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There's also broad consensus that the next stimulus package should include infrastructure spending, which has been in the spotlight since the Minneapolis bridge collapse and the failure of New Orleans levees in Hurricane Katrina. Arthur Blaustein, who was part of Jimmy Carter's economic team, recommends $250 billion in infrastructure assistance to state and local governments. "This kind of direct federal spending for community and economic development would be far more productive than rebate checks," he said. The argument against infrastructure projects as stimulus has been timing; since the projects can take years to complete, spending can't easily be timed to provide stimulus during a recession. But the Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects at Stanford University said in an October report that hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects across America have been approved but are sitting on a shelf due to funding shortfalls. It estimated that $15 to $20 billion in projects are approved and could be put out to bid within 30 days of a stimulus package being approved. The group has called for funding of a third-party, bipartisan panel of engineering and planning consultants to triage the nation and identify projects that could begin in the spring of 2009. Other suggestions from economists include a federally sponsored plan to help people modify their troubled mortgages and tax credits for employee-paid health insurance. Q: Is there widespread agreement that another stimulus package is needed? A: Yes. Most economists are worried. They're less concerned about how much another stimulus package would cost and more anxious about what will happen to the economy if no stimulus arrives
-- or if a new package arrives too late.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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