If we use government money to spend on government infrastructure projects which need to get done anyway, we’re at least killing two birds with one stone… Then praying that the money generated via those new jobs will be enough to stimulate the economy over the cusp of recession. If a massive infrastructure rebuilding problem (which would surely be coupled with tax breaks and interest rates dropping, thus increasing the amount of capital) fails, then we risk seeing inflation along with falling job numbers — stagflation. If that happens then shit has really hit the fan.

What worries me the most is how our economy has shifted from manufacturing to being service based. How can we prime the pump at factories anymore if they are little factories to be had? This is one reason why keeping the big three automakers afloat (and, I’d postulate, passing a law banning them from moving manufacturing jobs outside the United States for at least 5 years) is so important (despite my political ideological feelings against bailing them out). But would they be enough? Or has so much of America’s manufacturing sector slipped away that economy is in serious trouble because we are lacking in goods to sell? In other words, I’m wondering how much of a pump there is to prime right now.

We need a massive infrastructure based stimulus package.