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I've been worried since May 19, 2008.

Barack Obama gave a speech on the downtown side of the waterfront in Portland, OR. Over 70,000 people came to see him speak. The Decemberists played one of the best shows I've ever seen them play.

People stood on bridges, came out on boats. Portland is very beautiful in May.

There was an overwhelming feeling of hope.

But, after hearing The Man, Barack Obama speak, I couldn't help but feel a little let down.

It was the same speech I had heard already. And this was his chance! The biggest crowd he had ever seen at that time.

"Wow. Wow . . ." he seemed lost in a sea of people.

Remember he's only been at the Federal level since 2005. This was unprecedented number of people, eager to hear what he said, nearly twice any crowd he had seen before.

He seemed scared.

And although the speech was good, it wasn't great. I was still going to vote for him, sure. But, I wasn't enraptured. There were no specifics.

Still, what was I going to do? McCain? Come on.

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Now Barack Obama is the President of the United States. I'm still proud that Americans carried a message of hope and change, in yes, the only real way possible, completely flipping the balance of one party to the other.

That said, President Obama's last week has disappointing at best.

Kudos for stopping torture (although we all know that's not the way the world works, there's no need for barely literate combat troops or hopped-up jock-monkeys to be water-boarding some dumb bastards who were so bad at being terrorists that they got caught), closing the embarrassing and illegal prison in Cuba, boosting educational funding, and helping children get health care.

I can't overlook, however, that the economic stimulus plans is terrible.

Obama traveled to the highest unemployment town in America to try and prove to that the plan was good. Ah, back home in Indiana.

Bad news.

Elkhart, you're fucked. Revel in Obama's glory because he's not going to be able to reverse a 15% unemployment rate.

Now, Mr. President, get back to the White House and do your fucking job!

You're the President, man! You don't go Elkhart, Indiana. You go outside the White House, or inside the fancy hallway if it's cold, and you give your speech to the American public LIVE, on a respectable network like NBC, or at least ABC. Christ!

I had to search and suffer through at least an hour of crap and chug some Rolling Rock tall-boys before finally finding the speech FROM THE GODDAMN PRESIDENT ABOUT THE FAILING ECONOMY on C-SPAN at like 9:00pm. Shit!

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At least, between some help US New articles, the President's Elkhart and Fort Meyer speech, and his answering questions for press -- I think I figure out where all of our tax dollars are going to go. Kinda.

The Plan:

1) "More than 90% in the private sector" -- says Obama about where the jobs will come from as a result of the stimulus plan.

So, settle down capitalist! The revolution has not yet come. I doubt it's going to be 90%. It's 90% on paper, in the real world it'll be a lot less, which means a lot less jobs across the board. If they're, for whatever stupid reason, planning that 90% will come from the private sector, then we're all up shit creek without a paddle, so to speak.

2) One plan is to offset payroll for the first $8,100 on every worker in America. I think it's a good start, but even as the proud, Portland peace loving hippie I am, I don't believe it's enough. Make it $30,000. These are the jobs that are the easiest to let go. At $8,000 the hope is to keep, I guess, part-time employees. At the very least make it $15,000, roughly the amount made by a full-time employee at minimum wage for a year.

3) 45% of the billion is in the form of tax cuts. The majority of which stems from that the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) will not be collected. Which, with all of its flaws, isn't necessarily an awful idea. It's not a good idea either. Adjusting the AMT for inflation with smarter exceptions is a good idea.

There are other tax cuts.

$300 immediately to taxpayers. $300 per child. More than likely, the average, single worker will get $600.

So, thanks...?

$600 is nice. I might be able to take a vacation with some additional saving, but more than likely it'll just trickle back into all the same places it already does -- basic necessities that aren't collapsing like other businesses.

Families with two children can hope to get around $1,200.

4) There is also a proposed 50% deduction on new equipment. Why not 100%?

5) $250 to Social Security recipients. Fair's fair. But, eliminating Social Security for anyone under 30 is still a dream of mine.

6) At least $10 billion goes to try and renegotiate bad loans from homeowners. Not bad, but likely not too do much. The problem is that the homes are too expensive for those living in them. The success rate on this program will most likely be poor.

7) Freddie and Frannie get to purchase homes up to $729,750 hoping to get about a 20% down payment. Well, that's fucking stupid. Let's hope there are better regulations or we could wide up more defaulted, this time more expensive, mortgages.

8) Rebuilding the roads, is, and has been, a mantra in Obama's plan to create jobs and stimulate the economy. This is one of the most frustrating points for me, because I find it so irrational. Despite it's irrationality, a large chunk of this stimulus bill will go towards our roads, and some to our general transportation. The exact number is going to be hard to pin down with so many millions of dollars going hundreds of places, but, trust me, it will be a huge portion of this bill.

9) Public Water Works. Quite honestly, if this can be well regulated and run efficiently, I give the government a blank check. It's water.

9) Green energy. Sure, great idea. I propose no payroll taxes on companies that want to set up green factories and no federal taxes on any materials that are proved to be sustainable or go into making buildings up to something equivalent to the Gold Leed Standard. But, we'll have to train those people.

10) Same for health care costs. If you're going to electronically set up all the records, good luck training all the people who are computer illiterate, especially when it comes to adapting new software. A plan, by the way, that's not going to do much to lower health care costs.

11) $6 billion to bring high-speed internet to areas with little connectivity. If Comcast in any indication, then government broad-band will be all but useless.

12) Extend unemployment insurance. Sad, but necessary. The massive, sudden lay-offs call for some sort of net. Or, we could let hundreds of thousands of people slip into almost complete poverty. People that won't have money to eat if they miss a paycheck. The cost of this plan will increase in 2009 as more people will be dependent on unemployment, and, equally sad, a selective few will make the claim that being dependent on unemployment is okay.

13) This is the strangest of the bunch: weatherizing homes. What the fuck? Strange, but maybe effective. It will offsets energy costs. It will probably be some sort of manual, simple work that can easily be done by those with little education and looking for immediate work. A spray? What the hell is going to be in this? Mark my words, whatever this turns out to be it will be horribly corrupt and probably give thousands of people cancer. And, where is the money going? What company? With what ties?

One important question that came up during Obama's Elkhart and Meyer performance, and only one from what I heard. Thanks, America.

The question was about Mandate Renewable Energy Standards -- A solar electric company's owner asked this in Elkhart. His rate selling back to the grid is terrible. But if the government set a percent produced, or outage level that had to be renewable, they would have to buy this back from this solar electric company owner to meet the mandated standards.

I'd agree to mandated standards for none necessary upgrades if using money from the new stimulus package. Compromise!

A better idea would be to allow for more independent companies to try and sell renewable energy to home owners, tax free. Let more people try, let them compete. Then, mandate a cap on the ratio for energy being sold from these independent companies back to the grid, that way the smaller companies get a better rate to encourage them to be more than just adequate, but also doesn't complete screw the electric company that is still set to government standards for the mass population.

*******

"Right size." says Obama, about his package. Funny, I say that too.

He also likes to say that "we have the most productive workers." Is it true? 14 year-old Korean children in a soccer-ball factory, I'm almost positive, are more productive than myself, or anyone in my office, your office, or any office. But maybe he's counting the production hour's dollar value. Theoretical capital shifted from one place to another. Then sure, I guess. But, to what extent does this rest on the manufacturing of goods in a cheap, unregulated market with poor environmental and workers rights standards? Doesn't this change, or at the very least, drastically modify the value of the service level jobs?

None of this solves a huge problem. One that will hopefully be somewhat settled by an extra $350 billion. Hopefully.

Banks are "effectively insolvent," according to Nouriel Roubini of NYU.

People have no money because the banks have no money. And directly giving people money from the Federal Reserve won't mean anything if it's just paper at that point.

Of course banks don't want to risk money, after too many people wasted and/or borrowed it all and then went...oh shit... We gotta pay that back? Damn, I'm broke. My bad.

For example, if I were to pay my students loans at a comfortable affordable rate adjusted to my income, it would take me until I was 82 years-old to be free and clean. Now, the goal is to get better jobs and start paying more. But, in this economy?

From what I've read, banks are somewhat more stable than before, however, they are no where near coming out of the giant, money sucking black-hole that makes this entire mess all the more dire.

My biggest problem with Obama's Elkhart Speech was that it was like he was on the campaign trail. Again. Shady shots on McCain, for no reason. Talking about what he's going to do when he's President. I think he actually said, "that's what I wanna do as President". You are President! No get to it!

Recommended listening: Sons and Daughters -- The Repulsion Box -- "Rama Lama"