I sure didn't intend to issue accolades to this President, particularly regarding domestic spending matters. I do think there's some good things he's accomplished, particularly in foreign relations. And I actually agree that every American should have access to healthcare insurance. But "accolades"...not from me.

I agree with you that the recently-passed bill is a Rube Goldberg combination of language written by special interest lobbyists as well as input demanded by widely disparate political ideologues. A lot of what was removed in the political negotiation and lobbying process were the things that actually would reduce costs. President Obama was willing to compromise on most of the cost-cutting just to get 32 million people covered, something President's dating all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt have been unsuccessful in doing. The expectation I presume is that future Congresses will introduce amendments that really will cut costs--a big gamble with our money!

But on the issue of actions taken by the government to reverse the financial crisis, here is an excellent article from a current issue of The Atlantic. It's a long article and extremely well-written by an author (bio summarized below) who obviously had significant "inside" access. Here's the link...

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...side-man/7992/

The article provides information about both Tim Geithner as well as the thought process behind the plans to address the financial crisis. It concludes that the plan, Geithner's plan, will prove to have worked more quickly and at far less cost to the economy than anyone might have imagined--or will agree to at the current time. In fact, the author says, even though history may prove the effectiveness of the plan, it may cost both Geithner as well as President Obama their jobs. It gave me a much better understanding of what was done and why, and I thought I had a pretty good idea about those things before I read the article. I recommend it highly to both you and other posters here who are seeking more expansive information on this important time in our history. Also, make sure to watch the little YouTube video imbedded in the article. It's an interview with the author of the piece and gives even more information.
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Joshua Green is a senior editor of The Atlantic who has covered politics since joining the magazine in 2003. He has also written for The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and other publications. Previously, he was an editor at The Washington Monthly. Recently he was named one of Columbia Journalism Review's ten young writers on the rise.