I have sworn off writing about "politics" on this blog for a while - mostly because 1) people get really antsy about politics and feel personally attacked when others disagree with their views, 2) I live and work off 100% donations from people who aren't always inclined to give to people they disagree with politically, and (most importantly) 3) I have long ago quit believing that politicians care about anything beyond their own power and status are capable of working primarily "for the good of the world," which I believe is the welcoming of the Kingdom of God.
- Fully fund life-saving Anti-Retroviral Treatment to every single man, woman, and child infected with HIV in Africa, including training the health professionals required to administer treatment and the building of necessary infrastructure
- Eliminate illiteracy across the entire world (58 times over)
- Give 160x our annual aid to Africa
- Wipe out malaria and TB in Africa (several times over)
- Give a "One Laptop to Child" to every person in India, Africa, and South America
- Give 4.4 million Americans a free college education at a prestigious private institution
- Triple American scientific R&D spending
- Send a check for $2300 to every living American
- Provide six years of universal health care to Americans
- Fix the Social Security problem
- Build seven new international space stations
- Or - in terms of FDR's New Deal, for $250 billion in today's money, he bought 8,000 parks, 40,000 public buildings, and 72,000 new schools. So, double or triple that for what we could get for $700 billion today
- Socialize the catastrophic greed of capitalist bankers and force taxpayers to pay the banks' ill-advised debt for several generations
It would be obscenely political of me to point out that the total cost of the Iraq war will likely approach $3 Trillion according to the Washington Post. Or that Time Magazine is reporting on the dangers of America's new #1 export - debt. Or that any number of economists and analysts believe that the nearly $10 Trillion national debt will cripple our nation for generations. So I won't mention any of that. But I'll just point out that by including the cost of the Iraq war along with the proposed bailout, you could choose five or six of the items above and accomplish them all.




uh... DITTO!
Posted by: Scott | October 01, 2008 at 21:36
WOW! That was great Steven. Sleep deprivation has not robbed you completely!
Posted by: elisa | October 02, 2008 at 01:25
Thanks for the comments - more conversation is happening on the post at http://twoandtwomakesfive.blogs.com/two_and_two_makes_five/2008/10/dear-america-my-final-word.html
Posted by: steven | October 02, 2008 at 12:06