President Barack Obama’s proposed transit plan of $50 billion to help create jobs and help the economy has more questions than answers.
More proposed spending means more of a federal deficit. There are estimates that our federal deficit will reach about $1.3 trillion this year, according to the New York Times. Is Obama’s proposal what America really needs?
Obama wants his plan to go to Congress and be passed as quickly as possible. Congress only has a few weeks left before lawmakers return to their districts to campaign.
Mid term elections brings more division and few, if any, agreements between the parties. The constituents these lawmakers represent are still frustrated about the bank bailouts, the perceived big government agenda and the continuing rise of unemployment.
President Obama says this plan would be fully paid. The question is how? Obama proposed to offset the $50 billion by eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for oil and gas industries. These industries are greedy and they want to keep every loophole available to them, which means those industries will be putting up a fight.
Another issue with the plan is the proposed government-run bank. If the proposed transit plan and the government-run bank fails, most likely, taxpayers will be left to pay back this money.
The transit plan calls for roads, rail lines and runways to be built and redone. Why not include water and clean energy projects? Will everyone get a proportional amount? Who picks what gets upgraded?
It seems projects will not be approved by merit, but by lawmakers who lobby the best to take as much money back to their areas back home.
Most will agree this plan will create jobs. But, if the plan is approved quickly, as Obama hopes, the earliest anyone would see new jobs is a year. The answer of how many jobs specifically this will create is unclear.
It seems that only construction workers would benefit from this bill. So, that would mean only a small group of American workers would benefit from these new jobs.
Many Americans already think the stimulus plan previously approved was a waste. The economic stimulus package last year allocated $38.6 billion for the transportation department, and, so far, $18.5 billion has been paid out. That is a ton of money that was given out that hasn’t been effectively spent.