Massachusetts Decision - Now We Can Focus On Jobs and Infrastructure

For all who feel the Democrats’ defeat in Massachusetts earlier this week was the beginning of the end of healthcare reform, I say that it actually was a good thing for the country.

Even though I think healthcare reform is more than necessary, I think the way the president and congress were going about doing it was arrogant and quite honestly stupid. Democrats got that “we-have-the-power” bug and thought (rightly-so) that their window for broad healthcare reform was quickly shutting (hello November 2010) so they decided to try and do everything in one big bill. THIS IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA. I voted for President Obama because I thought he got it. He seemed deliberate and thoughtful in his approaches and if he would have been true to my perception he would have provided a plan, not supported a congress-written bill, to improve healthcare. Good comprehensive plans take time to develop and implement, they can be amended as issues and challenges arise. They also allow you to fund them over time rather than give the American public sticker shock. The Mass decision allows congress (Dems and Reps) and the president to develop a 4, 8 and 12 year healthcare reform roadmap. Pushing through a bill that no one knows will work and few really understand is a bad idea.

In any case, what the Mass decision does do is get Obama and the congress focused on what this country needs: JOBS!!! This has been my major criticism (mentioned in a past post) of this administration (that and the half-hearted Afgan strategy – fish or cut bait – but that is for another post). This country has a legitimate need to improve its infrastructure and a deep recession is the best excuse to get government money to work for the people by providing jobs, need for materials, increased manufacturing and materials shipping. We can help every contractor, construction worker, cement company, construction equipment company, trucking company and construction related manufacturing company by just addressing a legitimate need that has been ignored for the better part of 40 years. That will jump-start the economy and a renewed need for professional services, get banks back on track to lend to small and medium businesses and address a terrible looming problem facing every corner of America.

My fear now is that addressing the infrastructure issue is a near impossibility as the first stimulus package cost us nearly $800 million addressing things like unemployment benefits, electronic medical records, updating government buildings with energy efficiency technologies and barely anything ($8 billion) for updating the country’s rail system. These things didn’t seem to create too many jobs in a short period of time and the jobs it will create are those which require a high degree of training or education. The highly trained and educated aren't the people out of work. We need to develop jobs that are easy to get, relatively easy to perform and have a ready made work force.

But it is my opinion the American appetite to spend more money on “Stimulus Round Two” or job creation is nearly absent. The only trick in the book is to reduce the payroll tax and incentivize companies to hire. This is a quick stop-gap and nothing more. The omnibus spending bill passed earlier this year had some infrastructure included but it was not nearly enough to address the country's growing infrastructure problem and stimulate wide-spread job creation. A comprehensive infrastructure jobs bill with a clear vision and identity is essential to a quick and sustained recovery.

I just hope Obama gets it. I hope he and this congress can get over their hubris and understand that good solutions draw from all interested parties and there are good ideas lurking on the right that they shoudl consider. Myopic ideologues could very well make Obama a one-term president.