T: Is for trying times

The biggest problem facing the monetary system right now, is the value of the dollar. How much is it worth? Nobody seems to know and because of it nobody is lending, able to borrow or spend. Yet amidst this puzzling question a package worth $825 billion, has passed. Not everyone is for it as it was passed by 244 votes to 188, with politicians voting mostly along party lines. Every Republican went against it, while all but a handful of Mr Obama's fellow Democrats supported it. It will now go to the Senate for further debate, probably starting next week. President Obama says the package is a vital remedy to boost the ailing American economy and he was "grateful" the House of Representatives had passed the bill. He said: "There are many numbers in this plan. It will double our capacity to generate renewable energy. It will lower the cost of health care by billions and improve its quality. Yet it doesn't lower some of this but raise the price. "It will modernize thousands of classrooms and send more kids to college. He also stated "But out of all these numbers, there is one that matters most to me: this recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years." The new spending includes money to rebuild crumbling roads and bridges and upgrade healthcare and schools. Yet where in the package is the jobs? I looked at this and I did not see them. What I saw was an increase in things that I believe in such as money to an arts endowment but in these times is this really our priority? My heart says yes, but the realism is no. An interesting note to all of this, all the members of the House and one third of the Senate are up for re-election in just 21 months. Time will tell where all this leads and that is a F.A.C.T.