http://www.rollcall.com/features/Mission_Ahead/mission_ahead/30248-1.html?type=printer_friendly
> A Powell Doctrine for the Economy and a Grand Bargain
> November 20, 2008, 12:00 a.m.
> By Gene Sperling
> Special to Roll Call
>
> Rather than aiming lower, the right answer is a grand bargain on
> fiscal policy that aims higher by combining a powerful “Powell
> Doctrine” fiscal stimulus and a bold approach to crucial priorities
> with a commitment to take on our greatest long-term entitlement
> challenges.
...
> A better approach would be a “grand bargain” in which we show
> long-term fiscal discipline not by doing less on crucial national
> priorities but by doing more to tackle our long-term entitlement
> challenge.
>
> One way would be to pass a universal health care plan that through
> smart and tough measures to bring down national health care costs also
> lowered the growth of Medicare and Medicaid without turning either
> program into a second-class health care.
>
> With privatization thankfully off the table, now could be the time to
> seek a progressive Social Security reform deal that strengthens
> solvency, ensures Social Security’s rock-solid benefit guarantee and
> increases benefits for widows. It could also include a new universal
> 401(k) that is separate from Social Security but part of a larger
> retirement security package that also strengthens defined benefit
> plans and reduces our nation’s long-term national debt.
>
> It is better to restore our commitment to long-term fiscal
> responsibility by aiming higher on entitlement reform than to aim
> lower on badly needed stimulus or long-term solutions to climate
> change, education and at long last offering affordable health care to
> all of our people.