Obama's Job-Creation Plan

I'm going to have to check that out. My small town in Florida is boardered by a large river and has a public boat dock. It's rarely used because the nearby neighborhoods fell into disrepair and businesses closed when the town was forced to build a large bridge to handle boat traffic going into Lake Okeechobee, diverting traffic away from Main Street. Boaters can't walk to the remaining few businesses in town so they dock...and spend their money elsewhere. Revitalization efforts for the Main Street area stalled a few years ago due to a lack of funding so those buildings stand vacant and some of them are for sale. With the help of a government loan it would be easy to rebuild that area, opening new businesses and creating jobs for the locals. We don't have to worry about foreign contractors bidding on these projects but our local ones would and there's no shortage of willing workers to do the labor.

Let's hope that there is enough oversight built into the plan to keep private contractors from ripping the government.

Considering what just happened with the bank bailouts, I hope there is too.

Spallidino.. that is all if Obama plans to micro-manage the whole thing. The problems with highways and bridges are already well known, he doesn't need to take months to figure that out. The infrastructure for fixing them is alreay in place, he doesn't need to figure out who will do the work. The only way it will take 2 years to get this thing going is if Obama micromanages everything and tries to reinvent several wheels before it gets started. If he's a micromanager then he has failed before he has started since all micromanagers are piss poor leaders.

I hoping that means that this is going to be "in progress" much sooner than that and that he intends to reach that goal by 2011. We definitely can't wait until 2011 to get this thing going.

I've worked on several large projects in the past and the planning stage itself...identifying the areas of need and the funding process...can take months. Then there's the organizational steps and the start up process. Two years does not sound like an unreasonable amount of time to go from the planning stage to full implementation.

I'm sure there is probably enough "fluff" in government programs that - if those that are really unnecessary were cut - there would be ample money to implement programs to boost our economy. The problem lies, however, in the fact that many of these programs were put into effect by our Congressmen and Representatives to fulfill their "debts" to their own states or to special interest groups, and they're not about to let them be cut - if they have anything to say about it.

Add the individual governors to the list of protectionists, too. Governor Christ is all for restoration of the Everglades, not because he's a staunch environmentalist, but because the folks in the highly populated coastal areas south of Lake O have been complaining about water issues related to farm runoff...that has been disproved. But, they are a much bigger voting block than us country folk here in the south central area of the state. We were supposed to get a clean coal plant but the EPA nixed that idea. I'm one of those folks mentioned in the article, by the way, who go to work in the morning not knowing if they'll be cleaning out their desk in the afternoon. Our parent company is forcing budget adjustments to our already approved 2009 fiscal year budget and I can see the shadow of an exe over my head. I'm what could be considered a luxury to the company by the top dogs in the Big House.

There are a lot of roads and bridges that need repair, as well as a lot of roads that are planned but not yet built because there's no money to build them. The same for schools that need repairs or communities that need or larger schools. The problem, as always, will be finding the money to do these projects.

Zeph, I saw a bridge to nowhere on our way to Miami a couple of weeks ago as we were driving through a work zone. I'm sure this bridge will be taking traffic towards the housing/shopping community that was on our right...because there was noting but citrus groves on the left...but at the time only the span above the roadway we were on was there. I really wish I'd had my camera with me.

Spalladino I'm sure in a few months the citrus groves will be cleared for new houses and strip malls

Because of the promises he has made to the American people - he HAS to do SOMETHING! It doesn't sound like there is an actual plan yet, and it doesn't sound like HE is going to be the one to come up with the plan. I think, so far, it is just supposed to be reassuring people and creating hope that something is going to be done in the future. Whether or not it is accomplished, we will have to wait and see. I certainly hope. for all of us, that he does have a plan that will help the economy and put people that have lost their jobs back to work - too many are jobless and homeless with no hope for anything better.

No, a plan like this will take time to create and fine tune and it's not up to the president to come up with the specifics. That's what his economic team is for.

Oh ye of little faith...why do you think it's a lie? Barack Obama has said that he's been reading about FDR, who brought this nation out of the Great Depression. There were lessons learned in that and, if Obama, can use some of those lessons to help us now, why not? Remember, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Our President's first priority should be OUR country. The other leaders in the world should each take responsibility for their own countries and not sit and wait for the United States to help them.

There is a law (I don't know the exact citation) that says if the government mandates that a state do something, they have to provide the money for them to do it. Unfortunately, however, it doesn't always happen - such as the law that requires schools to provide the needed services for special needs kids but then doesn't provide them the money to do this.

I think that his would be a great idea, many of these people want to work, they just can't find a job. I really don't understand why they haven't thought of this kind of things decades ago.

When it comes to the renewable energy - our government should be listening to T. Boone Pickens - he already has a plan for how to do this.

Yes I agree though I'm not sure if his plan is perfect. I think their might be more efficient ways to go about it, but he would make a good starting point for the conversation.

Yes I agree though I'm not sure if his plan is perfect. I think their might be more efficient ways to go about it, but he would make a good starting point for the conversation.

How Obama handles the economic situation may very well determine whether or not he will be just a one-term President. People are counting on him - because of the promises he made during his campaign - to bring out country out of the mess it is in.