take the money spent on the rich and make wpa jobs instead

[2Design]

fix our infrastructure and put people to work
They are going about this the wrong way

[Subdivisions]

1. Just as I said here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9706651&mesg_id=9707127

Obama should have announced a massive jobs program a year ago and should have included in the plan a denial of bush tax cuts extension for those making over $250,000/yr. The revenue from that could pay to extend UI for those still in need and the rest could be used to generate jobs in a WPA-like effort.

But what we got is more tax cuts for the richest in return for a UI extension. And still no plan to create jobs!

[LooseWilly]

22. This was my answer:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9706559&mesg_id=9706761

Doesn't require any Republican votes whatsoever, near as I can tell. Just a little creativity and courage. (In other words, don't hold your breath.)

;)

[Radical Activist]

2. People in my town are working on a high speed rail project, road projects,

energy efficiency projects, and more funded by the stimulus bill. Please don't pretend that public works projects aren't happening.

[2Design]

4. make sure those jobs are going to americans and not companies

overseas - the one they were looking at here - people were bidding on job from other countries and this wasn't going to give locals jobs

[Subdivisions]

8. I've seen you say that before. I want to see proof. Link it. How many have jobs?

How long will the jobs last? What do they pay? Tell us all about it.

Also, what do the jobs that are already taken do for those still out of work? How many in your town are out of work vs. those on this project you speak of?

[Radical Activist]

14. That's easy. You can look up where all the money is being spent yourself.

http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/RecipientReportedDataMap.aspx

Obama made that very easy. It's a shame that the netroots largely ignore it. You should look up your own zip code and see what pops up!

[Subdivisions]

23. I already know what's going on in my town. I want you to back up what you've

said about the projects in your town. You've said it twice that I've seen. Then I ask you for proof and you still did not provide it. So, my questions to you stands! Either put up or...welllll.

You don't have to tell me about recovery.gov. I already know about it.

Now, answer my questions about what you've said about your town.

ETA: Oh, and btw, we need something like 14,000,000 jobs, not just 1 or 2 million jobs saved or created. In my zip code only 38 jobs have been saved or created vs. HUNDREDS that are needed, according to Recovery.gov. And I have no way of verifying that Recovery.gov's numbers are accurate. But, 38 jobs - WHOOPTY-FUCKING-DOO, though I am happy those 38 are employed. But for how long?

[JDPriestly]

18. We in California are trying to get a proposal ready for the high-speed rail

We really, really need it. We are a huge state. There is no direct train route from San Francisco to Los Angeles. And our trains are much too expensive. A trip that costs us $21 round trip for the two of us in our car costs $50 per person on Amtrak. Our gasoline, our roads, everything is subsidized when we drive. But the train -- I don't think it is subsidized as much as travel by automobile.

Yet traveling by car is more dangerous both to the environment and to human life. Now that makes no sense to me.

[TheKentuckian]

21. Thats great. it is however a drop in the sea. We need about a 2 trillion dollar investment to get to

code.

Your "high speed" rail project is piecemeal and long outdated before it was proposed.

The scope of an effort to repair and modernize would dwarf the couple hundred billion (or less) our generational effort like the sun does the moon.

It beats nothing but its not pulling us out of the ditch.

If your doctor prescribes you take an antibiotic 3 times a day for 2 weeks, taking one isn't going to cut it unless you are pretty damn lucky or were over prescribed.

[BzaDem]

3. Yes, Obama should definately dissolve Congress, say "what standing army do YOU have" at any protest,

and enact a WPA.

:sarcasm:

Though many would say that was caving, since he didn't have all Republicans arrested.

[2Design]

5. go away

[BzaDem]

7. Nope :)

Last time I checked, I could post where I feel like posting without running it by you first.

[REP]

6. Bring back the WPA and CCC

Two of the best programs this country ever had. Some of the prettiest parks in my hometown either were WPA/CCC projects or have structures built by them. Plenty of WPA murals, too - it put researchers, historians, archivists, artists, builders and many more to work doing meaningful and important things. The preservation of the Salem 'witch' trials records was in part a WPA project.

[2Design]

9. exactly

[JDPriestly]

19. LA is just full of bridges and schools and theaters, all kinds of things

built by the WPA. There are buildings in our parks that have WPA signs on them. It was a great program.

[2Design]

10. twitter 2 @barackobama @speakerpelosi @alangrayson

and your own congress people
After alan leaves we have no one who cares for the people left in florida

[pnwmom]

11. Would be a good idea anyway. This isn't the time to be agonizing

over deficit spending. WPA jobs would stimulate the economy and fix infrastructure problems that have been developing for decades. Yes, we'd be borrowing money, but we'd be borrowing money for something important, the benefits of which could last far into the future. (As happened with the Interstate highway system.)

[2Design]

12. bett than givng to the rich who use it against us and don't feed the economy of usa

[pnwmom]

15. True, if that is the option. n/t

[TroubleMan]

13. I've been preaching a WPA type program to the right wingers at my work, and they love it.

This is an easy sell - even to tea baggers. They're whole complaint about unemployment benefits is that people aren't doing anything for the money (which isn't the point in the first place, but you can't explain that to them). I counter that unemployment injects money directly into the local economy (because it goes right to food and bills), so that at the worst it's a wash. Then I tell them that Obama should do a WPA type program where people work for the money and it will rebuild our infrastructure. They love it.

I can even mention that it's an FDR type program, and they're still for it. It's a no-brainer.

[JDPriestly]

20. But your right-wing friends have a point about the unemployment

benefits.

Depression is a huge problem for the unemployed. Doing some kind of work even for low pay even part-time helps against the depression.

Also, should the economy get better and the job market open up, those who have been unemployed will have a disadvantage getting an keeping a job. They will have gaps on their resumes that they have to explain every time they apply for a job, and they will be out of the routine of keeping a job and getting up in the morning.

Losing a job isn't just about losing money. The psychological effects of losing a job are devastating, especially when you know it wasn't your fault, when you know you did a good job. This economy is destroying people's lives. It is killing the spirit of our nation. No wonder people are so angry and getting angrier.

Obama does not seem to really be capable of feeling or empathizing with the emotional tragedy that unemployment, especially long-term unemployment brings with it. He mentions it in passing in a speech on occasion, but not with any intensity, not with any real emotional expression.

Really, I sometimes think that Obama wants to be cool all the time and just never show any emotion that is deep within him or recognize any really deep sorrow or emotion in others around him.

This past election was sort of a pink slip for him. I hope he takes that experience, the feelings of defeat and depression that he must have gone through when he learned the results and turn it into compassion and energy to do the right thing for poor and middle class Americans who are suffering so much right now. But so far, I haven't seen any signs that he understands that is what he needs to do to bring the country together.

It's not compromises that will unite us. It is a show of genuine compassion and caring from the White House. And of course Obama cannot express showing and caring as long as he has folks like Geithner and Bernanke hanging around. I have never seen two such soulless zombies, two such dull number-crunchers in a Democratic administration.

[Rochester]

16. Yes!!!!!

[Systematic Chaos]

17. This is what I've been waiting for since the primaries.

It's not gonna happen though. Between all the circle jerks among the elite, and the specter of Peak Oil, it's just not there.

Sorry to be such a downer. :(