Barack Obama: Boost Our Infrastructure, Boost the Economy
Right now, there is a lot of focus on the economy, and on how the economy affects personal finances. This is a Big Deal in this year’s election. The major presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, are bending over backward to convince us that each of them has the right idea when it comes to the economy — thus affecting your personal finances as well.
While taxes have been getting a lot of play (John McCain has decided that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy — which he opposed — should be made permanent), there is another proposal that hasn’t been getting as much press: Barack Obama’s idea to boost the infrastructure.
Could improving our infrastructure improve the economy?
In a rather practical burst of insight, Barack Obama points out that creating new jobs for people would help the economy. But what would be the point of new jobs that are just, in effect, busy work? What if *gasp* new jobs were created to benefit the country overall?
That is what Barack Obama is proposing. He thinks that our crumbling bridges, cracked roads, outdated communications channels and deteriorating power grid should be improved and upgraded. And who better to do it than those who need jobs? (Since, you know, the economy has been hemorrhaging them for months now.) The proposal would be paid for through taxes (since the Bush cuts for the wealthy would expire) and a reduction in overseas military spending.
Even Mark Zandi, the respected Moody’s economist and adviser to John McCain’s campaign thinks that Obama’s idea would be beneficial to the economy. He thinks that good effects for the economy would be seen within a year of starting the program.
What an idea! Use taxpayer dollars to improve the lives of taxpayers through better infrastructure, more jobs and an economic recovery from the current debacle.
Do you think Barack Obama is on the right track with this one?
image credit: Rich Niewiroski Jr.
Tags: Barack Obama, Barack Obama economy, Economy, infrastructure, John McCain, personal finance blog, personal-finances, Taxes, taxpayer
6 opinions for Barack Obama: Boost Our Infrastructure, Boost the Economy
Eric Eggertson
Jul 19, 2008 at 9:48 pm
The idea of putting people to work for a useful purpose was successful during the Depression, though there are many horror stories about make-work projects that served no purpose.
The devil, as usual, is in the details, but it’s also in the principles. If you start with the right concept, and manage it properly, you can achieve great things.
Miranda
Jul 20, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I agree that often good principles go awry. However, I do think that improving our infrastructure is a good idea. Since it needs to be done.
Jean Murray
Jul 20, 2008 at 10:08 pm
The U.S. isn’t as simple a place as it was in the Depression. This is a good idea, but we might find that it isn’t that easy. For example, we didn’t have OSHA, EPA, etc. back then. I’m for anything that will get our roads back in shape. Here in the Midwest, they are awful.
Miranda
Jul 21, 2008 at 6:48 am
True, things aren’t as simple. But I don’t see why we couldn’t do an infrastructure upgrade. The roads are bad in a lot of places. And another major concern I have is the power grid. It’s extremely outdated.
Charles
Dec 2, 2008 at 11:57 am
I think that one infrastructure project that President Obama should consider is the Trans-Global Highway, proposed by Frank X. Didik a number of years ago. According to Didik, the proposed “highway”, which would contain roads, rail roads, water, oil and gas pipes as well electric and communication cables. The highway would use and standardize the existing road networks and build new roads as well as a number of key tunnels. Interestingly, the longest Tunnel in the proposal, would still be shorter than the longest existing tunnel today. It would seem that there are many advantages to the construction of the Trans Global Highway including vastly lower cost and faster shipping, better allocation of resources, the ability of utilizing raw materials and much lower carbon emissions, than the existing transportation system. The highway would open up a new era of international cooperation. The Trans-Global Highway site is located at http://www.TransGlobalHighway.com
miranda
Dec 2, 2008 at 12:37 pm
An interesting idea. Of course, there are are issues involved with who would pay for it, tolls and tariffs, etc. But it would probably help lower transportation and shipping costs. There are certainly many places where continents could be connected.
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