Sorry, but I can't see it any other way. The Republicans will stop at nothing to destroy Obama, up to and including more and more Americans living on the streets. Healthcare is a prime example. They had 8 years to come up with something and they didn't (or wouldn't). Now all they do is run interference regardless of the idea. During their 8 year reign the economy went down the tubes, Americans lost their financial footing, eventually their homes and their jobs. Money was fed to the War in Iraq with very little accounting. They clearly dislike Barack Obama. The American people elected him and now it appears that we're being punished. I question the motives of most Republicans. Their loyalty is misplaced and downright questionable. I suggest that all Senators and and members of congress be ordered to spend the entire month of August 'on the road' to see America. In your cars. No campaigning allowed. Bring your cameras. And take a good hard look at what we've become. Your Ivory Tower existence does not serve the public good, and that's your job. See the empty factories, the lines of people waiting to see a volunteer doctor, the tent cities, any big city hospital, downtown in any small town, any unemployment office, grocery stores. You argue on the Senate floor in the abstract with NO knowledge of facts and certainly none of the faces behind those facts. Simply put, you've become a pack of self serving, obnoxious, privileged and over bearing empty suits. The thought of the Amercan people actually having a voice in the way things are run, is abhorrent to you. You were not elected to GIVE marching orders, but the TAKE them. Use the month to look around and find out what your job is really about. You were not elected to collect a paycheck while you campaign for the next election. There's STUFF in between elections. Thanks ANNA

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Yes the inability of the dying capitalist economy to provide jobs will staunch the agenda of its nominal figurehead. But so will the Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian, Honduran, Iranian and other national resistance movements combating US imperialism. And so will the movement of the BRIC nations to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency. And so will the fact of "peak oil" and the impossibility of maintaining a global economy under declining energy supplies. Then swine flu is poised to sweep through the population and Israel will soon attack Iran in an act of desperation like the world has ever seen.

So there's no question the Obama agenda, whatever that is, is doomed. The only question is will Obama himself physically survive its obliteration.

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There is a really disturbing myopia most Democrats have concerning the long term decline of the industrial and engineering base of the economy in the United States.

One would think the massive industrial off shoring and plant closures of the 1980s, along with the complete restructuring of service industries like the Airlines, Tele-communications and the Electric generation industry which resulted in hundreds of thousands of lay-offs during both the 1980s and 1990s would have been a cautionary tale about the long term health of a society shedding decent jobs at such an alarming and massive rate that some day this vast numbers would have a blow back on the basic working assumption that underlay any functional or even rational economy.

To say it didn’t stop there, and the further off shoring of engineering and more service jobs continued during the Bush I years, the Clinton years only adds insult to injury when the subsequent economic bleeding of even more engineering, computer and service jobs during the Bush II years and a almost as large lose of manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2006 before the economic melt down of 2008.

One would think all this ought to beg the question whether we are seeing a systematic collapse unseen at all ever before, due in fact to the previous thirty years of economic policy that at best is criminal.

The economic events we are all living through now is not a repeat of the Great Depression but the net results of a very real thirty year one sided class war waged against the citizens of the United States by a over compensated corporate elite whose only interest is personal gain at the expense of the larger society.

Just focusing and framing the Bush II years as the beginning of our real serious economic troubles only gives aid and comfort to economic elites who been screwing the American people to death for thirty years and really begs the question whether one has been paying attention at all and can even think in rational terms.

Sadly, suffice it to say, this focus on only the economic crimes committed during the Bush II years then renders these kinds of myopic admonishments the raving foolish self deceptions of half-witted simpletons unwilling to face reality.

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One way to give the nation a shot in the arm is to use bailout money to give every American a one time 2.75% interest home loan for one house of their choice. People who are close to foreclosure can save their home. People who have lost half of their 401K will be able to recoup some savings for retirement. People who are financially fine (I don't see many, but hey, who knows) can buy a second home or build a new home.

Here's the reality, when all of our jobs got shipped overseas then Americans retrained to work at something that was profitable. We (collectively) learned to build houses, and developed the infrastructure needed to have a home building economy.

American jobs can get a temporary shot in the arm by seriously reducing the interest rate for a one time purchase or refinance.

Not only will jobs flourish (at least for a while) real people will have a few hundred dollars left over at the end of the month that will be permanent.

This type of stimulus will bolster the economy until the green energy economy can start to take hold.

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From the beginning of this decade until a couple of years ago the national economy was fueled by absurdly low interest rates and the resultant real estate, financial and construction boom. Nothing of worth was produced during the Rethuglican era. Their strident push of tax cuts during their regime had played no role except solely to enrich a certain wealthy minority.

So, in effect, President Obama inherited a hopelessly trashed room from the Rethugs. It does takes time to clean up the mess, unfortunately.

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It isn't just Obama's agenda that could be sunk by rising unemployment; it is the whole nation. A floundering economy with millions out of work and with no purpose or income, with once-proud middle class americans contemplating soup kitchens and dumpster-diving; an insurmountable gap between the few filty rich and an impoverished population; and the perception that the government cares not one bit about whom it governs (or is, in fact, allowing corporations and the filthy rich to continually rip-off the population), is a gathering storm, a breeding ground for insurrection.

We fought a bloody war on our own soil starting in 1776 to birth this nation; we fought another bloody war (over 650,000 dead) with ourselves in 1860-65 over inequality, the subjugation of human beings, and the perceived subjugation of one region of the country by another. Still think it can't happen here? Reportedly, when an aide remarked to F.D.R., during the dark days of the Great Depression, that if his policies didn't work he would not gain a second term as president, F.D.R. remarked that if his policies didn't work, there WOULD NOT BE a second term.

Something to think about. Obama (along with his Democratic-majority Congress) is playing a dangerous game by promising much as a candidate but then delivering too little as President; but the game is even more dangerous for the rest of us, including those corporations that depend upon our docility for their business model. A whole nation thrown into chaos, with millions of the formerly well-off left with nothing to lose, is not a very good or safe place to do business, or even to live – especially for those who have taken nearly everything from so many. The French Revolution, with it's cruel precursor and grisly aftermath, is a part of human history not forgotten; let's just hope that something similar doesn't become a part of ours.

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What scares me the most is the idea that Obama's spending on banking sector bailouts has already crowded healthcare out of the budget.

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The man has been in office how long???? And we expect him to IMMEDIATELY fix 8 years of damage done by the Bush administration....
Really, now-shouldn't we put at least some of our energy, Alternet, into finding away to indict Bush, Cheney, and Company????? Ya think?

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Some people do not read postings thourghly much less visit the website that is mentioned. Unemployment is a natural occurring thing, it happens ordinarily often enough to strive the boom in disgust, hard labor issues are the first to feel effects of unemployment, folks push their body to the extreme and often end up needing medical attention from doing repeat tasks that only can be found in a home that has companionship not a hospital. It might seem that hospitals could cure folks that is not the solution so were looking at a health care policy that cannot cure these issues. It is simply a mistake to think that because of unemployment we need to enlargen our health care. It could be better to just have more Gisha Girls to manage the home part if the men are single and that would help them through their ordeal but health care is not provided in that way. Whether asprins do the trick or just play relaxation is not something government wants to talk about because their issue is fast and reliable workers that do not stop even if they get a slashed leg or a broken arm. Let's be more sure that our health care system is not depending on workers pushing the button at work every four work credits just to qualify for Medicare because that is the rules according to Social Security to qualify for Medicare and it just does not appear in the health care provisions to stop demanding work credits, although a worker can qualify for just Part A if never having had other coverage but not Part B unless the worker has over four work credits. How is it that Obama is going to make it any better when he is demanding that workers get taxed and those females that seek abortions get it from a Federal Endorsement. Wouldn't it be easier to cover the lawsuits coming from workers that needed medical attention and have them processed without their appearance at the Federal court level to qualify for benefits and do this without lawsuits entirely. It would be a matter of a simple form that states the person qualifys regardless of a work credit history. Since we do not tax a tax why then would we tax the unemployed, might they be homeless, might they not have companionship, might they find themselves unable to produce a odd job that they could earn enough money to provide them food each month, rent each month, pay the power bill/water bill/garbage bill/phone bill each month.

300 million people in need of at least a dollar contribution could be increased to five dollars or ten dollars on the Income Tax Statement and that might curb some problems in states being able to comply to Medicaid programs that support hospitals and doctors instead of shrinking benefits of all the workers that this is not relating to. Lots of money is being gathered each year in this way and its being wasted on changing the health coverage that might drive some insurers out of business entirely or cause increases to coverage that people are just unable to pay.

If its jobs you want then you need to consider a better plan to resolve a issue such as transportation. Mass transportation is only going to work for commuting but not always true. There is a better solution that will not drive up the overhead in founding a Foundation which does not demand much from the consumer's. There are 291 million folks that this solution can apply to which would endorse many jobs, more than there are unemployed if they would endorse this solution. Might we help guide them to startup this Foundation and get America back on track for a better economical solution, it is about converting their diesel/gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles. Does this sound to difficult for government officials to order for the next fiscal year 2010? Tax on Medical Benefits can only make sub-class citizens out of the wealthy in America.

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