If people aren't hurting, where's the beef? Here they're hurting, elsewhere not

Laura Tyson, one of Obama's economic advisors (and formerly Clinton's Chief Economic Advisor), explains why Obama keeps talking about the need to fix healthcare as part of the solution to the economic crisis -- i.e., why fixing the Republican-tattered safety net (including not messing with Social Secrity) is fundamental to re-building the confidence necessary for a society to thrive economically. The contrast with Europe today and Japan during its so-called "lost decade," when consumers were not particularly affected, is drawn. No wonder the rest of the world doesn't feel the urgency to match our massive stimulus.