Brooks: we need a National Mobility Project, not an ineffective ‘stimulus package’

Articles — By forcechange on October 31, 2008 8:47 am

NYT’s David Brooks proposes that instead of a sure-to-be-ineffective stimulus package, the next president should put forth a National Mobility Project.  Brooks notes that the impending stimulus package (most money will be misdirected), plan to bail out the automakers (subsidizing bad management), plan to issue rebate checks (will be saved instead of spent), and one-time tax credits to small businesses that are hiring (which would go to healthy companies), are going to be ineffective at best, and distorting of the market at worst.

Instead of pouring this money down the drain, or creating the conditions that will allow us to just skip from the current finance-led bubble to another, Brooks wants the US to “return to the fundamentals.”  In his proposal, this would entail a massive national transportation infrastructure upgrade.  Ranging from congestion pricing, smart highways, new rail, and airplane technologies, Brooks wants a comprehensive push forward. 

He notes, “Americans now spend 3.5 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, a figure expected to double by 2020. The U.S. population is projected to increase by 50 percent over the next 42 years.” 

As it currently stands, our country’s poor transportation infrastructure is gridlocking our cars, our economy, and the environment.  While we think an even more ambitious plan is warranted– one that includes not only transportation, but also energy, Brooks is on the right track.