For some reason I feel compelled to write something. Not sure what exactly, but the fact that President Obama chose my hometown of Elkhart, IN as his venue of choice to talk about the economy, well, freaks me out a little. The stat I keep hearing is that Elkhart’s employment is among the worst in the nation, going from around 4 percent in Dec 07 to over 15 percent in Dec 08.
So Obama is using Elkhart as a geographic symbol of the economic pain being suffered around the country and no doubt, increasingly the globe. He campaigned there and now he is back to promote the stimulus bill in congress. Back to make good on his campaign promises. His speech sounded like a stump speech from the start, but then he broke it down to specifics:
1) extend unemployment benefits and health care, job training programs
2) tax relief for “middle class workers and families.” $1000 per families and 2500 for college expenses
3) create or save jobs (80,000 for indiana), 90 percent in the private sector. Jobs to rebuild infrastructure.
4) work toward energy independence. alt energy sources and efficiency programs.
5) rural broadband expansion.
Meanwhile, the democrats in the senate are “compromising” away with republicans on getting a version of the stimulus bill passed.
Obama said he recognizes that the bill that comes out won’t be perfect, but it needs to be passed asap. “Doing nothing is not an option.” And this bill is just the beginning, recovery will take years.
