It Is Long Past Time for Incrementalism

Yesterday, President Barack Obama proposed a $50 billion program to rebuild roads, railways, runways, and other critical and long-neglected infrastructure that will finally create the type of jobs that families can live on. Much like a scaled-down version of the New Deal, the effort will create jobs immediately and help the economy recover over time.

Now, all we need is a good world war to convince Republicans and wary “centrist” Democrats (a.k.a. Republicans who could not get elected as Republicans in 2006 so ran as Democrats) that we can “spend our way out of the recession.” In fact, expenditures like the President has called for are the only option, as the administration’s first effort did not create enough head-of-household-jobs and did not last long enough to stimulate the economy the way it should have.

It is long past time for incrementalism. FDR spent more than the GDP in debt to finance WWII and put hundreds of thousands to work. And, they stayed working.

These days, a world war will not suffice, given the Halliburtons and other merchants of death that siphon off what would otherwise be earnings for middle class workers and instead keep the wealth among the top 1% of Americans who already have all of the money.

However, digging trenches for sewer pipes and spending hours in the heat slathering slurry seal to fix roads are the types of jobs real, middle class working people in this country are eager to do. They are eager to do the difficult work it takes to allow railroad trains run by engineers and loaded by longshoreman to cross the country and deliver materials to miners in Appalachia, auto workers in Detroit and dirt farmers in North Dakota. Folks do these jobs not only because they put food on the table, but also because for many of them, they can see the metaphorical fruits of their labors.

As Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told CBS’s Early Show, the administration’s proposal will, “put construction workers, welders, electricians back to work ... folks that have been unemployed for a long time.

Obama’s proposal would rebuild 150,000 miles of roads and highways, construct and maintain 4,000 miles of railway, rebuild or repair 150 miles of airport runways and upgrade the nation’s air traffic control system. It also would boost spending for buses and to modernize the Amtrak fleet of railroad cars.

The same people who will get these jobs are likely to vote Republican in November and possibly give control of the House back to the Republican Party. And, that is just fine and dandy. Because any Republican who insists that only cuts will set us free from the Great Recession will be standing in the way of the only type of effort that has worked to pull this nation out of an economic downturn worse than the one we are suffering through today.

It will come back to haunt them just as Truman’s “do-nothing Congress.” The stage is set and the roles are cast. In announcing the new program, the President spoke of the Republicans as for the rich and against working people.

“The bottom line is this: These guys, they just don’t want to give up on that economic philosophy that they have been peddling for most of the last decade,” Obama said. “You know that philosophy: you cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; you cut all the rules and regulations for special interests; and then you just cut working folks loose.

“Well, you know what, that philosophy didn’t work out so well for middle-class families all across America. It didn’t work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”

Then, Obama chided the Republicans, saying, "If I said the sky was blue, they'd say no … If I said fish live in the sea, they'd say no."

Republicans couldn’t help themselves and took the bait. They called Obama’s proposal “more of the same” and reiterated that only tax cuts will do the job.

I can’t wait until the President is up for reelection in two years. It will be another Democratic thrashing. Only this time, no Republicans masquerading as Democratic will not be allowed. It will be a long time before the Republicans come anywhere close to a majority after 2012.