Word: stimulus
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...cost curve" for health care - if they don't, it's hard to see how we're going to be able to afford a military or interstate highways or a social safety net or any other government services. Compared to health costs, the Iraq war, the financial bailouts, the stimulus package and even the long-term Social Security shortfall are minuscule fiscal problems. (See a guide to understanding the health-care debate...
Desperate times in one especially hard-hit Tennessee county stirred Governor Phil Bredesen to get creative. As first reported in the New York Times, the result is a "novel use of stimulus money." In remote, tiny Perry County, where the unemployment rate had soared to 27% with the closure of an auto-parts factory, Bredesen decided a New Deal-style WPA program was the order of the day. Some of the jobs are with the state parks and transportation department, but two-thirds of them are new jobs in private sector businesses - including a pie company, a hotel...
...consider it an unqualified success," Bredesen tells TIME, speaking about the 338 jobs created by the pilot program. "I wanted to do more than show concern. These are people with real obligations and, while I support clean energy [the thrust of much of the stimulus], people have to make car payments next month. I'd love to have a great deal more stimulus money to do this type of thing in other counties, but there is not a lot of money available. If there is another stimulus package, real consideration should be given to direct employment, in WPA fashion...
Shierholz says policymakers should begin thinking about a second stimulus package focused on a jobs program. "If we passed a $200 billion jobs bill, that could create roughly 4 million jobs paying between $40,000 and $50,000," she says. "Four million temporary public sector jobs, for a year or two in duration, would bridge the employment gap while the economy recovers." Voting against the $787 billion measure, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said, "There are so many things in the package completely unrelated to creating a job in the next 18 months." Only 11% of stimulus money...
Nevertheless, two weeks ago, White House economic adviser Christina Romer signaled that the Administration would consider a new stimulus measure if it did not see strong results from the current package. Prominent economists like Joseph Stiglitz say more stimulus is necessary to drive the economy forward. A jobs program focused on the nation's hardest-hit regions could have an impact. Nationally, 1 in 5 construction workers are unemployed. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the nation has $1.5 trillion in unaddressed infrastructure needs. "Clearly there are projects that need to be done," says Shierholz...