Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Editorial: Stimulus plan needs details
 |
By THE VOICE OF AURORA
The Aurora Sentinel
With all sides promising quick action on an economic stimulus plan pitched by a soon-to-be-president Barack Obama, it’s now past time to see some important details.
Obama has said that his nascent administration is looking at spending somewhere around $1 trillion on tax cuts and federal spending projects in hopes of reviving the staggering U.S. economy. In speeches and online, Obama has boasted that his plan, expensive as it is, will generate 4.1 million new jobs and inject consumer spending into the economy.
It sounds just like a plan that America needs right now, and it’s sounds like it’s time to release the details of just how this plan will work.
Obama has asked Congress to approve such a measure immediately, and House and Senate leaders have agreed that an early- to mid-February final passage is possible. Yet no detailed plan has even been published.
There are many worrisome problems Americans and Congress needs to consider here: Will the government fund needed projects that don’t have enough engineering and planning done to create but a few jobs? Many complex transportation and restoration projects take years of planning and public comment before job-creating construction takes place.
Are there enough American workers in the fields targeted by so much construction, or will many of these jobs go to illegal immigrants or foreign workers? With consumer confidence so low, how can the government be sure that the tax cuts proposed will end up in local cash registers and not in the banks of nervous citizens or paying off old credit card debt?
If the Obama administration is successful at banning earmarks from this bill, how will local congressional contingents ensure construction dollars go where states really want them and not where an uninformed federal government hopes will work out for the best?
There are myriad other questions to be answered, and it’s clear that now, not later, is when this stimulus package needs to be approved and enacted. That means that even though this new administration has no more power in Washington than any other tourist, it must immediately work with congressional leadership from both parties to start the process.
Obama has said that his nascent administration is looking at spending somewhere around $1 trillion on tax cuts and federal spending projects in hopes of reviving the staggering U.S. economy. In speeches and online, Obama has boasted that his plan, expensive as it is, will generate 4.1 million new jobs and inject consumer spending into the economy.
It sounds just like a plan that America needs right now, and it’s sounds like it’s time to release the details of just how this plan will work.
Obama has asked Congress to approve such a measure immediately, and House and Senate leaders have agreed that an early- to mid-February final passage is possible. Yet no detailed plan has even been published.
There are many worrisome problems Americans and Congress needs to consider here: Will the government fund needed projects that don’t have enough engineering and planning done to create but a few jobs? Many complex transportation and restoration projects take years of planning and public comment before job-creating construction takes place.
Are there enough American workers in the fields targeted by so much construction, or will many of these jobs go to illegal immigrants or foreign workers? With consumer confidence so low, how can the government be sure that the tax cuts proposed will end up in local cash registers and not in the banks of nervous citizens or paying off old credit card debt?
If the Obama administration is successful at banning earmarks from this bill, how will local congressional contingents ensure construction dollars go where states really want them and not where an uninformed federal government hopes will work out for the best?
There are myriad other questions to be answered, and it’s clear that now, not later, is when this stimulus package needs to be approved and enacted. That means that even though this new administration has no more power in Washington than any other tourist, it must immediately work with congressional leadership from both parties to start the process.
 |
||
| Editorial: Time for Burris to step aside, Blago to step down |
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of aurorasentinel.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
RSS