Let's look at the stimulus package, shall we. Plenty of money for suburban roads? Check. Plenty of tax cuts for business? Check. Plenty of money for Homeland Security? Check.
Money to actually improve the lives of low-income Americans? Um, maybe not.
PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell, one of the nation's leading anti-poverty advocates and the co-chair of the Center for American Progress poverty task force, wrote an interesting piece on Salon today about how to make the recovery package work for all people.
What kind of recovery package would make sense?
Three words: big, smart and fair.
The current economic crisis has hit low-income people and communities of color first and worst. We have to rethink how and where we make these investments. By just pushing $700 billion (or more) down the same pipeline we always have, we will end up with many new car-choked suburban highways and plenty of pet projects for the politically connected, but we would miss a truly historic opportunity to improve our economy, our environment and our communities. We need to put a down payment on a prosperous and inclusive America.
The recovery package fight is really just starting. Getting more money for public transit, school retrofitting, broadband, and job training are vital to make sure this package doesn't just stimulate the same broken economy we've had for the past eight years. We need a new direction.