"multiple crises that threaten the entire American system."

speaking of the economics crisis alone, some figures...

Paul Rosenberg writes,"At $4.3 Trillion, Bailout Costs Exceed WWII"

"According to an analysis by CNBC, "Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions" , the financial bailout tab already stands at $4.28 trillion and counting. That's about 20 times the cost of the Louisiana Purchase (adjusted for inflation), and more than anything else CNBC could come up with, including World War II, which cost $3.6 trillion by their estimate. They have a slideshow of "Big Budget Events" here.
However, they overlooked the obvious: our spending on nuclear weapons from World War II forward was estimated at $5.5 trillion in a Brookings Institute Study completed in 1998 (summarized most recently here). Adjusted for inflation, that's roughly $7.2 trillion in 2007 dollars. Total military spending over this same time period amounted to $22.8 trillion. Still, that's $22.8 trillion over half a century. Bush ran up $4.28 trillion in a matter of months.

The numbers are so staggeringly big that one really does have to use these sorts of historical comparisons just to begin to grasp the enormity of what's going on right in front of us, while the political class continues to pretend that the money being spent isn't really real, unlike, say, money to pay for health care or education."

full analysis...

http://tinyurl.com/5vy6xg

Quote from David Brooks for those who expect him to be attacking Obama:

"Believe me, I’m trying not to join in the vast, heaving O-phoria now sweeping the coastal haute bourgeoisie. But the personnel decisions have been superb. The events of the past two weeks should be reassuring to anybody who feared that Obama would veer to the left or would suffer self-inflicted wounds because of his inexperience. He’s off to a start that nearly justifies the hype."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/opinion/21brooks.html

Excellent RFK quote! In that context, Bob Herbert is thrilled that we will finally have a president who "gets it" when it comes to job creation:

"The idea that the nation had all but stopped investing in its infrastructure, and that officials in Washington have ignored the crucial role of job creation as the cornerstone of a thriving economy is beyond mind-boggling. It’s impossible to understand.

Impossible, that is, until you realize that bandits don’t waste time repairing a building that they’re looting."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/opinion/25herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Eugene Robinson says in a WaPo article today that the country has two economic captains; one who can give orders, but won't, and the other who wants to, but can't:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402117.html

Thomas Friedman from the Times yesterday:

"If I had my druthers right now we would convene a special session of Congress, amend the Constitution and move up the inauguration from Jan. 20 to Thanksgiving Day. Forget the inaugural balls; we can’t afford them. Forget the grandstands; we don’t need them. Just get me a Supreme Court justice and a Bible, and let’s swear in Barack Obama right now — by choice — with the same haste we did — by necessity — with L.B.J. in the back of Air Force One."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/opinion/23friedman.html

Obama explains the fundamentals of 'smarter government':

"This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works."

Bravo, President-Elect Obama. THAT'S how you explain the progressive vision of government to an anxious country that needs serious leadership to calm the jitters.

Obama addressed the need for government belt-tightening and a health care system for all at a press conference today morning during which he also named his OMB(Office of Management and Budget) team.

The address in full:

"Good morning.

I speak to you today, mindful that we meet at a moment of great challenge for America, as our credit markets are stressed, and our families are struggling. But as difficult as these times are, I’m confident that we will rise to meet this challenge – if we’re willing to band together and recognize that Wall Street cannot thrive so long as Main Street is struggling; if we’re willing to summon a new spirit of ingenuity and determination; and if Americans of great intellect, broad experience, and good character are willing to serve in government at this hour of need.

Yesterday, I announced four such Americans to help lead the economic team that will advise me as we seek to climb out of this crisis. Today, Vice President-elect Biden and I are pleased to announce two other key members of our team – Peter Orszag as Director and Robert Nabors as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Before I explain why I selected these outstanding public servants, let me just say a word about the work I am asking them to undertake. As I said yesterday, the economic crisis we face demands that we invest immediately in a series of measures that will help save or create two and a half million jobs and put tax cuts in the pockets of the hard-pressed middle class. Many of those new jobs will come in areas such as energy independence, technology, and health care modernization that will strengthen our economy for the future.

But if we’re going to make the investments we need, we must also be willing to shed the spending we don’t. In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It is an imperative. We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a politician, lobbyist, or interest group. We simply cannot afford it.

This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges. We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.

Let me give you one example of what I’m talking about. There’s a report today that from 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff for such subsidies. If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as President.

And we will also focus on one of the biggest, long-run challenges that our budget faces – namely, the rising cost of health care in both the public and private sectors. This is not just a challenge but also an opportunity to improve the health care that Americans rely on and to bring down the costs that taxpayers, businesses, and families have to pay.

That is what the OMB will do in my administration – it will not only help design a budget and manage its implementation, it will also help make sure that our government – your government – is more efficient and more effective at serving the American people.

There is no better person to help lead this effort as Director of the OMB than my friend Peter Orszag. Peter has been one of our nation’s leading voices on budgetary issues. It is said that a nation’s budget reflects its priorities. I believe that is true. And I know that Peter will bring to his work at the OMB a set of priorities that I – and the American people – share.

Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions in our understanding of all the major economic challenges we are now confronting – from reducing medical costs to saving Social Security to fighting global climate change to helping put the dream of a college degree within reach for more students.

As Director of the Congressional Budget Office, he reenergized and reinvigorated the agency, while shifting its focus to confront the health care crisis that is not only a cause of so much suffering for so many families, but a rapidly growing portion of our budget and a drag on our entire economy.

But it is not simply Peter’s past career that makes him qualified for his new appointment, it is his vision for the future. He believes, as I do, that even as we take steps to restore discipline to our budget, we must also take the steps right now that are necessary to solve our immediate crisis.

Peter doesn’t need a map to tell him where the bodies are buried in the federal budget. He knows what works and what doesn’t, what is worthy of our precious tax dollars and what is not. Just because a program, a special interest tax break or corporate subsidy is tucked into this year’s budget, does not mean it should survive the next. The old ways of Washington simply can’t meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

And no one is more able or more qualified to assist Peter in this work as Deputy Director of the OMB than Robert Nabors. Rob will bring to this post experience in the executive branch, at the OMB, where he helped the Clinton administration achieve balanced budgets, as well as in the legislative branch, where he led the appropriations committee staff as a driving force for a responsible budget. Together with Peter, Rob will help steer our budget through Congress so that I can sign it into law.

Now, let me be clear: these appointments and the appointments I announced yesterday are not the sum of my economic team. These appointees will work with those I have yet to announce – including the secretaries of Energy and Labor, Commerce and Health and Human Services and others in my administration – to design a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, and to put our economy on a path to long-term growth and prosperity.

Because at this moment, we must not only restore confidence in our markets. We must also restore the confidence of middle class families that their government is on their side – that it’s working for them – on their behalf – to meet their families’ needs. And that is exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States of America. Thank you."
Obama explains the fundamentals of 'smarter government' :

"This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works."

Bravo, President-Elect Obama. THAT'S how you explain the progressive vision of government to an anxious country that needs serious leadership to calm the jitters.

Obama addressed the need for government belt-tightening and a health care system for all at a press conference today morning during which he also named his OMB(Office of Management and Budget) team.

The address in full:

"Good morning.

I speak to you today, mindful that we meet at a moment of great challenge for America, as our credit markets are stressed, and our families are struggling. But as difficult as these times are, I’m confident that we will rise to meet this challenge – if we’re willing to band together and recognize that Wall Street cannot thrive so long as Main Street is struggling; if we’re willing to summon a new spirit of ingenuity and determination; and if Americans of great intellect, broad experience, and good character are willing to serve in government at this hour of need.

Yesterday, I announced four such Americans to help lead the economic team that will advise me as we seek to climb out of this crisis. Today, Vice President-elect Biden and I are pleased to announce two other key members of our team – Peter Orszag as Director and Robert Nabors as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Before I explain why I selected these outstanding public servants, let me just say a word about the work I am asking them to undertake. As I said yesterday, the economic crisis we face demands that we invest immediately in a series of measures that will help save or create two and a half million jobs and put tax cuts in the pockets of the hard-pressed middle class. Many of those new jobs will come in areas such as energy independence, technology, and health care modernization that will strengthen our economy for the future.

But if we’re going to make the investments we need, we must also be willing to shed the spending we don’t. In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It is an imperative. We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a politician, lobbyist, or interest group. We simply cannot afford it.

This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges. We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.

Let me give you one example of what I’m talking about. There’s a report today that from 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff for such subsidies. If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as President.

And we will also focus on one of the biggest, long-run challenges that our budget faces – namely, the rising cost of health care in both the public and private sectors. This is not just a challenge but also an opportunity to improve the health care that Americans rely on and to bring down the costs that taxpayers, businesses, and families have to pay.

That is what the OMB will do in my administration – it will not only help design a budget and manage its implementation, it will also help make sure that our government – your government – is more efficient and more effective at serving the American people.

There is no better person to help lead this effort as Director of the OMB than my friend Peter Orszag. Peter has been one of our nation’s leading voices on budgetary issues. It is said that a nation’s budget reflects its priorities. I believe that is true. And I know that Peter will bring to his work at the OMB a set of priorities that I – and the American people – share.

Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions in our understanding of all the major economic challenges we are now confronting – from reducing medical costs to saving Social Security to fighting global climate change to helping put the dream of a college degree within reach for more students.

As Director of the Congressional Budget Office, he reenergized and reinvigorated the agency, while shifting its focus to confront the health care crisis that is not only a cause of so much suffering for so many families, but a rapidly growing portion of our budget and a drag on our entire economy.

But it is not simply Peter’s past career that makes him qualified for his new appointment, it is his vision for the future. He believes, as I do, that even as we take steps to restore discipline to our budget, we must also take the steps right now that are necessary to solve our immediate crisis.

Peter doesn’t need a map to tell him where the bodies are buried in the federal budget. He knows what works and what doesn’t, what is worthy of our precious tax dollars and what is not. Just because a program, a special interest tax break or corporate subsidy is tucked into this year’s budget, does not mean it should survive the next. The old ways of Washington simply can’t meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

And no one is more able or more qualified to assist Peter in this work as Deputy Director of the OMB than Robert Nabors. Rob will bring to this post experience in the executive branch, at the OMB, where he helped the Clinton administration achieve balanced budgets, as well as in the legislative branch, where he led the appropriations committee staff as a driving force for a responsible budget. Together with Peter, Rob will help steer our budget through Congress so that I can sign it into law.

Now, let me be clear: these appointments and the appointments I announced yesterday are not the sum of my economic team. These appointees will work with those I have yet to announce – including the secretaries of Energy and Labor, Commerce and Health and Human Services and others in my administration – to design a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, and to put our economy on a path to long-term growth and prosperity.

Because at this moment, we must not only restore confidence in our markets. We must also restore the confidence of middle class families that their government is on their side – that it’s working for them – on their behalf – to meet their families’ needs. And that is exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States of America. Thank you."

I guess when you say "we" each time you mean government?

Funny you mention dinosaurs and Obama, because he has indeed trotted out the leaders from the last century to join him in running the government.

Steve

Well, I saw him giving his second press conference today at CNN and I must say that he is indeed taking the action according to his words.

Nobody can do more than that: be the change one wants.

He is going to need all American citizens to help him accomplish this, both republicans and democrats and he is more than willing to work together.

If America can manage that it will regain it's leading role in the world.

Conservative pundit David Brooks on people(dinosaurs) "running the govt.":

Ref. #2

"Already the culture of the Obama administration is coming into focus. Its members are twice as smart as the poor reporters who have to cover them, three times if you include the columnists. They typically served in the Clinton administration ..."

"And yet as much as I want to resent these overeducated Achievatrons (not to mention the incursion of a French-style government dominated by highly trained Enarchs), I find myself tremendously impressed by the Obama transition.

"The fact that they can already leak one big appointee per day is testimony to an awful lot of expert staff work. Unlike past Democratic administrations, they are not just handing out jobs to the hacks approved by the favored interest groups. They’re thinking holistically — there’s a nice balance of policy wonks, governors and legislators. They’re also thinking strategically. As Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute notes, it was smart to name Tom Daschle both the head of Health and Human Services and the health czar. Splitting those duties up, as Bill Clinton did, leads to all sorts of conflicts.

"Most of all, they are picking Washington insiders. Or to be more precise, they are picking the best of the Washington insiders.

"Obama seems to have dispensed with the romantic and failed notion that you need inexperienced “fresh faces” to change things. After all, it was L.B.J. who passed the Civil Rights Act. Moreover, because he is so young, Obama is not bringing along an insular coterie of lifelong aides who depend upon him for their well-being.

"As a result, the team he has announced so far is more impressive than any other in recent memory. One may not agree with them on everything or even most things, but a few things are indisputably true.

"First, these are open-minded individuals who are persuadable by evidence. Orszag, who will probably be budget director, is trusted by Republicans and Democrats for his honest presentation of the facts.

"Second, they are admired professionals. Conservative legal experts have a high regard for the probable attorney general, Eric Holder, despite the business over the Marc Rich pardon.

"Third, they are not excessively partisan. Obama signaled that he means to live up to his postpartisan rhetoric by letting Joe Lieberman keep his committee chairmanship.

"Fourth, they are not ideological. The economic advisers, Furman and Goolsbee, are moderate and thoughtful Democrats. Hillary Clinton at State is problematic, mostly because nobody has a role for her husband. But, as she has demonstrated in the Senate, her foreign-policy views are hardheaded and pragmatic. (It would be great to see her set of interests complemented by Samantha Power’s set of interests at the U.N.)

Finally, there are many people on this team with practical creativity. Any think tanker can come up with broad doctrines, but it is rare to find people who can give the president a list of concrete steps he can do day by day to advance American interests. Dennis Ross, who advised Obama during the campaign, is the best I’ve ever seen at this, but Rahm Emanuel also has this capacity, as does Craig and legislative liaison Phil Schiliro."

How big? Barry Ritholtz puts the sum of this fall's bailouts — $4.6165 trillion — in context:

"People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history."

His numbers:

"• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion"

There are other ways to do the math — as a share of the federal budget, for instance. Still, it gives you a sense of the scale.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/11/big-bailouts-bigger-bucks/

PS: See comment #1 by Freyja for more detailed numbers including nuclear weapons and other military expenditure and a write up on how much of it was worth it.

Big Budget Events
Project Original Cost: Inflation Adjusted
Cost:
Hoover Dam $49 million $782 million
Panama Canal $375 million $7.9 billion
Gulf War I $61 billion $98 billion
Marshall Plan $12.7 billion $115.3 billion
Louisiana Purchase $15 million $217 billion
Race to the Moon $36.4 billion $237 billion
Savings & Loan Crisis $153 billion $256 billion
Korean War $54 billion $454 billion
The New Deal $32 billion (Est) $500 billion (Est)
Gulf War II / War on Terror $551 billion $597 billion *
Vietnam War $111 billion $698 billion
NASA (Cumulative) $416.7 billion $851.2 billion
World War II $288 billion $3.6 trillion
# Nuclear Weaponry -- $7.2 trillion
# Cold War Military -- $22.8 trillion

We have asymmetric threats simply because we have Asymmetric Systems that is to say we do not have systems designed to maintain balance and proportion among the participating entities. This reality is in conflict with the preponderant individual intention which is to gain the biggest portion of the pie as is possible with out regard to the others sitting at the table.

So in conclusion the only solution is complete systems redesign from the ground up from a holistic system perspective such that they will maintain balance and proportion in other words the creation of Symmetric Systems, which should now become our collective intention.

The end of disease click my name.

Everyone a life worth living

http://Humanitarian.Me click my name

Helping humanity to evolve and adapt to meet the speed of change

Each cell of the whole body fed and nurtured

Everyone a life worth living

Holistic Systems and Architecture

Unity and Collaborative Initiatives

Developing integrated perspectives to achieve or maintain balance

New Sustainable Symbiotic Housing Contsruction Technology and Little City Systems

http://housing.units.me

New Global Value Exchange System

Holistic Economics

Click my name

Universal Information Systems

Click my name

collaboration.me

Collaboration .me!

It's all about you as me as we

Collective Effort

Synergy & Shared Intentions

For things achieved best not "alone" but as "all one"

Consumers, Producers, Economy, Government, Tools, Evolution, Revolution

Dear Deepak,

I thought that was a very creative way to put it.

Above are the feathers.

Who amongst you will help pump the wings?

And as we can see the feathers did not appear by accident, but as a result of intelligence and intention and proper placement of attention.

Hi Richard #17,

Well, I made an attempt in the form of a butterfly who's feathers are two symmetrical hearts :)

http://www.heartphone.org/labyrinths_in_nature.htm

Scroll down a bit towards the bottom of the page and you will see it.

Love, Mieke

When the scales are moved from our eyes
We shall fly as the angels.

Featherbrain.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/econteam1

Hello Deepak and Everyone,

Poor Barak Obama little did he know how starved folks have been during the lean and mean Bush Administrations in terms of dream catchings.

He has become America's number #1 human dream catcher. You hang his picture over your bed at night and somewhere over the rainbow your dreams really do come true.

Poor Barak Obama.

I just heard him give a little chat about his new hire for something or other, who, will know, exactly, where to find all the dead bodies(financial drags on the Fed Budget) and he sounds like a man with a mission and a focus....why not let him clean up a mess or two or three and see how it goes before we hand him our dreams for a brand new earth.....

have a grand evening all....ruth