To make things more confusing, a portion of President-elect Obama’s $825 billion economic stimulus plan targeting families earning less than $200,000, does not make sense.  According to a New York Times article, “…individuals would receive up to $500 and families up to $1,000. The money would be delivered through paychecks as a reduction in Social Security withholdings, and is intended to bolster consumer spending by giving a small lift to household pocketbooks.”

Wow, stimulate the economy by reducing payments to an underfunded “trust fund!”  That doesn’t seem to pass the rationality test.

For change that we can live with, rather than “believe in,” we need to know how we got here, and where we want to end up, before we can outline the steps to get there.  If our long-term goal is to prop up institutions while helping people stay in houses they can’t afford, and ensuring that the Social Security trust fund goes broke quicker than now projected, then we’re already well on our way.

How did we get here?  By ignoring reality, letting altruism drive financial markets (no credit check, no down payment, no interest for three years), receiving returns that defined logic (and really were not logical but fraudulent), and by believing in complex financial investments and tools that we couldn’t even understand.  Often if it looks to good to be true – it really is.

A better goal might be to create economic opportunity for all who work hard and apply themselves.  The American Dream is the opportunity to pursue happiness.  This requires faith that hard work today creates value over time – just not always today.  This means creating the right environment --through less regulation, less taxation, less litigation and more incentives for working hard and creating real value, as well as promoting a culture of hard work and long-term returns.

If what our government is doing today does not reflect this long-term view, then we need to slow down and reevaluate. 

Right now, our government is running, not walking, through the financial crisis – there is no telling how many citizens will be left behind.