A Word on Obama's Brilliant Spending Proposals

With the economy in shambles, President Elect Barack Obama has a great plan to fix our fiscal problems: more federal spending (hint my intended sarcasm). Among other items on his agenda, Obama plans to sink at least $15 billion into renewable energy research, which he says will create 5 million new jobs, and to put upwards of $50 billion per year into a universal health care plan (with some independent estimates offering much higher figures). According to an article in this morning's LA times, however, the first bills Obama will likely pass will be those which will gain overwhelming support from both parties - showing the world that this young senator from Illinois is really ready to be the nation's leader. Yet with the financial system in such a shaky condition, Obama must be extremely careful with how much federal money he spends, for the article warns that if the federal budget deficit reaches a trillion dollars, this will likely send the economy into an even worse shock than the one we recently experienced.