No more surgery in 2010

Having survived its multiple surgical traumas as the economy went over the cliff in the final quarter of 2008- after being T-boned by the exorbitant speculative run up in oil prices earlier that year- the economy has spent 2009 in the Surgical ICU experiencing repeated intubations, central lines, tapering with ventilator settings, MRSA and VRE infections, dialysis and multiple codes. Somehow it's survived. Unfortunately as we enter 2010 the doctors are still pressing for more surgery and drug interventions although common sense may finally have taken hold and the 'no extraordinary measures' order signed. This may be a time for tax incentives for new hiring and accelerated depreciation on purchases, but not a time to continue deeper interventions that will result in permanent iatrogenic problems. And please- we don't need more 'shovel ready' projects. Frankly I never want to hear that phrase again. I don't want to be caught up in traffic while one individual fills a pothole and 10 construction workers look on- all to artificially lower the unemployment rate. We need real increases in productivity to do battle in a world economy, not wasteful big government spending.
Indeed the current political stalemate is exactly what is needed- a standoff between the surgeons and the physicians over what should be done for the patient. Let them glare at each other and make threats as to why their actions are the only ones capable of saving the patient. As the year begins, there is increased hiring in the life sciences. Let's allow the patient to get up and take a few steps down the hallway. Perhaps they'll be discharged by the end of the year.