Invest In America

Stranded On The Road for Cheap Political Points

Doing away with federal gasoline taxes for even a short period of time will do serious damage to the economy as we head into a recession and as high gas prices affect our commuting patterns. Federal gasoline tax dollars go into a trust fund that helps pay for roads, bridges and mass transit. According to the federal government's own calculations, every $1 billion spent of the gasoline tax revenues creates nearly 35,000 jobs. A summertime "gas tax holiday" could cost the nation almost 350,000 jobs and would halt work on vital improvements to roads and bridges, as well as mass transit systems stressed by new riders leaving their cars at home. According to the Congressional Budget Office, we're already falling behind in our ability to pay for our transportation needs. The bigger issue is this: An economy that depends on the efficient interstate movement of goods and services can't afford to continue starving the maintenance and growth of our transportation network. But that's what we've done under the Bush administration, which opposed moves even from within its own party to increase transportation spending enough to match actual needs. Dumping the burden on already-strapped and unevenly equipped states won't solve the problem. A transportation system that allows the economy to operate efficiently and save precious fuel is a national priority; we should all share in the costs and the benefits.more »

Rebuild Our Public Infrastructure

Conservatives have no legitimacy when they complain on one hand about pork-barrel spending while squandering money on “bridges to nowhere,” on crony corporations like Halliburton and on subsidies for their political contributors. Meanwhile, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates we need to spend $1.6 trillion over the next five years to fix our roads, bridges, water lines and other essential public resources. These are real needs, not "pork." Plus, it's a matter of global competitiveness: Countries like China and India are making massive investments in public transportation, schools and broadband, while too many of our children study in crumbling schools, workers lose productivity on crowded roads, and Internet commerce suffers under some of the slowest and most overpriced broadband connections in the industrialized world. The more-than-$100 billion a year spent on the war in Iraq would go a long way to funding these investments, which would enhance our economic security..more »

$22 trillion in new energy investment needed

The International Energy Agency estimates that, between now and 2030, $22 trillion in new investment is needed to meet expected demand.

Americans want government to return to domestic priorities

In a survey of voters in September 2007, Peter Hart Research found these two frames scored highest out of eight:

- “Over the past five years the Bush administration has spent nearly half a
trillion dollars in Iraq, while saying that we cannot afford to meet our
priorities at here at home. In fact with just one week of Iraq war funding, more »

The Big Brokers Blew It. They Should Bear the Cost.

Once upon a time on Wall Street, in the days when investment banks were small private partnerships, a simple but ingenious idea kept bankers and traders accountable for their actions: the collective-liability clauses in their partnership agreements. A mistaken trade here or bad advice there, and all the partners suffered. more »

Iraq, $5,000 Per Second?

The United States seems to have slipped into recession; Americans are losing their homes, jobs and health insurance; banks are struggling — and the Iraq war appears to have aggravated all these domestic woes.more »