The New Deal. Version 2.0

[Barefootsies]

He should have done this 2 years ago on this scale instead of fucking around with health care, saving wall street, and any number of other things.

President Barack Obama has called for a new comprehensive infrastructure plan as part of efforts to to jump-start the spluttering US economy.

The plan will invest about $50bn (£32.5bn) in roads, railways and airports as well as high-speed rail and the creation of an infrastructure bank.

US infrastructure has long been considered underfunded and receives poor grades from government agencies.
Continue reading the main story
US Economy

* US sees 54,000 jobs go in August
* Fed mulls further debt purchases
* US consumers less glum in August
* US consumers spend more in July

The move comes amid signs that the US economy is faltering.

On Friday, the US Labor Department announced that the US economy had lost a further 54,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.6%, from 9.5% in July.

"Over the next six years, we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads - enough to circle the world six times," Mr Obama told an event in Milwaukee marking the Labor Day holiday in the US.

"We're going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways - enough to stretch coast-to-coast. We're going to restore 150 miles of runways and advance a next generation air-traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travellers - something I think folks across the political spectrum could agree on."

"All of this will not only create jobs now, but will make our economy run better over the long haul," Mr Obama add.

Mr Obama also called for the creation of a permanent infrastructure bank that would focus on funding national and regional infrastructure projects.

The proposals would require congressional approval, which analysts say, is uncertain amid concerns about the size of the federal deficit.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the plan "should be met with justifiable scepticism" because it would raise taxes.

The infrastructure announcement marks the start of a week in which Mr Obama will focus on the economy, seen as the most important issue for voters in Novembers congressional elections.

On Wednesday the president travels to Cleveland, Ohio, where he is expected to unveil new tax proposals. On Friday he will speak in Washington.

BBC North America editor Mark Mardell says Mr Obama's announcements this week are all about positioning, and appealing to working class men in particular.

His message in the next two months, and more importantly the next two years, will be "the Republicans robbed us of recovery", our correspondent adds.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll of 1,024 US adults released on Monday suggests 52% of people would vote Republican, against 45% for the Democrats, up by 4% on last month.

The proposals call for investments over six years, but would be backed by an initial $50bn.

Reports quoting White House officials suggest the administration would consider closing tax breaks for oil and gas companies to pay for the plans.

In 2009, a report from the country's top civil engineers found that the state of America's infrastructure had not improved in the past four years.

The "Report Card" from the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US a D grade for its roads, public transport and other basic services, saying an estimated $2.2tn (£1.5tn) was needed for repairs.

"In 2009, all signs point to an infrastructure that is poorly maintained, unable to meet current and future demands, and in some cases, unsafe," the report said.

BBC Article

[Grapesoda]

there is all kinds of weird shit in the health bill that got more or less 'pushed in' with out really understanding what they did for instance a buddy of mine owns a 'trade school' now there are no more private banks allowed to provide loans my buddys school is now at the whim of the politicals and who can basicly 'buy influence'

the health care bill was well over 1000 pages and no one really knows what's in there and now obama's going to do it again? you'll be very very lucky not to find your self in some weird trouble after this

[IllTestYourGirls]

Wait, I thought THIS was "The Summer of Recover"? I thought there were millions of "shovel ready" jobs already. This wont create many jobs anyway. It takes $400k+ for the government to create one short term job.

[Socks]

Here in Canada they keep releasing numbers like -130,000 full time jobs +125,000 part time jobs .... net loss 5,000 jobs.

Scarier than I think people are letting on. Companies are doing whatever they can to give people 4 hour shifts no benefits no overtime, even if it means tripling their work force and having people working three jobs of 12 hours a week each.

[Dirty Dane]

[fatfoo]

It's hard to say if the economy is better or not. The GDP of a country is not the best measure of wealth. Let's say I have 1 dollar. I pay a person 1 dollar for a service. He performs the service. After that, he pays me 1 dollar for a service. I perform the service.

Let's say we passed back the same coin back and forth between 2 people. Let's say we passed the same 1 dollar coin a million times. It does not mean much. I think what people are obsessed with is big amount transactions, such as a one-time $10,000 payment.

I can see how a thick stack of dollar bills would look appealing.

[cambaby]

Obama is insane, people are starving getting thrown out of their homes and all he can do is talk about building fucking railroads?

Also all these jobs created to build this shit, what happens to the jobs when these guys are done building? Oh yeah they LOSE them. He is trying to stop the numbers from looking as bad as they really are, no one is buying his bullshit.

[tony286]

the problem is a service economy is a bullshit economy. Companies are not going to hire people back or new hires when they are making record profits with the scared highly productive scaled back work force so why add more people.Its not about whats good for America its whats good for their bonuses. Its been fucked up for a long time but cheap credit made people feel that they were doing better then they actually were. Wages have been flat forever and people became expendable.
It sucks but it had to be done the banks and wall street had to be bailed out. The banking system would of collapsed and most Americans retirement is tied into wall street.if that collapsed that would of been very bad also.
Cutting taxes isnt going to do shit because cutting taxes isnt going to get anyone hired which is basically the rights plan. Because they arent stupid people they know this mess cant be fixed. So they tell the masses what they want to hear so they get elected.

[dyna mo]

too little too late + it's a political move, not based on actually trying to do something, else this would of been done a lot sooner and a lot more money put in it. + high speed rail? please. fix the broken shit 1st. maybe the 80,000 bridges graded D-. the electricity grid. the fucking waterways/levees, the ahh, fuck it, n/m. 50b isn't even a drop in the bucket to repair u.s. infrastructure.

[dyna mo]

Estimated 5 Year Investment Needed to repair the infrastructure: $2.2 Trillion

[epitome]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

Estimated 5 Year Investment Needed to repair the infrastructure: $2.2 Trillion

And less than a trillion has been allocated towards what is needed.

America the beautiful!

[TheMaster]

he should have tried to be FDR 18 months ago, instead of wasting his time trying to be Lincoln, but as with al we've seen from him: it'll be too little and maybe too late.

[Agent 488]

should have done from the start.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by epitome

And less than a trillion has been allocated towards what is needed.

America the beautiful!

no shit eh. check this out, just to repair the drinking water infrastructure is estimated to be $250B over 5 years, 5x more than the total of this bold effort by obama.

ugh.

[tony286]

Originally Posted by TheMaster

he should have tried to be FDR 18 months ago, instead of wasting his time trying to be Lincoln, but as with al we've seen from him: it'll be too little and maybe too late.

very true

[2012]

Originally Posted by Dirty Dane

mo money mo money mo fake money . word

[Doctor Dre]

Originally Posted by cambaby

Obama is insane, people are starving getting thrown out of their homes and all he can do is talk about building fucking railroads?

Also all these jobs created to build this shit, what happens to the jobs when these guys are done building? Oh yeah they LOSE them. He is trying to stop the numbers from looking as bad as they really are, no one is buying his bullshit.

Construction is the best way to stimulate the economy. After multiple levels, it's the higher return per dollar you can get. Don't quite know how to explain it in english exactly.

[dyna mo]

traffic accidents due to unsafe roadways and time/resource lost in traffic congestion costs each american ~$1500/year

total: $300b/year.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

no shit eh. check this out, just to repair the drinking water infrastructure is estimated to be $250B over 5 years, 5x more than the total of this bold effort by obama.

ugh.

Highspeed rails are cool and all, and I would love to see more of them. But man we have so much existing infrastructure that needs to be fixed. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, it just needs to be done. Roads, water, dams, rivers... necessities that we depend on.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Sly

Highspeed rails are cool and all, and I would love to see more of them. But man we have so much existing infrastructure that needs to be fixed. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, it just needs to be done. Roads, water, dams, rivers... necessities that we depend on.

exactly. how many jobs will a high speed rail create? how many people will it serve? not enough, especially when that shit is, what, $100million/mile or some insane amount.

ugh.

[$5 submissions]

Originally Posted by Sly

But man we have so much existing infrastructure that needs to be fixed.

This pretty much summarizes it. The first "stimulus" was really just PORK.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

exactly. how many jobs will a high speed rail create? how many people will it serve? not enough, especially when that shit is, what, $100million/mile or some insane amount.

ugh.

Fixing sewers doesn't make very pretty headlines.

[marketsmart]

Originally Posted by Doctor Dre

Construction is the best way to stimulate the economy. After multiple levels, it's the higher return per dollar you can get. Don't quite know how to explain it in english exactly.

bullshit...

i would agree with you if all the money was to go into construction, but there will be so much waste and corruption with this.. its a waste of money and no significant amount of jobs will be created..

i would rather see the roads completely fall apart and states be forced to have them repaired with their limited budgets..

less chance of fraud and corruption in my opinion..

i want this economy to go straight into the abyss.. and i want to see millions of people suffer 100 times worse then they are suffering now..

then and only then will people have felt enough pain to do something about it and make the changes that need to be made in govt...




....

[Agent 488]

rails have been pushed as a green alternative to vehicles. it's nothing about headlines. any infrastructure spending has to be tied into a green initiative, which is needed.

[TheDoc]

Originally Posted by $5 submissions

This pretty much summarizes it. The first "stimulus" was really just PORK.

The first stimulus hasn't all been spent, it included $46 billion for mass transit and transportation projects, including bridges, building upgrades and water projects.

Often the States determined how the money was spent and on what projects, if they had busted water ways, etc, they could have easily spent the money to correct it. Any Pork, that may have been put in was written by the States and spent by the same people that put it in.

The bill wasn't simply about jobs or creating them, in that department it was more about saving them, and it did do that. The bill also included a large number of funded tax cuts, healthcare for kids/jobless, new homebuyers tax credit, the car purchase tax credit, extended unemployement benefits, building/transportation/transit projects, water projects, energy projects, lots of education benefits for States that greatly needed it, technology investments and even help for small businesses.

Check out what the bill was really about and what it really had in it, then what it actually did... it for sure wasn't just pork.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

rails have been pushed as a green alternative to vehicles. it's nothing about headlines. any infrastructure spending has to be tied into a green initiative, which is needed.

why not embrace new & green tech for roadways? there's no mention of green tech for the new roadways in this bill. more people served, more jobs created.

[Agent 488]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

why not embrace new & green tech for roadways? there's no mention of green tech for the new roadways in this bill. more people served, more jobs created.

go ask obama. who knows. just saying that trains have been touted by some as a green alternative for awhile, thus their inclusion that everyone was puzzled about.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

go ask obama. who knows. just saying that trains have been touted by some as a green alternative for awhile, thus their inclusion that everyone was puzzled about.

it was a rhetorical question. i'm more of the opinion the high speed rail in this bill is a sweetheart deal for someone somewhere. the cost of it v. the # of peeps served is insanely out of proportion. green or not.

[xmas13]

[jigg]

what is hte fucking point
the whole system is rigged and broken and probably own't last much longer much as they try to prop it up. Unless something really drastic is done... like mass debt forgivness

[Semi-Retired-Dave]

Why don't they spend like 10 Billion of that money for Teachers and Schools to educate our kids better instead of laying them all off? I just don't gt it.

[tony286]

pork is bullshit, if your elected your job is to get money back to your state. Mccain called a cute name but he did it and so do them all right and left. Remember when you want to elected they dont want to hear what you did for the country they want to hear what you did for them.
its funny about sarah she was the governor of porkville and she spoke about pork What taking it with both hands.

[tony286]

the wars have actually cost almost 3 trillion dollars. Obama actually put the war back in the budget where it wasnt before. We should get out we arent going to win or change any thing. We are just getting middle class and poor american kids killed.