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>pick a different avenue by which the government could make a return on investment. A WPA-type program to improve transportation, energy and communications inf

>pick a different avenue by which the government could make a return on investment. A WPA-type program to improve transportation, energy and communications infrastructure. Lot's of jobs across many sectors, from professional to artistic to skilled & unskilled labor, most of which can be in the private sector (contractors/contracting firms).

anamax 15y ago
> A WPA-type program to improve transportation, energy and communications infrastructure. We tried that and can't do it today. Instead, we piss away large amounts of money and don't build infrastructure. Policy recommendations should account for reality, not "if we do this right".
- tomjen3 15y ago
  There is also the problem of diminishing returns. Paving the roads and later upgrading them to highways improved the transportation capabilities a lot. I am at a loss as to what you would upgrade to now (unless you want to make it greener, but environmentalism doesn't improve the economy).
  - Anechoic 15y ago
    > I am at a loss as to what you would upgrade to now There are upgrades to be had: HSR (where it makes sense), more modern air traffic control, intelligent transport systems, multimodal facilities, high-speed internet, power generation (green or otherwise), smart grid, flood contro, seismic refits, etc. But we don't even need to discuss upgrading the infrastructure, most of what we have now is subpar because of decades of deferred or non-existent maintenance. We will need to spend billions just to get our existing systems up to par,
  - o1iver 15y ago
    What about improving the American school system?
    - CWuestefeld 15y ago
      We're getting far afield, but the problem with American education isn't a lack of funding. Look at the slope of a graph of education funding over time, and you'll see that it would be difficult to pump cash in any more quickly than we already have -- and to no avail.
- Anechoic 15y ago
  >We tried that When? ARRA was sold as that, but it became more about tax cuts and propping up state governments that a public works program. > and can't do it today. We're going to have to do it some point: http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ May as well do it now while people are out of work and interest rates are low.
  - anamax 15y ago
    > >We tried that > When? ARRA was sold as that, but it became more about tax cuts and propping up state governments that a public works program. And your new program won't be that because ....? We can also look at currrent infrastructure spending. It's basically all jobs program, starting with the Davis-Bacon requirement. > We're going to have to do it some point: http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ > May as well do it now while people are out of work and interest rates are low. Um, the facts that we need to do it and now would be a good time to do it do not imply that we'd actually do it. We're doing a lot of infrastructure spending now. How about fixing it before embarking on an expansion? That way, we won't have wasted a lot of money that could be used when we're actually going to fix infrastructure. Yes, interest rates are low now, but lenders want their principle back as well, so wasting money now can affect our ability to borrow and spend when we're serious.

anamax 15y ago

> A WPA-type program to improve transportation, energy and communications infrastructure. We tried that and can't do it today. Instead, we piss away large amounts of money and don't build infrastructure. Policy recommendations should account for reality, not "if we do this right".

tomjen3 15y ago
There is also the problem of diminishing returns. Paving the roads and later upgrading them to highways improved the transportation capabilities a lot. I am at a loss as to what you would upgrade to now (unless you want to make it greener, but environmentalism doesn't improve the economy).
- Anechoic 15y ago
  > I am at a loss as to what you would upgrade to now There are upgrades to be had: HSR (where it makes sense), more modern air traffic control, intelligent transport systems, multimodal facilities, high-speed internet, power generation (green or otherwise), smart grid, flood contro, seismic refits, etc. But we don't even need to discuss upgrading the infrastructure, most of what we have now is subpar because of decades of deferred or non-existent maintenance. We will need to spend billions just to get our existing systems up to par,
- o1iver 15y ago
  What about improving the American school system?
  - CWuestefeld 15y ago
    We're getting far afield, but the problem with American education isn't a lack of funding. Look at the slope of a graph of education funding over time, and you'll see that it would be difficult to pump cash in any more quickly than we already have -- and to no avail.
Anechoic 15y ago
>We tried that When? ARRA was sold as that, but it became more about tax cuts and propping up state governments that a public works program. > and can't do it today. We're going to have to do it some point: http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ May as well do it now while people are out of work and interest rates are low.
- anamax 15y ago
  > >We tried that > When? ARRA was sold as that, but it became more about tax cuts and propping up state governments that a public works program. And your new program won't be that because ....? We can also look at currrent infrastructure spending. It's basically all jobs program, starting with the Davis-Bacon requirement. > We're going to have to do it some point: http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ > May as well do it now while people are out of work and interest rates are low. Um, the facts that we need to do it and now would be a good time to do it do not imply that we'd actually do it. We're doing a lot of infrastructure spending now. How about fixing it before embarking on an expansion? That way, we won't have wasted a lot of money that could be used when we're actually going to fix infrastructure. Yes, interest rates are low now, but lenders want their principle back as well, so wasting money now can affect our ability to borrow and spend when we're serious.