Public Works

Some Suggest Government Fix Jobs Crisis With Government Jobs

HuffingtonPost.com | Matt Sledge | Posted 12.09.2011

Read More: Public Works, New Deal Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps, Jobs Crisis, Unemployment, New Deal, Economic Development, Works Progress Administration, High Unemployment, Government Jobs, Fdr, Joblessness, Unemployment Rate, Ccc, Business News

NEW YORK -- John Brennan turned 91 in May. Today he lives in relatively good health on Long Island, his mortgage paid off. When he was growing up in M...

Read Whole Story

Real Economic Patriotism

Paul A. London | Posted 12.05.2011

Read More: Public Works, Jobs Crisis, Jobs Bill, Greece Debt Crisis, Jobs, Democratic Party, Obama Jobs Plan, Manufacturing Jobs, Republicans, Global Economic Crisis, Politics News

The economic story that the Republican Party is peddling to American voters is profoundly unpatriotic and dead wrong.

Read Post

The Politics of Discrediting America

Paul A. London | Posted 11.23.2011

Read More: Infrastructure Bank, Public Works, Infrastructure, Infrastructure Investment, Economic Stimulus Package, Federal Budget Deficit, Federal Deficit, Economic Recession, Broke USA, Feder, Federal Reserve, Obama Infrastructure Plan, Politics News

Is the United States "broke"? John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, says it is. According to Boehner, the U.S. is like a family in desp...

Read Post

Congressional Democrats' Advice for Obama's Jobs Speech

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.07.2011

Read More: Barbara Lee, President Obama, Economy, Al Franken, John Sarbanes, Jobs, Bernie Sanders, Obama, Tax Credit, Kathy Hochul, Public Works, Mortgages, Infrastructure, Progressive Caucus, Unemployment, Mark Begich, Dennis Kucinich, Nancy Pelosi, Grijalva, Green Energy, Energy, Raul Grijalva, House, New Deal, Jobs Speech, Free Trade, Congress, Democrats, Barack Obama, Advice, Transportation, Education, Payroll Tax Holiday, Chris Weigant, Jerry Nadler, Obama Speech, Harry Reid, Job Creation, Senate, Politics News

The nation is waiting to hear what President Obama is going to say tomorrow night, when he gives an address to a joint session of Congress on the subj...

Read Post

Putting Americans Back To Work: Politics Aside, Much Can Be Achieved

HuffingtonPost.com | Peter S. Goodman | Posted 11.01.2011

Read More: Public Works, Infrastructure, Video, Jobless Rate, Unemployment, Double-Dip Recession, Works Progress Administration, Joblessness, Job Creation, Obama Job Creation, Barack Obama, Business News

As President Obama puts the finish on a much-touted program aimed at promoting job creation, public expectations appear low, owing to national dismay ...

Read Whole Story

Compensating for "Disappeared" Money

Paul A. London | Posted 10.25.2011

Read More: Ben Bernanke Federal Reserve, Public Works, Federal Reserve, U.S. Economy, Economic Stimulus, Net Worth, Rick Perry, Business News

Republican presidential candidates are confused when they attack the Fed for "printing money." So are many others. The Fed was created in 1913 precisely to "print money" when it was needed.

Read Post

Quinn's Massive, Video Poker-Funded Stimulus Upheld In Court

Posted 09.10.2011

Read More: Video Poker, Gambling, Public Works, Video Gaming, Rocky Wirtz, Pat Quinn, Illinois Video Poker, Governor Quinn, Liquor Tax, Anne Burke, John Cullerton, Cigarette Tax, Illinois Jobs Now Bill, Chicago News

A controversial construction spending law, dubbed "Illinois Jobs Now!" by Governor Pat Quinn, received a much-needed shot in the arm Monday as the sta...

Read Whole Story

From Depression to Public Inspiration

Robert Kuttner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Boston, Depression, Dams, New Deal, 1929 Stock Market Crash, Bridges, Conservation, Gop, Franklin Roosevelt, Republican Party, Tennessee Valley Authority, Great Depression, Robert F. Kennedy, Politics News

Did you ever wonder why some of America's greatest public works projects were accomplished during its worst depression? President Obama has the right idea when he calls for major investment in 21st Century infrastructure.

Read Post

Unemployment and Economic History

Paul A. London | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Unemployment, Economic Stimulus Package, Economic History, Fdr New Deal, Budget Cuts, Business News

If you want to understand what the U.S. faces today with no prospect of bringing unemployment down to 3 or 4 percent you need to read Since Yesterday,...

Read Post

Streets Unlit After Dusk In Parts of New Orleans

Susan Buchanan | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Electricity, Lower Ninth Ward, Crime, Safety, Hurricane Katrina, Street Repairs, U.S. Dept. Of Energy, Business News

Patches of New Orleans are dark as a country lane at nightfall because of corroded wiring from Katrina, missing power lines or voltage that's turned off during road construction.

Read Post

AMERICA NEEDS JOBS Time For A New WPA

HuffingtonPost.com | Dan Froomkin | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Jobs Program, Wpa, America Needs Jobs, 20 Jobs Ideas, Ccc, Roosevelt, Fdr, New Deal, Financial Crisis, Business News

(No. 8 in Huffington Post's America Needs Jobs series.) There is, of course, a precedent for the country facing a massive, sustained unemployment cri...

Read Whole Story

Obama's Infrastructure Bank, the Party of No and Bike Lanes in Brooklyn

Joel Epstein | Posted 05.25.2011

Imagine a pair of roomy bike lanes hugging the park-side curb of a broad boulevard of pre-war mansions and stately apartment houses.

Read Post

An Alternative to Long-Term Unemployment Compensation

Eric W. Fonkalsrud, M.D. | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Unemployment Benefits, Joblessness, Jobless Rate, Unemployment, Unemployment Rate, Public Works, Politics News

Providing government-supported employment and education to returning servicemen from the Iraq and Afghanistan who are unable to obtain work on their own should also be seriously considered.

Read Post

60% Of Port-Au-Prince Needs Demolition, But Who Will Do The Job?

Rowan Moore Gerety | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Port-Au-Prince, Rubble, Haiti, Haiti Earthquake Relief, Haitiblog, Haiti Earthquake, World News

All over Port au Prince, the same spray-painted scrawl designates thousands of half-collapsed houses and buildings "à démolir." According to th...

Read Post

The Politics of Unemployment

Paul A. London | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Breaking Politics News, Obama Unemployment, Economic Recovery, Obama Public Works, Unemployment, Obama Economy, Jobless Rate, Economic Stimulus Package, Politics News

If politicians succumb to pressure to reduce spending quickly, there is no way to get people back to work. Somebody has to spend money, but who will do it if not the government?

Read Post

The Real Solution to Unemployment

Deepak Bhargava | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Jobs, Unemployment, Unemployment Rate, Jobs Bill., Politics News

The current unemployment rate and overwhelming likelihood of its persistence for many months, even years, is a human disaster.

Read Post

Fleecing the USA Again: Non-Performance-Based P3 Banker Fees

Michael Likosky | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Goldman Sachs, p3s, Chicago Parking, Investment Banks, World War Two, Bridges, Public-Private Partnerships, Tarp Banks, Power, Public Works, City of Chicago, Water, Roads, Privatization, Levies, Bonuses, People of Chicago, Skyway, Business News

If the recovery is done right, we can forge public-private partnerships akin to the Second World War. However, our least patriotic institution, the large scale investment bank, seems to have something different in mind.

Read Post

No Blacklisters Please: Decency in P3 Contracting

Michael Likosky | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Dulles Airport Expansion, Dorchester Tunnel, Balfour Beatty, United Kingdom Informaiton Commissioner, Public-Private Partnerships, Connecticut, Texas, p3, North Antelope Rochelle Mine, Chicago Parking Meters, California, Public Works, Highway 130, Virginia, City of Norwalk Parking Authority, Economic League, Blacklisting, Wyoming, LAZ Parking, Metro Goldline, Alfred Cunningham Bridge, Privacy, Massachusetts, Alameda Corridor, North Carolina, Illinois, Vinci, Politics News

The United Kingdom Information Commissioner recently named Balfour Beatty and LAZ Parking Company's parent, Vinci, as having funded a secret 15-year long blacklisting operation.

Read Post

Ed Rendell: Hardest Working Man in Infrastructure

Michael Likosky | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gilded Age Railroads, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, p3s, National Infrastructure Bank, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Building America's Future, Meet the Press, National Governors Association, Council on Competitiveness, American Society of Civil Engineers, Stephen Goldsmith, Rachel Maddow Show, Public Works, Howard Dean, Clean Energy Bank, Governor Ed Rendell, Public-Private Partnership, NGA Strengthening Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future Initiative, European Investment Bank, Mckenna Long & Aldridge, Politics News

Governor Rendell has been a tireless advocate of an infrastructure-driven recovery within the NGA and also as co-leader of Building America's Future.

Read Post

Obama's Economy

Michael Likosky | Posted 05.25.2011

If the TARP banks are to be a main investment vehicle for the next stage of recovery -- as they should be, it is after all our money not theirs -- it is heartening to have Obama at the helm.

Read Post

Zelizer's Book Corner: Jason Scott Smith, Building a New Deal Liberalism

Julian E. Zelizer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Works, Obama Public Works, New Deal, Economy, Zelizer's Book Corner, Fdr, Building a New Deal Liberalism, Jason Scott Smith, Fdr New Deal, Politics News

Building a New Deal Liberalism offers a fascinating history of New Deal public works programs, challenging the conventional arguments about the problems with these projects.

Read Post