In today’s economy, it is pretty outstanding that when we talk huge numbers, in government, in the economy, or anywhere else, a Trillion dollars is a very large number! 20 years ago, it was a million, maybe even a billion at most. Inflation and the sheer size of our economy has made the perspective widen over the years.

With the passage of the stimulus bill by both the House and the Senate, the former without any Republican votes and the later with three, Collins, Snowe, and Specter, it won’t be long before this bill is put into effect, and another bailout bill is proposed to clean up after the last three, including Bush’s Stimulus from last year.

It has been argued by every politician, lobbyist, radio host, op/ed writer, and economist just how to lift the economy out of a recession. Most people agree that it is not permanent, and no one should reasonably expect this one to last forever. It may be harder than the last few, but given the scope of today’s world, today’s economy, and the actions of many, many (read: Dodd, Frank, and Fannie Mae) politicians, we hit some harder than normal times.

I’m pretty split on how to spend federal money on this sort of thing. Liberals love to throw money at the bottom, because they think the bottom supports the top, aside from the fact that they also think the poor are poor because of the rich, class wars, race wars, etc. Conservatives throw money at the top, in tax cuts and incentives, believing in the all mighty Reagan trickle-down economics. While I agree it works to some extent, rich or poor, everyone tends to horde money during hard times, and spend it during good times. Any good stimulus plan, if there should be one, which I am in the firm belief should be a last resort, should consist of tools spanning both sides. Spending works when spent right, and cuts work when cut right.

The thing is, people are losing their jobs and losing their confidence in the marketplace. Take a look at consumer goods. They don’t change in price, in fact, they go up. Wages stay the same or go down, they don’t seem to be matching the rest of the marketplace. A real economic stimulus should be working to put money into places that would directly affect consumer spending. Cut taxes on gas for awhile to reduce shipping costs for vendors and retailers. There has been tax breaks and incentives to buy cars right? Do that for other big items, like appliances, TV’s, housing, things that people need but put off in times like this in order to save for emergencies. Some retailers are trying get people shopping again by cutting prices on things, more sales. Putting money into people’s pockets through federal welfare, unemployment, or tax breaks is fine, but it has no use when people save it, or use it to pay down debt. Eventually those methods will work, after people feel confident enough to buy again, but the effect is not immediate for either side of the coin.

The fact of the matter is, Americans don’t want or need socialism in the form of government controlled everything. Deep down, every single person, rich or poor, white, black, asian, whatever, male and female, urban, suburban, or rural, all want and enjoy the personal freedom this country has to offer, and deep down they know that the direction we are heading is not the one we should be.

If Obama, no, the Democratic Party intends to stay another 4 years in 2012, they have a lot of work to do to uphold, at the very least, the core of this country’s ideals. They don’t have to agree with conservatives, green parties, or libertarians on policy, but they should at least be able to agree with freedom and the power of choice. They should be able to make sound decisions like every person in this country does for themselves and their families.

I know, perfect world, right?

tl;dr: I’m sorry Mister President, this isn’t Chicago, this is America, we are ALL American, that includes the minorities even though they can’t figure that part out yet. Do what is best for ALL of us, not SOME of us.