What I think I think - Part 1 - Policy and Politics

Quite a lot going on since my last set of posts.

-Healthcare reform has moved further along than at any other point since Medicare. The current makeup of both the Senate and House bills is not ideal, but we'll take what we can get and make improvements over time. My biggest concern is that the set of reforms likely to pass will be so watered down as to be ineffective at bringing costs down in any meaningful way. I stand by my assertion that a "strong" public option is necessary to keep long term costs down and to provide sufficient competition to embedded insurance companies.

-The state of the economy. With unemployment over 10% and rising, it is becoming increasingly apparent that those who called for a more robust stimulus back in February were correct. Although there has been at least a partial recovery in financial and stock markets, the real economy continues to suffer. Projections indicate that unemployment will remain high for several years, with far reaching political, social, and economic repercussions. (Speaking of which, a blog post exploring the social implications of persistent high unemployment may be in the offering soon).

-Escalation in Afghanistan. Can it work? It's almost impossible to truly know at this point. There are so many variables that are out of our direct control. Will the Afghan government increase its legitimacy among its own people? Will it reduce corruption? Will the Afghan security forces improve? Will Pakistan continue to hedge its bets by appeasing Taliban and Taliban-like groups in Northwestern Pakistan? A lot depends on the eventual answers to these questions.

-The rise of the Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin fringe. There have been right wing fringe groups in American politics, with varying degrees of power and influence, throughout this country's history--e.g. read Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics. But this group seems especially crazy. That's all I'm saying...