I was watching Bill Mahr on HBO this weekend, extremely amused, as usual, by his irreverent and all0-too-true take on the constipation we all know as beltway policy.
He challenged the president to move beyond the “audacity of hope” to just “audacity.” Of course, I agree.
Even though the president has shown no end of energy and determination since being elected — confronting Wall Street greed, conducting triage on the auto industry, and communicating our desire to reengage the diplomatic process in the Arab world and beyond — it is time to be audacious in reinventing our economy.
Let’s start with health care and energy.
As for health care, employers are drowning in health care costs. Insurance companies, lawyers and providers are locked in a stalemate of high costs and spiraling litigation and consumers must balance economic realities with life and death decisions.
Be bold — let’s define what we want the health system to become and create it! If we can fire Rick Wagoner at GM and overhaul Wall Street raises, we can scrap the current health care system and start fresh. We don’t need a “transitional” system or a system cobbled together from the parts of the current mess. Throw it out — all of it — and start over.
As for energy, the only thing standing in our way of creating a viable alternative energy economy are our own illusions about oil. It will increase in cost again — at least the Saudi’s hope so. Let’s engage global firms (like GE) with the innovation and resources to propel us toward portable and renewable fuel resources.
Audacity — fearless, daring, intrepid. Doesn’t that sound like a solution worth pursuing?
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