Despite public outrage over AIG bonuses, Obama had a good week. He traveled across America expressing his own outrage over the bonuses. He was warmly greeted in Orange County, California—once a bastion of conservative Republicanism. Republican Governor Swarzenegger warmly embraced him and assured him that California supported the stimulus plan. Obama appeared on the Tonight Show displaying his quick wit with the show’s host Jay Leno.

Leno raised the issue of congress threatening to tax the bonuses at 90%. “As a American,” he said that he was distressed that Congress could use the tax laws to punish a particular group. Obama responded that he understood the anger. Significantly, he did not endorse Congress’s response.

Nor did Obama mention that Congress voted for these bonuses when it passed the bailout or whether he or congress was aware of this clause in the Bill. Senator Cris Dodd (D-Conn) had appeared outraged at the bonus and told CNN that he was unaware of such an amendment. Later he told CNN that he didn’t write the clause, and later he admitted adding the clause at the insistance of Treasury Secretary Geithner.

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Many zoos are having a tough time surviving in this economy, but PETA has an idea that could help save them, and improve the lives of the animals inside.

The soon-to-be approved stimulus plan includes the (slightly altered) Coburn Amendment which essentially tries to guarantee that no one is allowed to have fun during the recession, at least not on the government’s check. While parks and museums have been spared from the chopping block, zoos have been denied any extra assistance in the economic downturn.

PETA has offered a solution to zoos facing budget woes: they’ll pay them $1,000 per animal if the zoo agrees to end its breeding programs and change their focus to being a sanctuary “for exotic animals rescued from circuses, abusive owners, and roadside attractions.”

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The conservative blogosphere, led by up and coming right wing-nut Michelle Malkin have been frantically pushing to label the stimulus bill the “Generational Theft Bill,” and impressionable republicans on the hill are echoing this ill-conceived branding quip. Generational Theft? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Apparently in the eyes of these pundits and politicians all debt is not created equal…

When Bush nearly doubled the national debt from 5.7 trillion to almost 11 trillion dollars to fund the Iraq war and give tax cuts to the wealthy, that wasn’t “Generational Theft.” Even though we’ll be paying for his policies for years to come, he was investing in our future, and making the world a better, safer place.

>>See also: Who Wins with Passage of Stimulus? Google, of Course

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After congressional leaders reached compromise on a 789 billion dollar economic stimulus package that includes investment for smart grid and broadband infrastructure, there were lots of smiling faces around Mountain View, Cali., the headquarters of Google Inc.

President Obama’s stated desire to invest in smart grid and broadband infrastructures syncs quite nicely with Google’s obvious desire to improve the nation’s broadband infrastructure but it also will benefit the company’s recent incursion into smart metering.

While the specifics of Wednesday’s compromise have yet to be released, the Senate version of the stimulus slated $7 billion for broadband and $20 billion for smart grid investment, with final figures likely to be smaller. [update: CNET reports that smart grid investment was pared down in the final package to $11 billion]

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The Barrasso amendment would exempt any project funded by the Economic Stimulus Plan from a normal National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency:

“The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.”

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Obama’s stimulus plan pitches a high priority for automating medical billing and record keeping. Many economists have made the business show circuit lamenting the high cost of implementing computerized medical record and billing systems. Actually, the costs of these document management systems are cheaper than free!

Automated medical record keeping can be the quickest and most immediately profitable part of the stimulus package. The Return-on-Investment of a Document Management System is so immediate that it often reduces total expenditure in the first quarter—think of it as a source of cash. Not only does it reduce paperwork, but it also reduces paper. It is thus a tree-hugger’s green dream.

Several private sector companies already deliver sophisticated Document Management Systems (DMS). The biggest misunderstanding of such systems is that they require every medical center to have a high cost data center. Actually, these systems are delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This means that the customer only needs a computer and a scanner connected to the Internet to use the service anywhere in the world. The software and storage resides at the vendor’s secure data center.

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As part of the Senate’s proposed stimulus plan, tax credits of up to $7500 have been included for plug-in electric vehicles!  The proposal signifies the Senate is willing to work with President Obama to wean the United States off its dependency on foreign oil. 

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/01/28/senate-proposes-7500-tax-credit-on-plug-in-electric-hybrid-vehicles/feed/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/28/president-elect-barack-obama-talks-about-a-new-chapter-on-climate-change/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/28/president-elect-barack-obama-talks-about-a-new-chapter-on-climate-change/#comments Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:42:21 +0000 Reenita Malhotra http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/28/president-elect-barack-obama-talks-about-a-new-chapter-on-climate-change/ This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

President-elect Barack Obama did not send representatives to the APEC Global Climate Summit but he recorded this message promising “a new chapter of American leadership on climate change.”

Leaders, wearing traditional Peruvian ponchos, wave during the official group photo of 16th summit of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, in Lima, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008.

The 21 economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which represent more than half of the world’s productive power, assured the world yesterday (Sunday) at the end of a 2-day summit in Lima, that the global financial crisis can be quelled in 18 months.  But how they expect this to happen - or how their governments can help remains to be seen.

The 18-month time-line fits with a calculation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which forecast that developed economies would grow barely 0.1 percent in 2009, and that the world would emerge from the crisis the following year.

APEC, which groups some of the most open economies in the world, warned that countries should not be tempted to use protectionist measures even if job losses mount. APEC members pledged to work together to ease the turmoil, agreed not to adopt new trade barriers for a year and called for better regulation of the financial industry. Their declaration at the end of a two-day summit in Peru supported a declaration by the Group of 20 (G20) major economies at a meeting in Washington last weekend that pledged to maintain free trade despite pressures to protect domestic industries. They are looking at stimulus plans that include boosting government spending and cutting taxes.

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