This "Ready to Go" Public Works Plan Will Cost 149 Billion And Create 1.6 Million Jobs in 2 Years

[Better Believe It]

The Senate should start over and simply incorporate this sensible plan it into a new stimulus bill (if Republicans prevent the current bill from being amended) and present it for a vote. If Republicans filibuster against a real stimulus bill that will "jolt" the economy, let them!

Keep the Senate in session, let a few obstructionist Republicans filibuster day and night on the Senate floor against an economic recovery act until the public gets fed up with their antics and 60 votes are obtained for cloture.

In other words, the Democrats should act like they won the election and the Republicans lost.

What is this plan? It's one that some DU'ers have read or heard about but very few have actually read.

It's "America's Mayors Report to the Nation on Projects to Strengthen Metro Economies and Create Jobs Now".

The Republican and Democratic mayors released a report on January 17, 2009. It lists 18,750 local infrastructure projects in 779 cities costing 149 billion dollars that will create 1.6 million jobs. All of these projects can be quickly started and be completed by the end of 2010!

Read the mayors "Mainstreet Economic Recovery" news release and data which also lists every single proposed project, the cost and the number of people that will be employed in every project.

Download the detailed plan and read it now.

The Senate should include these projects in their legislation. Any really "bad" projects that don't stimulate the economy and job growth can be removed but they are few and far between.

Let the Republicans attack it .... they will attack any Democratic stimulus project that doesn't adopt much or most of the Republican plan which is designed to fail.

It's in PDF format.

Go here:

http://www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery/

And click on:

Option 1: Download a PDF version of the full report, including the executive summary, list of participating cities and then projects, sorted by project type or by city.
+ Click to download the report (5 MB)

And bring this to the attention of other progressives and your representatives in Congress.

[Occam Bandage]

1. Triple that and we'll talk. nt

[Better Believe It]

2. That's just local city projects, not state or federal

Of course more money needs to be included for other important infrastructure and public works projects.

I ageee.

But this is an important start and inclusion in any meaningful stimulus plan.

[Still Sensible]

3. Not a bad start, but what happens when those projects

are completed. Will those jobs just melt away?

[Better Believe It]

4. We'll need a lot more additional funding for more long-term projects

But this plan, combined with some additional spending for state and federal projects, will give the economy the quick economic "jolt" that President Obama has said is essential to stop the downward spiral.

We've had decades of infrastructure neglect and this just scratches the surface. We need a federal high-speed rail program (AMTRAK) and modern mass transit systems in our cities and a whole lot more!

[murielm99]

5. While it is hard to determine if those jobs will just melt away,

think about the jobs that were created during the New Deal by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the other government programs. People were put to work, and that stimulated the economy. It took time, but there were more private sector jobs available.

[Better Believe It]

6. Look up your city and see what projects are being proposed

[KakistocracyHater]

7. 149 weeks in Iraq, huh

...

[grantcart]

8. just add it to the current proposal

[Better Believe It]

9. That would be all right. What are the chances it will be?

[Myrina]

10. kick!

:kick:

[progressoid]

11. 93K per job.

seems reasonable.

[Better Believe It]

12. That 's directly but those dollars create many more jobs indirectly

including industries that supply the raw materials, transportation, architects, etc., and much of that will be returned to the government in the form of personal and business taxes.

[Better Believe It]

13. For those who didn't visit DU yesterday

[jody]

14. Thanks for the link. I browsed the data for several cities in AL, CA, GA that I know very well and

some of them have projects that IMO are pork.

Still it is a start and congress should be the decider because unemployment exists in every congressional district regardless of party dominance.

I use congressional district because each represents about 630 thousand citizens and it is they who should be held accountable for any appropriations for economic recovery.

That's why our constitution says "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives" because appropriations for recovery must ultimately be repaid with taxes.

[ieoeja]

15. Reagan raised every tax in the country except federal income tax.

He directly raised most other federal taxes. And by drastically cutting federal funds provided to states and cities, he forced them to crank up their own taxes, usually on property owners.

Republicans got a three-for-one out of that deal. First, their guy cut federal income tax, and everybody loves paying less taxes.

Second, those states and cities were mostly under Democratic control at the time. So Democrats got blamed for raising taxes there even though Reagan forced it upon them.

Third, this increased competition between the states which worked great for the corporations and hurt the rest of us. For instance, Indiana gave United Airlines a state tax exemption to lure their maintenance away from Illinois. So Illinois loses both the direct and indirect tax base. Indiana gets the indirect tax base, but not the direct tax base. So the overall tax base is lowered which hurts the country overall which hurts the people overall which shifts more power to our betters who mostly support the GOP.


For a long-term plan, I hope Obama restores the federal government's place in funding state and local governments.