The Ledge's Monthly Approval of President Obama-Do You Approve??? August 2009

[LikeAWillow]

Originally Posted by carrie721

wait, this thread had a point?



yeah, it was based on keynesian economics, but from what i have heard/read, even keynesian economists are against the stimulus package because it was just too small to do any good. go big or go home, right? obama tried to straddle the fence. epic fail.

Exactly. The numbers do show that what he did was enough to hold the economy from spiraling downward any farther, but to roughly quote Keynes himself, the government should be paying people to dig holes and fill them back up at times like this. Obviously it's an exaggeration to prove a point, but if you're going to attempt to fix things with a Keynesian strategy, it's exactly like you said: go big or go home. Maybe if a little more of the stimulus package had actually made it into action....

i agree that americans are entitled to those things. i mean, i didn't come up with it on my own, but i agree.

the thing is - we're not entitled to happiness itself, or anything else that falls under the big ugly "american dream." we're entitled to the pursuit of it. just as no one is entitled to absolute equality, but we are entitled to equality of opportunity. fairly reasonable health care in the US, however flawed, is attainable. into young adulthood (20-21ish), i had great health care. my copay for my shrink was $7 and my copay at my GP was $0. but i made some choices (quit school, gave up my job, moved across the country) that led me to not have insurance. does it suck? yeah. it makes me really nervous. but in light of those choices i made, i can't say that i am entitled to insurance, since i gave it up.

i'm not lecturing you or anything, you just brought up some interesting points to riff on.

Ah, I should have been more clear. A system that denies the ill the ability to recover based on their financial status is, in effect, a system that denies the right to life, not to the pursuit of happiness (which I would never confuse for happiness itself, or I would be severely lacking in the angsty Nicks songs I love.)

wanna make out?

MAYBE IF YOU DON'T MOVE TO MY DREAM TOWN WITHOUT ME