On the heels of a powerful statement of purpose by President Barack Obama, we must clarify our objectives in stimulating our economy properly to guide our nation out of the global deflationary hole where the American economy is floundering.
The majority of economists insist that fiscal stimulus is critical medicine for our deflation crisis, highlighted by an historic loss of jobs for American workers.
These are the important guidelines for deciding what spending measures are good and proper for putting our nation on the correct path, the only path we should follow:
- Spending should aid the quality of public education.
- Spending should help remedy the drop in property values of median-valued owner-occupied homes.
- Spending should put men and women back to work.
- Spending should improve the efficiency of energy usage.
- Spending should aid the domestic manufacturing sector.
- Spending should aid the development of basic science investigation and technologies that will provide a springboard for new industries where America can excel and lead the world in new business development.
- Spending should aid the development of higher quality healthcare for more people (i.e. improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery systems).
- Spending should push us ahead in new green technologies, e.g. new wind turbines and improved electric batteries for storing power in hybrid cars.
- Spending should push us ahead in retrofitting homes in sunbelt regions with new and improved solar paneling, as many homes as we can outfit.
- Spending should encourage the improvement of public transportation so that we stop traveling in one person automobiles and start traveling in multi-person vehicles, maximizing efficiency in transportation.
Based on questionable thinking, the Senate Republicans, I believe, demanded the elimination of intelligent projects that would improve the quality of life and the quantity of economic development following the desirable guidelines listed above.
My understanding is that the Republican senators disliked the large dollar total of the final stimulus package and were merely looking for certain projects to cut, whimsically, I believe.
The test for eliminating spending projects should be the long-term merits of the spending.
If we need that type of spending stimulus, as enumerated above, THAT SPENDING SHOULD BE RETAINED IN THE FINAL PACKAGE.
The litmus test should be: WHAT WE NEED, WE SHOULD KEEP.
For those who don't understand what I mean by following the above listed criteria:
These Senate cuts to the Stimulus Package passed by the House should be restored:
- Construction projects to renovate and retrofit public school buildings.
- Construction projects to weatherize public government and public school buildings, to improve insulation and reduce energy bills to heat and cool these old drafty buildings: e.g. caulking, fixing broken windows, replacing single pane with double pane perhaps, etc.
- Construction projects to restore vandalized housing abandoned due to foreclosures, e.g. replace stolen fixtures and generally repair and retrofit to code the electrical/heating/cooling/energy systems, etc.
- Construction projects to help homeowners with upside down mortgages put simple upgrades in to restore value, e.g. upgrade electrical panels, bring electrical up to code, fix insulation that is drafty and inferior, put in doublepaned windows, relandscape, repair stucco/hardscape, reroof etc.
- Construction projects to improve computer labs and internet access/wire for broadband in public schools, from elementary to middle and high schools and junior colleges.
- Construction projects to ensure broadband internet access and cellphone coverage across all states, covering rural areas as well as cities, large and small.
- Clerical projects to computerize/digitalize medical records in hospitals and medical clinics to improve and upgrade our inefficient medical systems, enabling us to deliver effective and efficient medical services to insured and uninsured Americans, old and young.
- Upgrade our public transportation between states and within states and cities. Lay more train tracks and upgrade and repair worn out train tracks.
- Design and install highspeed rail between large cities in large states like California, between San Francisco/Sacramento and Los Angeles/San Diego. If run on electricity, would cut CO2 admissions from flying jets between major cities, when highspeed electric transport would be up and running.
- Restore basic services for cash-strapped cities and states, such as Medicaid, foodstamps, basic healthcare, including family planning supplies for low income families (birth control pills, diapragms, IUD's etc).
- Restore state and local spending for cash-strapped states, as needed, and give it as block grants, not loans.
- Restore basic science research funds for universities, e.g. stem cell research, new green sustainable energy solutions (vehicles and architecture).
- Restore early childhood education funding, e.g. Headstart etc.
- Restore any funding needed for teacher training and enrichment programs to meet standards of No Children Left Behind.
- Restore funding for fleets of compact hybrid vehicles built by GM, Ford or Chrysler to be used by public agencies, government or education. Retire old gasoline, low mileage vehicles.
- Restore funding for rebuilding the natural shoreline at the Mississippi River delta near New Orleans, to protect the area from future flood waters and hurricanes.
- Restore funding for clean water projects where rivers and resevoirs have become fouled by industrial waste and solvents etc.
Now is the time to speak up for the essential stimulus project goals that could build a better nation, poised for not only revitalizing our economy but for improving opportunities for the middle class, through improved education facilities and job training in the green technologies that will help us tackle the problems of global warming and environmental degradation due to eight years of slack regulation and neglect.
This massive revitalization project, properly designed and implemented, can prepare the United States to lead the global economy in smarter, innovative technologies that will not only extend our human life span (i.e. stem cell technologies, etc) but begin to correct our reckless impact on the fragile ecosystems of our planet, to reduce the rapid depletion of planet resources and to lessen our contribution to the problem of global warming and undesirable climate change.
Please keep the essential projects to build a better America, so we can call it "A BETTER DEAL."