Invest In America
America grew up investing in its land and its people. Today, America's challenge is to invest in its future in the midst of an economic crisis. What's needed is long-term thinking. What's needed is big investments for a big country ... like we used to.
Read our report: "The Investment Deficit in America: Yesterday's Achievements, Today's Problems, Tomorrow's Solutions."
Yesterday's achievements included transcontinental railroads and interstate highways. Elementary schools in every town and land grant universities in every state.
The investment paid off. Americans rode those roads and railroads to the pinnacle of the global economy. Kids went to taxpayer-financed elementary school and veterans went to college on the GI bill. They went on to invent computers, cancer therapies and rocket ships.
Now our investments have stopped. Today we cut taxes and sit in traffic. We defund public universities and complain that tuition costs too much. We import everything from oil to solar cells to hybrid motor cars—while the rest of the world pulls ahead in clean energy innovations.
America can do better.
Direct public investment—in new energy and conservation, in modernizing our infrastructure, in education and training, and research and development— is essential for lifting the economy in the short run and for sustaining in the long run a decent society that is competitive in a global economy. This website offers guideposts and debate on recovery and on long-term sustainable growth.
The Latest: Invest in America
D.C. Metro Crash Highlights Underfunded Transit Systems
By csmonitor.com -
More than one-third of assets in the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies, including the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), are in marginal or poor condition, according to an April report by the Federal Transit Administration. These include public rail ... read more »
Mayors Say Cities Need Direct Economic Help
By reuters.com -
Without more direct aid to U.S. local governments, Washington may make matters worse for cities facing falling tax revenues and increased spending needs, the nation's mayors said at their annual meeting this weekend. Mayors said they bear the tough task of ... read more »
The Blame Election
- Jun 10, 2009
From openleft.com
People understand the depths of the mess George W. Bush left us with, and so perhaps they will be more patient with this charismatic young President than they were with the last one. But the similarities in circumstances between now and then are still keeping me up nights. Here's what needs to happen to avoid another 1994 for the Democrats. read more » Stimulus Spending Spawns Requests
By usatoday.com -
President Obama and congressional Democrats have defended the $787 billion stimulus package against accusations of pork-barrel spending by saying the bill did not direct money to projects requested by members of Congress. Still, that hasn't stopped lawmakers from working behind the ... read more »
Let Obama Accelerate Stimulus Funds
- Jun 9, 2009
From politico.comCritics of the president’s credibility should unclench their fists, for their analysis must recognize the inherited policies from the previous president’s final 100 days and the potential yield of the forthcoming 100 days. Only then can an accurate accounting be cast. The president’s first 100 days laid the political and logistical foundation for the Recovery Act. Now the country is ready to reap the harvest of the second 100 days, wherein the rebuilding begins — and 600,000 jobs are realized. read more » Work Begins on Nation's Biggest Mass Transit Project
By cnn.com -
The largest mass transit project in the country got under way Monday with the help of federal stimulus dollars, as public officials broke ground on a second passenger rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River. The new tunnel will link New Jersey ... read more »
Time for a New Round of Stimulus
- Jun 8, 2009
From thenation.comIn the absence of consumer spending and business investment, the government must step in and use these deficits in order to avert a depression. Our greatest deficit, after all, is our public investment deficit. But another stimulus won't pass without serious work. read more » Progressive Breakfast: Obama's Back, And He's Taking On Health Care
By Terrance Heath - Jun 8, 2009
The president's back from his trip to the Middle East, and the New York Times reports that Obama's set to take on a greater role in the health care debate, including "an intense push for legislation that ... read more »
