Obama Wins

The news that Obama has won the election has left some troubling emotions. First, there was disappointment, then disbelief. How could the American public elect a man with radical ties, a murky past, outrageous statements of belief and no track record of sucess in politics?

Obama has grand plans that will cost the American people trillions.

He will invest $1 billion over five years in transitional jobs and career pathway programs.

He will create a Green Jobs Corp. His site says this will engage disadvantaged youth in energy efficiency opportunities.

He will double funding for the federal Jobs Access and Reverse Commute program which helps low-income Americans get to work.

He will raise the Minimum Wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011. Imagine small business people having to go from $6.55 now, to $7.25 in 2009, to $9.50 in 2011.

He will expand sick days to guarantee seven paid sick days per year.

He will expand Nurse-Family Partnership which will provide home visits by trained registered nurses to low-income expectant mothers, estimated at 570,000 first-time mothers yearly.

He will fully fund the Community Development Block Grant program.

He will create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund to develop affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods.

He will put more money into early childhood education, affordable child care, and expand Early Head Start and Head Start.

All of these programs, and there are many more, sound great but at what price? Can we really afford all of these programs directed at low-income people? Can the “rich,” the people making over $150,000 a year, afford the enormous cost these programs will need? Or, will these programs come back to haunt the middle-class?

Is Obama just throwing money at a problem? In the end, will any of these programs make a difference? Will they get people out of a low-income situation? Or, like all the other programs that have come before them, will they simply spend Americans’ money and the people who run the programs will make out like bandits?

I would encourage everyone to sign up for Congress.org. At least we will be able to see which bills are being passed as our money flies out the window.

http://www.congress.org/