Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues The Obama Administration Stimulus package

From your source:
Do you have a source that supports your contention that the $8 Billion is only for engineering studies, rather than for construction, as your above-quoted source indicates? Do you have a source that provides the actual amount that was in the bill as passed, rather than the amount that "Obama and Reid pressed for"?

Does that mean that the bill supposedly meant to "stimulate" the economy" should be the vehicle on which various wish-list programs should be piled on -- programs that have not been able to get political traction in less than desperate times? I would thnk that if the condition of the economy is as dire as the pols, CEOs, financial mouthpieces, and chirping media mavens of economic idiocy represent it to be, then the focus of a "stimulus" bill would be on stimulating economic growth now.
Yours,
Issodhos

Indeed. Fortunately, the Republicans' wish-list program to 'cut capital gains taxes' did not make it in.

What we need is spending NOW... especially projects that eventually will pay themselves back. High-speed rail might be the perfect example.

Any new transportation projects require multitudes of environmental studies and years of purchasing right of way. HSR projects are not "shovel-ready" unless all of that has already been accomplished. Ready-to-go transportation projects in Florida are those that have completed environmental, design and right-of-way, and just haven't had the construction dollars allocated. Our projects are funded per phase, so we've got projects that have gone only as far as environmental, or as far as design. Building transportation is so expensive now that you can't just create a new road from scratch.

We've developed a set of criteria for transportation projects to get any stimulus money -- they have to have completed all the above phases, including public involvement, and received go-ahead for funding from FHWA.

EmmaG

EmmaG

High speed rail is a great idea that will never happen. We need it desperately. American automakers, Big Oil, and the airlines have opposed it for decades. Bottom line is that Congress is a whore and money talks.

Definition of a cynic: Someone with experience.

Mick, high speed rail will happen in California, we voted $9 billion to get it started last Nov. It is cheaper than air travel by far.
California High Speed Rail Authority

Well,then, since the money is going out the door anyway, and you say spending is needed "NOW" and, when we combine the bank bailout funds and the amount of this 'stimulus' package, we are talking 2 trillion dollars, and when we look at the 136 million tax returns filed in 2006, why not give every filer $14,705 to do with as s/he likes? Some will quickly spend all or part of it on consumer goods and services, others will use it to pay bills, others will use it to reduce their debt, others will put it directly into the bank, some will use it as a downpayment on a house, some will use it to buy a car, some will replace household items, some will use it to party hardy, etc. In other words, people using the money precisely for what they want, not money being spent by the government based on the various special interests they can satisfy, reward, or promote.

Of course, that will not happen for several reasons. The pols and those NGOs and 'activists' who are greedy to get their hands on that dough do not trust the individuals that make up The People. More importantly, it would be anathema to them to trun over or return that much power to the individuals who make up The People. Thirdly, it would deprive those whose inner fascist drives them to seek to socially engineer the rabble. But hey! What can ya say?;-)
Yours in musing,
Issodhos

High speed rail is a perfect case for NOT just cutting everybody a $14,705 check: I can't buy high speed rail with my $14,705! So giving everybody individual checks doesn't get us high speed rail. All it gets us is more cars on the overcrowded roads.

Building a public infrastructure project like a high speed rail system is something only government can do. If you leave it to market forces alone, it will never get done.

Good for you guys. Now you need the money. Bad for you guys.

We could sure use high speed rails to San Diego and Hell-A. It would be great to have connections to ABQ, Denver, Salt Lake, Portland and Seattle. It won't happen in my lifetime.

I love riding trains and ALWAYS do whenever I am in Europe. The TGV in France is grand. We'd do well to have a better rail system here in the USA. Rail traffic is down now and likely won't return to what it once was. Passenger traffic makes sense now more than ever.

That's closer to what I think would suggest, Isso. I know this much, the people handling the money (government and Wall Street) and the people printing money (government) are not going to solve the same crisis for which they are largely responsible. They aren't! Government isn't going to spend us out of the poor house; that's impossible. The entire bailout boondoggle is a final transfer of wealth. Period. Watch Obama raid Social Security next. Watch America stand by glazed eyed, stunned and helpless.