Posted on 01/02/2009 11:08:04 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President-elect Barack Obama's plan to jolt the economy by overhauling the nation's roads, bridges and transit systems has local officials clamoring for their share despite questions as to whether the program will actually work.
"California's fiscal house is burning down," state Treasurer Bill Lockyer declared recently after a California regulatory board halted financing for some 1,600 infrastructure projects because of the state's nearly $15 billion deficit.
California's woes are far from unique, as the deepening economic crisis has wreaked havoc on state budgets across the country. At least 40 states are running deficits, forcing governors to raise taxes and trim spending while postponing urgent repairs to roads, bridges, hospitals and ports.
"Because of the downturn in revenues, we're all starting to delay construction projects that are clearly maintenance. That risks public safety," said Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley in an interview.
The rescue plan, which Obama has called "the largest new investment in national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s," is part of a broader legislative package intended to create up to 3 million new jobs, provide tax relief to middle-class families and help governors cover the soaring costs of education and Medicaid, the public health program for the poor. It is estimated to cost as much as $1 trillion.
Lest the plan seem too much a throwback to the public works projects of the Depression-era New Deal, Obama has added several 21st-century goals, such as expanding broadband into underserved areas and making public buildings more energy efficient. But the bulk of the plan is old-fashioned construction and repair, much of which would be done by union laborers.
(Excerpt) Read more at wwlp.com ...
At least 40 states are running deficits?....And this is my fault how?...............
Looks like more proof of the “failure of Big Government.” The taxpayer is going to have to bailout Big Government.
Obama’s ‘plan’ is to take more of our cash. I’m not sure how that’s supposed to help.
Um,you know,I guess giving benefits to illegal aliens didn’t
work out so well?
The taxpayers in California are going to get gouged in the long run to pay all that Federal debt.
It'll leave that much less for them to pay in State taxes!
Bingo, might we learn something from the 10 states that don’t have deficits? The idiocy of the government is maddening.
In a sane world we would cut aid to the bloated deficit states, and give a bonus in aid to the balanced budget states. The latter are the ones who might be needing and deserving help.
I would have expected the author to help us start that investigation with a simple list, but once again I was disappointed.
The Legislatures and governors who voted to spend like drunken sailors should all be horse whipped.............
Since California is so into socialism, the solution is simple. All the voters who put all the socialist idiots into office should just get out there and work on those projects for free... for the good of the common people. Isn't that what socialism and communism are all about?
In WA State, the Governor is under a lot of pressure because of her choices of budget cuts (aid to handicapped is being cut). To take some of the heat off of her other choices, she has stated that she supports deportation to reduce the cost of incarceration in the prisons.
She shocked a lot of liberal supporters on that one. I doubt if her recommendation will be acted on by the legislature. Maybe that’s why she suggested it.
So we are about to bail each other out. Yeah, that’ll work.....
The only way government can bail out is by inflating the money................
Like GM bailing out Crysler . . .
Go get your own, creeps. You can't have any of ours.
Last I heard, West Virginia was one of the 10.
Democrats just love “Big Dig” type projects.
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