Obama: stimulus plan recognizes importance of firefighters

President-elect Obama is making a speech at George Mason University about the economy and he is talking about the stimulus package that he hopes to push through the congress in the next few weeks. Recently he has been spending a lot of time trying to gain support for this "emergency legislation".

Many federal agencies, as well as state and local governments, will have to cut their budgets over the next 1-2 years as our economy slides into a deepening recession. Already some local fire departments and the state of California have made cuts that have reduced the number of firefighters.

With that in mind, we thought some of the comments Obama made a few minutes ago were interesting:

"That's why the overwhelming majority of the jobs created will be in the private sector, while our plan will save the public sector jobs of teachers, police officers, firefighters and others who provide vital services."

[...]

"Government at every level will have to tighten its belt, but we'll help struggling states avoid harmful budget cuts as long as they take responsibility and use the money to maintain essential services like police, fire, education, and health care."

We are not naive, and know that a politician's statements don't always evolve into reality, but these statements bring a little positive light onto a depressing situation.

So, after that, to lighten the mood you need to go back and read again The Onion's report about the huge grease fire that raged through the Midwest.