Current mess

The current healthcare legislative charade is drawing to an inconclusive conclusion.
The good ideas, single payor, public option, abortion choice, etc. etc, have all been stripped from the bill and now it goes into its final revisions. Has it really been worth it?. According to Sen. Tom Harkin it has. He stated that there is a great deal of progressive clout in the remaing portions of the bill. Many insurance caveats remain that are very worthwhile. Also it will provide a framework for future improvements. It is an important hurdle to get past the obstinate Republicans. To them it is a foot in the door, or the camel's nose in the tent.

Actually it is difficult to believe that things have gotten this far considering the vast amounts of money thrown at the legislators to prevent any real changes. Historically there are examples of hard fought battles for big issue bills. Civil Rights,Medicare, Social Security, even the WW ll G.I. Veteran's Bill. It has usually been the persistance and doggedness of a few die hards that pulled the fat out of the fire.

Fortunately Pres. Obama is able to juggle the several problems at hand in credible style. Despite the enormity of each project he is persisting in attempting to deal with them all. His most recent head to head is with the bankers (fat cats) that seem to be showing no appreciation for the public money that saved their hides. Now that thier heads are above water they want to be allowed to resume business as usual. The plea to them to now work to solve the economic crisis is answered by saying " the regulators won't allow us to make most of the loans called for". There is the catch 22. The banks got caught making too risky loans before the meltdown so the regulators are clamping down. Business plans that were very feasable in a good economy are not so good now. The consumer was a very poor saver previously but is now very tight with his money so the demand is not there. Banks can't create demand.
Until the consumer's financial condition improves he will restrict his consumption.
Until these conditions change it is going to be a matter of some time before the economy shows much life similar to pre-2008. Strangely the stock market is anticipating a recovery and advancing nicely. Hopefully it won't get too far ahead of itself and go into a double dip.

In another case of "catch 22" is the double war scenario. Can Iraq begin to take care of itself.? Are the Russians and Chinese scooping up the marbles early in the game? How is it best to deal with the Taliban and Alqueada? Can we actually succeed where the British and Russians failed so miserably. All riddles wrapped in conundrums.
The most I can say is I feel there is a steadier hand at the wheel than in the past eight years. Things are going to move much slower in the next few years than we would hope for.