What are you going to do with your $600?

I'm not an economist, nor do I even pretend to understand how money works. On the other hand, I do try to observe how politics works, and I'm struck by how this process, rushed though it may be, is almost an example of our government functioning well. Everybody in Congress and the White House actually wants to accomplish something (or at least make it look like they're accomplishing something), so they're compromising, each side giving the other something they're asking for, neither side getting everything they want, and soon, there will be a bill. Weird. I didn't realize that our government could still, ya know, function. A little.

Although I am curious as to how, on the one hand, the members of the GOP can spend hundreds of billions on this, but when asked to spend $10 billion to help lower-income families keep their kids healthy (which would relieve a bigger burden on those parents than $300/kid), they go ape.

See you all next week

Off to a conference in (not very) sunny San Diego.