However, a couple of things about the start of the year 2001. You say we were trying to figure out how to spend our budget surplus (from the year 2000). This is true enough, but within a few short months, the .com bubble had burst, ending the rather long up market, and with it any further tax surplus as we fell into a recession. This was caused, as is our current problems, by lack of oversight in the industry, as was the earlier savings and loan debacle. 9/11 only deepened the recession that was in full swing by that point, with those in the stock market watching their stocks drop deeply from (DJIA ~11,000) to levels that took 5 years to recover from. Currently, the DJIA is back to those 2003 levels, but will hopefully it will start to climb back up during this year.

Questions remain as to what true change will happen. Will Obama be able to make use of a Congress controlled by his party–something Clinton seemed unable to do (his least productive 2 years were his first, when the Democrats contolled both houses of Congress)?

How will he handle the first test from the terrorists? When that bomb or attack takes place against Americans, either here or elsewhere in the world, will he stand strong in the face of such adversity, or will we have a Carter-like response to the Iranian embassy takeover?

Energy independence, if there really is such a thing, short term steps should include even higher mpg ratings on vehicles to force the auto industry into the new technologies that are trickling out–but with this industry in the shape it’s in right now, is this a step that Obama and Congress will be willing to take as a first step to encourage plug-in hybrids and ER-EVs? Moving to other forms of energy to power our vehicles is a slow process, so we need methods that make use of our existing infrastructure.

I for one am looking forward to the potential for change with this new administration, though not without some worry. Let’s hope that the change will be good and not change for change sake, nor continuing with the status quo.