President-elect Obama, save us!

Obama banking on large-scale public works project

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday he wants to revive the economy through a job-creating public works plan on a scale unseen since the building program of the interstate highway system in the 1950s.

He offered no price estimate for the grand plan, how the money might be divided or the effect on the country's financial health at a time of burgeoning deficits.

The ideas were outlined in the weekly radio address the day after the government reported that employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years. They are part of a vision for a massive economy recovery plan Obama wants Congress to pass and have waiting on his desk when he takes office Jan. 20.

The president-elect's address never once used the word "spend," relying instead on "invest" or "investments," and pledging wise stewardship of taxpayer money in upgrading roads and schools, and making public buildings more energy-efficient.

"We won't just throw money at the problem," Obama said. "We'll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve — by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world."

Obama said his plan would employ millions of people by "making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s." He said state officials would lose the federal dollars if they did not quickly use the money to repair highways and bridges.

The problem with this whole concept is that an enormous investment like this needs money, money that has to come from somewhere. We already are running an enormous national debt. We don't have billions of dollars sitting around unused. In order to fund this enormous "investment" (i.e. spending) plan, the Prez-elect is either going to have to raise taxes or issue a bunch of new debt. It sounds lovely, we are going to "create" a million new jobs but to do that means taking money that could have been invested elsewhere which will cost jobs. All this will do is to shift more power to the Feds, which I assume is the goal for the Anointed One anyway.

Be careful of pie in the sky, it is often made out of crow.