Even conservative Montana says spending is necessary
Stimulus should start with help for those most in need
By MARY KAYE NEALEN
Great Falls Tribune
On a weekly and even daily basis, Montana newspapers report small businesses closing, health-care needs compromised, and food banks overwhelmed.
As Congress wrestles in the coming weeks over the fine points of President Obama's economic recovery plan, it should not lose sight of a key fact: To be effective, any effort to stimulate the nation's economy must address the needs of those who are suffering most.
This is not just humanitarian rhetoric. It is also sound economic policy.
In testimony before Congress this month, conservative economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.Comsaid the fastest and most cost-effective form of government spending to jump start the economy was "extending unemployment insurance benefits, expanding the food stamp program and increasing aid to hard-pressed state and local governments."
In Montana, unemployment swelled from 4.9 percent in November to 5.4 percent in December (www.bls.gov/lau/news.htm).
Growing numbers of middle-income workers are losing their incomes, their homes and their health care, and falling into poverty at an alarming rate.
Obama's plan to create millions of jobs by boosting infrastructure programs to repair roads and schools and improve energy efficiency would provide much-needed relief as well as a long-term investment in the future.
But while those projects are being set up, an effective recovery plan must also inject money into the economy as soon as possible
(More here.)
By MARY KAYE NEALEN
Great Falls Tribune
On a weekly and even daily basis, Montana newspapers report small businesses closing, health-care needs compromised, and food banks overwhelmed.
As Congress wrestles in the coming weeks over the fine points of President Obama's economic recovery plan, it should not lose sight of a key fact: To be effective, any effort to stimulate the nation's economy must address the needs of those who are suffering most.
This is not just humanitarian rhetoric. It is also sound economic policy.
In testimony before Congress this month, conservative economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.Comsaid the fastest and most cost-effective form of government spending to jump start the economy was "extending unemployment insurance benefits, expanding the food stamp program and increasing aid to hard-pressed state and local governments."
In Montana, unemployment swelled from 4.9 percent in November to 5.4 percent in December (www.bls.gov/lau/news.htm).
Growing numbers of middle-income workers are losing their incomes, their homes and their health care, and falling into poverty at an alarming rate.
Obama's plan to create millions of jobs by boosting infrastructure programs to repair roads and schools and improve energy efficiency would provide much-needed relief as well as a long-term investment in the future.
But while those projects are being set up, an effective recovery plan must also inject money into the economy as soon as possible
(More here.)
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