"Don Firth: Mudcatters, at times, confuse 'evidence' with opinion."

True indeed, Doug. Your referring to the "Cash for Clunkers" program as a "fiasco," for example, was pure off-the-top-of-a-conservative-head opinion with no basis in fact. The program has been spectacular success, and that's not an opinion. Individual buyers are getting a good deal all the way around, the environment will benefit, it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the automobile companies are getting a much needed stimulus, and the dealerships in particular (many of which were in danger of having to close and lay off their employees) are being saved from extinction. And the program is not costing the taxpayers that much, especially when you consider that the auto companies, the dealerships, and their employees will now be able to continue paying their taxes! And today's news said that the program has proven so successful that it's going to be re-upped. Now, I'd say that's hardly a "fiasco."

I might point out (fasten your seat belt, you might find this ride a bit bumpy!) that the idea 0f putting the money in the hands of people who will spend it right away, as opposed to giving it to company heads who merely squirrel it away and/or give themselves salary raises and bonuses, was one of the fundamental principles of FDR in an effort to help people directly, while at the same time, stimulating the economy during the Great Depression, when he created agencies that would hire people for specific projects and directly pay them a salary—which they would spend right away because prior to the program, they were jobless and often homeless and hungry:   I'm sure you're familiar with the WPA (building roads, bridges, infrastructure in general that we still use today) and the CCC (cleaning up the environment and tidying up parks and recreation areas, which we are still enjoying today). It helped millions of people, needy through no fault of their own, and it went a very long way toward bringing the Depression to an end.

Given the right leadership, the government can do a pretty good job.

Conservatives don't like to acknowledge that. But it isn't opinion, it's history.

Don Firth

P. S. By the way, I also heard on this morning's news that half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States are related to expenses engendered by health care problems.