Top Democrats Float Additional $700 Bil. to Save Economy

amtrak, green collar jobs, lrt, Opinion, Politics, stimulus package, transportation

23 Nov, 2008 by New York Herald in Opinion, Politics

Top Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, economic advisor Lawrence Sumner and others, upped the ante for a proposed Obama stimulus package to rescue the ailing economy.

Economic advisor Robert Reich and New York Senator Charles Schumer suggested in interviews Sunday that a stimulus package in the $500-$700 billion range would be required to be effective.

That amount would rival the recent $700 bil. bank bailout, and would represent a New Deal-like amount of government intervention, or as Robert Reich explained on CNN, “there’s not enough buying power in the economy,” forcing the government to be the “spender of last resort.”

While Obama has indicated that infrastructure and green collar jobs would be the focus of stimulus spending, very little specifics have been released on actual spending priorities. Infrastructure for example, could imply repairing crumbling roads and bridges, or it could focus more on train-based transportation infrastructure, such as California’s proposed bullet train from Sacramento to Los Angeles, or Minnesota’s proposed Light Rail Train for its southern corridor – from suburban Shakopee to downtown Minneapolis.

photo: train in the desert, by wili_hybrid via Flickr CC