This Time, Obama Got it Right

Today, President Obama announced a $50 Billion stimulus package to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure.  While less than one-tenth of the size of the original stimulus, this initiative has the potential of preventing a slide back into the Bush Recession.

The original stimulus package was enacted over a year and a half ago, and while it was sorely needed, it was also top-heavy with tax cuts which have been shown to have only a minimal job-creation effect.  This new proposal will have a more direct impact on creating jobs while at the same time investing in modernization of roads, trains, runways, and other improvements that keep America’s economy moving.

The naysayers will harp that we can’t afford to increase the Federal deficit.  They would rather see more people unemployed and provide more tax cuts while corporations squeeze every last dime out of their workers.  Yet, these same naysayers completely ignore the impact of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars on the same deficit.

The president will have a tough time getting this proposal through Congress in an election year.  He needs to learn from the Republican playbook and immediately take control of the messaging for this much needed program.  Let’s rebuild the infrastructure in America instead of in Afghanistan.