With rising unemployment, a spiraling credit crisis, and two foreign wars keeping Americans in danger far away, it's easy to despair for uplifting conversation topics this Thursday. While the prices of food for the Thanksgiving dinner, and the gas to travel to far-flung family have stayed within reason so far, any more increases could send millions of Americans into poverty.
I don't want to diminish the suffering that many are feeling right now, or fear of the midterm future. Dozens of my close friends have lost their jobs in the past two weeks, and no doubt there will be more turmoil before this is all resolved.
But when we look at the larger picture, there are indicators that the cliché about failure being an opportunity for learning may well apply to nations as well as individuals. The historic election of Barack Obama might never have been possible had a negative economy not buoyed his candidacy as a reform-minded Democrat. Nevertheless, the incoming administration has the mandate and the opportunity to shift course in a way that accomplishes
Once in office, his task will be difficult, but the disastrous state of financial and political affairs left by President Bush provides the opportunity for national consensus on broad initiatives to stem the bleeding, and build a better future by reassessing our priorities, as a country and a people.
This New York Times article outlines Obama's plan to use his proposed huge ($750 million plus) stimulus package to accomplish two goals simultaneously: To revive the country's economy, and to shift large amounts of resources towards the infrastructure enhancement and "green jobs" he and his supporters maintain are key to making America competitive and self-sufficient in the future.
In California, the recent passing of Proposition 1A provides a clear example of the potential for large government spending to fulfill these dual mandates. Surely the building of a high-speed rail line through hundreds of miles of the state, and the attendant station building and upgrades, will help alleviate the pressure on construction workers made by the precipitous decline in housing prices and thus residential development.
Sometimes it takes blows to force overdue innovation and adaptation. The automakers in Detroit are learning this now, and as they should have in the 1980s (read David Halberstam's The Reckoning for a fuller account of this process). Let's give thanks to America in advance for learning from our mistakes.
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