President Obama is proposing a $50 Billion Infrastructure Plan:
Part of the plan being released today calls for the funding of a permanent infrastructure bank that would invest in projects most critical to the economy. The up-front investment would go to the nation's highway system and focus on modernizing the system while providing jobs. There also would be investment in the nation's bus and rail systems, including an overhaul of Amtrak's fleet. The final cog would be the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system.
Infrastructure, which is an investment in America, is sorely needed and has the potential to create jobs. That said, last spending on infrastructure, the government did not require two conditions, hire America and buy American, thus funds flowed out of the country instead of into the pockets of Americans.
Also, the bidding procedure for contracts was the same as the one used in Iraq. It's all well and good to invest in U.S. infrastructure, this is one of the most bang for the buck stimulus proposals out there. But the devil is in the details and will we see this government do Stimulus right right this time? Democrats are bad enough, but Republicans block anything that will help the American people and this economy at every turn.
This is the kind of spending one wants to see, investment spending. These types of projects return their value in immediate jobs and future economic growth.
Media spin - "too little too late"
One can tell the official issued "talking points" by some political party/corporate lobbyist group just because they are repeated ad nauseum, in the press, on cable noise, devoid of fact, value....like the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The latest is this one, trying to cut off at the pass, any new stimulus spinning, claiming it's "too late".
I've got news for everybody. The Great Depression got so deep, from Oct 1929 to early 1934, because initially Hoover did not go far enough, especially with....financial reform.
So, literally FDR was "round two" or a "do over" on policies to deal with the Depression.
It is not too late, if they don't start enacting real policies, as they did in the Great Depression, well, then it will be "too late" when the country implodes.
Pretty Quick Robert
While reading this article this morning I thought Robert probably will be on this one by tomorrow.While reading this I went back to when I decided to become civic minded and when Obama started with the stimulas I wrote him hoping someone with a brain would read my letter and pass the letter on.I hoped but knew the reality that chances were very slim.I will disregard the majority of said letter and write whats pertinate with your post.The one glaring issue all the big boys in Washington seem to be ignoring or more probabel too slow on the draw to figure out.The Strait of Hormuz,all it would take is one big oil tanker being sunk in the Strait to disrupt the flow of oil for as little one to two weeks would drive up gas prices, to many experts opinion, to Ten Dollars a gallon.This is why my opinion the U.S. should use some of the stimulas to help gas stations retrofit for C.N.G. stations,create an industry for converting 18 wheelers and pickups and some cars,make GM,Chrysler to keep open their factories for this as a requirement for help and a idustry for home stations that Honda has the rights over and conincidently has the capability for introduction with their own line of vehicles,as of yet many Universitys have requested these vehicles and they have only released only a few.Now we go to the summer of 2010,a Japanese oil tanker was damaged put a flat dent in the large vessel and was investigated and found to have been a terrorist attack.That begs the question why does Iran have seven million C.N.G. vehicles on the road right now and why we aren't even talking about this viable solution to reducing our need for oil coming from countrys that are closet enemies of ours.There ya go an IDEA that even a Republican can go along with you would think,minus the Cap and Trade bull.My only interest is getting my country back to at least politics being boring not freeking SCARY.Frank Rutherford
Frank Rutherford