, leveraged speculation has gone sour does the Congress perk up and find money to keep them going. Is it because every Congressperson and Senator can count on the Banks for Campaign Donations or is it just because the Congress feels that Banks can not fail even if it is due to a bad business model and risky speculation.

The place to get the stimulus started immediately is right in the Halls of Congress. First, Congress should vote to rescind the recent pay raise that they voted for themselves even while in the midst of the greatest economic downward spiral since the Great Depression of the 1930's, then then should follow that with a vote to decrease their salary by 5-7% to keep in line with the people that they represent who have been losing 5-7% of their assets for the last eight years thanks to the policies of the Republican Bush Administration that they failed to oppose.

Congresspeople should look around at the enormous Federal Building that they drive past every day and work in sometimes. There they will see the beginning of the stimulus, start converting all Federal Buildings to innovative, self sufficient, renewable energy systems. Start pouring the stimulus money into AMERICAN OWNED Renewable Energy Companies with deadlines and achievable goals for each building. Various contracts should be given to a variety of alternative energy companies, solar, wind, geothermal, and green roofs, so that the various systems can be weighed against each other for efficiency, cost, and useful life. Then we will have a staring place. When the Banks needed money it was done in a week, with hardly a question asked. America, the entire country needs to be weened from fossil fuel addiction which will make America Energy Independent and give a needed economic stimulus immediately.