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Sweeney: Nation Needs to Literally Build a Better Future |
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The best hope for creating an economic stimulus blueprint to rebuild the nation’s crumbling bridges, roads, waterways, rails and schools is aligning organizations with diverse interests behind a comprehensive plan, says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
“We all have a stake in this—every one of us—and we all have different motives for wanting action. For the AFL-CIO, it’s good jobs. For others, it is something different. We also depend on our infrastructure to keep our families and our communities healthy, comfortable and safe, and to keep our country moving. We should be able to put some of our parochial concerns aside and come together behind a comprehensive long-range infrastructure plan.”
Sweeney’s address capped off a daylong conference on “Infrastructure: A Pathway to Prosperity” at Sweeney’s alma mata, Iona College, in New Rochelle, N.Y. Yesterday’s conference brought together unions, business, government and academic leaders to explore the hows and whys of revitalizing the economy by rebuilding an aging and failing infrastructure.
Says Ron DeFeo, chairman and CEO of heavy equipment manufacturer Terex Corp., which sponsored the conference:
We know that investing in our own infrastructure will produce prosperity. It will save lives from better roadways. And it will put people to work who want to live in this country and prosper as my family has. But there has to be a will to do this. It is hard work to build consensus.
During last month’s debate on a short-term economic stimulus package, the AFL-CIO urged Congress to include a job-creating infrastructure component, one aimed at bridge repair and school renovation. Such a measure could jump-start the nation’s much-needed long-term economic revival. Says Sweeney:
Call it an economic downturn, call it a cooling off or call it a recession. But we are dealing with an economy that needs both short-term and long-term stimulus, and what Congress and the president have agreed upon so far is tens of billions of dollars short of what’s needed….We all know that infrastructure projects are the best way to create good jobs that stimulate the economy job and meet urgent needs at the same time.
One of the most dire areas of need is the nation’s bridges. Last summer’s collapse of the I-35W bridge between Minneapolis and St. Paul that killed 13 people focused attention on the dangerous, deteriorating conditions of bridges around the country.
More than 21 percent of U.S. bridges are rated structurally deficient or obsolete, while some 17,000 are behind on mandated inspections, and many others are nearing the end of their projected life spans while carrying far more traffic than ever predicted.
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates it will take $1.6 trillion over five years to bring roads, rails, bridges water ways, transit systems and other infrastructure components into “good condition.”
Investing in infrastructure makes good fiscal sense. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that every $1 billion invested in transportation infrastructure generates $2 billion in economic activity. Most estimates also say that every billion dollars spent on infrastructure creates between 40,000 and 50,000 jobs.
Sweeney says it will take a new administration in Washington before any significant action is taken because for seven years, the Bush administration
has refused even to consider using infrastructure spend as a job-creation vehicle.
In their economic proposals, Democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) both address infrastructure financing and rebuilding as a way to create jobs and boost the economy. Republican Sen. John McCain, on the other hand, didn’t even bother to show up to vote on an economic stimulus plan to help working families and help the economy.
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Since the AFL-CIO is America’s union movement this is exactly what should be the top priority! It is a jobs issue and that is what started unions. Jobs with good pay and benefits. Jobs with protections from unscrupulous employers. It would be years of work that couldn’t be outsourced to another country. This could be a good thing for American unions the entire middle class and anyone that travels the roadways. But the best thing would be for the states to stop sending gas tax money to Washington D.C. then the federal government couldn’t hold it hostage and each state could handle it’s own infrastructure faster. There would be better oversight and less pork barrel projects.
Rebuilding this country’s infrastructure is a tremendous idea and long over due. If billions weren’t being wasted in Iraq we’d have the cash to pay for the projects. This however only addresses construction jobs. We need new factories for U.S. manufacturing again also. If Ford and GM want to build cars and parts in MEXICO- fine, but I think they should have a foreign import tax levied against them to level the playing field. If not, we’ll soon be working for pesos also!
From Michigan to Virginia, the roads and highways are in a state of neglect and poor maintenance due to lack of state revenue. From California to Louisiana, the old dams and dykes which protect and provide water to the city populations are in constant danger of breaking down in case of a natural disaster. Yet, money for these civil engineering projects is not available because of high budget deficits in most states. Meanwhile, China is a building frenzy to develop new infrastructure. I hear that China is building a new coal generating plant every week. The American consumers are fueling China growth by going into debt to buy unsafe toys and electronics from that country. It is time for every American to stop talking about change or listening to rhetoric about change. Revolutionary change must start from within every one of us. You must change everything from your buying habits to your own lifestyles which create a lot of waste and inefficiency in energy and in earth resources. There is a famous saying-We have met the enemy, and it is US!
Despite what some pie cards have “declared” (without ever consulting the ranks) the New Deal is not dead! Phonies have simply retreated from it.
An effective economic stimulus package is one that creates living wage jobs. The sham proposal offered-up by union-hater Bush and his GOP mob (and too many “go along to get along” weak-kneed Democrats who have to look in a dictionary to find out what “labor and work” means) is just another farce.
We know most of Congress doesn’t get it, so we’ll tell ‘em: We want and need J-O-B-S that pay living wages. We’ll have to expalin to the D.C. crowd that they cannot continue funding a trillion dollar war and at the same time provide for the needs of we the people.
So who will it be, Congress? Us or the private companies operating in Iraq with no-bid, highly lucrative contracts? Us or Balckwater and Halliburton?
And while you’re at it, O Congress on High, stop screwing our vets!
There are about 535 members of Congress. 435 of them deserve to be sent packing.
America! Refuse to make the same mistakes over and over and over again. Don’t re-elect them!
Rebuilding the U.S. infrastructure is a terrific idea. If billions weren’t being wasted in Iraq we could pay cash for the projects. However, this only addresses construction. We need new U.S. manufacturing plants as well. If Ford and GM want to build cars and parts in MEXICO, let them, but they should be taxed as foreign imports or else soon, we’ll be working for pesos too! THROW NAFTA OUT!