January 13, 2009
Stimulating The Stimulus? Yes, We Can
Dean Baker has some thoughts on Obama’s stimulus package, check them out at truthout. He has seven ideas for making the package better, but his advice comes with a zinger.
President Obama could not find any economists who were able to see the housing bubble for his economic team. Fortunately, he indicated that he would be willing to listen to those of us who did in designing his stimulus package.”
Ouch. Yet fair, isn’t it?
His suggestions are: to extend health insurance with a tax credit for businesses who cover employees who don’t have health insurance; to start publicly funding clinical trials of new drugs (this dude is RAD!); to pay a premium for old, fuel-inefficient cars; to create subsidies for public transportation (do we ever need this around here!); to fund art/writing projects (like, for bloggers?); to fund open software (I love Mozilla!); and, finally, to expand vacation and leave for workers (if I had a job, I’d be so into this).
It’s ambitious, but sounds great, no? A lot better than just a bunch of heavy construction projects. Although, if we funded some day-care centers around all those infrastructure jobs, more women would enjoy the benefits of the stimulus package, and more families would get a much needed service. I can’t be the only one who’s thought of that. Whatever happens, it needs to move us forward, not just back to the status quo. As Baker puts it, “We should not be trying to just bring the economy back to where it was before the housing bubble crashed. Rather, we should be looking to create a cleaner, fairer, better country.”
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2 Comments Add yours »
I agree with all of his suggestions but would like to add a couple. Give a tax credit for converting cars to hybrid, solar, or electric. Give a tax credit for converting homes to solar or wind power and make the power companies buy back the excess power created from the homeowner at the rate they charge homeowners for their power. Create a program that will pay for conversion to solar or wind for homeowners that can’t afford it, based on sliding fee scale with it being free to those households with special health care needs that are medically dependent on consistent power.
Another suggestion: 3/4 of the nations businesses are nonemployers which means they do not qualify for current proposals. Offering tax credits will help once per year but there should be some other assistance to those businesses such as training, expansion, and evolving existing businesses to incorporate new technology. This would help the business go from being nonemployers to employers and increase employment rates and state revenues.