The government must think big with stimulus

I am disappointed that President Barack Obama and Congress feel that continuing to throw money at the economy will improve it without any sense of vision. The article "Spending Fails to Create Jobs" (Jan. 12) illustrates the core issue. We aren't stimulating anything by fixing the existing infrastructure because that needed to happen years ago.

True stimulus would be to create something now that spurs job growth and promotes economic development far into the future. The Hoover Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Pennsylvania Turnpike all were Depression-era projects that we still use today; they created thousands of jobs in the 1930s and 1940s. I'm sorry, but maintaining the Fort Duquesne Bridge just doesn't cut it.

Why not build a high-speed maglev rail system that connects New York and San Francisco and major cities along the route? Such a project would create thousands of jobs now, spur development (and tax income) along the route for years, decrease our dependence on foreign oil and leave something Americans in the future can be proud of and utilize.

Sounds like a winner to me on all fronts. That is stimulus -- for today and the future.

 

BRENDAN FARLEY
Ambridge