Given that two-thirds of the stimulus package funds are due to be spent over the next twelve months, this is a glimmer of good news:
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From Bloomberg: "Obama Focuses on Small Businesses to Spur Job Growth"
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said lawmakers may seek to finance $75 billion to $150 billion in highway construction and other job creating measures with unused TARP funds.
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The only reason this is happening is (1) public sector unions have kicked up a ruckus about impending cuts (since the public sector is one of the few areas where US workers can legally organize unions these days, union membership for all state and Federal employees is around 36.8%, according to the BLS), and (2) the digital commons has gone after Wall Street's panzer divisions with Katyushas and RPG-29s.
It should be noted that the US is behind the curve here -- the rest of the world has been rolling out second-round stimulus packages. Japan is spending an additional $81 billion, Russia bailed out its car industry and is boosting pensions by 40% by 2010, the equivalent of $35 billion, India and China are continuing their stimulus packages, while Brazil is gearing up for major infrastructure spending as preparation for the 2016 Olympics.
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