Here's my monthly newspaper column, this one a followup to October's (available in the archive at right) condemning the bailout bill.
Learn from last stimulus error
Congress is debating an $800 billion stimulus bill that's bogged down in partisan and ideological infighting about a few million dollars targeted for things like contraception and anti-smoking programs while ignoring the opportunity to actually deliver on the "change" promised in the 2008 election.
What's really needed to fix the economy is not more tax cuts or slapdash spending, but smart investment in the future that moves past the business-as-usual orientation of Congress.
If we're going to spend close to a trillion dollars again we should get something substantial for the money. Universal health care, 21st century infrastructure and a stronger education system should top the list.
Federal spending on these three priorities will have a direct impact on Main Street that will last decades, rather than the short-term benefits of direct refunds to individuals or tax cuts for businesses that will disappear just as quickly as rebate checks did last spring, with nary a ripple. Actual investment in the public good makes much more sense than short-lived solutions for the private few.
Everyone knows our health care system is broken. Millions lack insurance and cannot afford even basic health care. The system of employer-funded health care is an accident of history that is crippling our economy and hurting our citizens.
Surely several hundred billion dollars could help shift us away from this anachronism and toward a 21st century system that provides health care for all Americans. Think of it as an investment in our future health, as well as a major boon to businesses as the cost of employer-provided insurance declines over time.
Similarly, in a country where a bridge falls into a river and some counties are contemplating reverting from asphalt to gravel roads to save on maintenance costs, we could stand to invest in our infrastructure.
Several hundred billion would go a long way toward rebuilding highways, dams and bridges. It would also have a massive impact on local economies, as construction contracts employed local workers, used locally produced materials, and pumped payroll dollars into local economies. And once again, business would benefit from reduced transportation costs as the modern system was completed.
Smart investment in education offers short- and long-term benefits as well. Like our roads, the nation's schools are crumbling. Replacing outdated schools and updating serviceable ones with energy-efficient mechanical systems and modern instructional equipment offers the same short-term employment boost as road projects, but carries the added bonus of future savings for school districts and improved learning outcomes for students.
Packaged with funds for improving access to higher education, educational funding on this scale could have the same long-term impact at the GI Bill of the 1950s, producing a generation of workers ready for 21st century jobs.
In October, I wrote a column marking the "collapse" of the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, which then appeared to be going down in flames due to massive public opposition. I criticized the plan because it rewarded risky behavior by socializing the resulting losses and included almost nothing to address the foreclosure crisis itself.
When Congress regrouped and passed a slightly revised bill a few days later many warned it did too little to prop up the economy and too much to prop up private investors. Ultimately, $700 billion was added to the national debt and it didn't appear to fix much of anything.
No wonder the American people shouted "NO!" They know it wasn't fair and they knew it wouldn't work.
Now the time has come to shout "YES!" to a plan for economic recovery, but the problem is we're stuck with the status quo in Washington. We probably won't get the stimulus bill we need out of this Congress because too many members remain stuck in the ideologically rigid, partisan past.
And until voters send those members packing, we'll likely get the bill we deserve.
