Jobs for America: A Citizen-Led Stimulus Plan

This post is a follow-up to the Jobs post on Sept. 23,2010.

Current efforts to deal with the financial crisis and the recession have not been focused on job creation and hold little promise for keeping the official unemployment rate below 8 percent. While achieving little for millions of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed, the net contribution of existing solutions has been to polarize the population and increase the level of accusatory shouting. The bailout money for troubled banks and financial houses made some of them well and contributed to the bonuses of their upper-level personnel, but it had much less effect on Americans who are unemployed, or who have high levels of mortgage and credit card debt.

The immediate effect of bailout dollars for U.S. automakers were plans to close more plants in the United States and to increase production in plants overseas. And the "cash for clunkers" program appeared to work as millions of Americans traded their old gas guzzlers for newer gas guzzlers, but most new purchases were from foreign automakers. These programs not only did not benefit the average American in need of a job, but they also served to generate great conflict and public discord.

We propose for consideration a stimulus plan that can create jobs for average Americans and can do so in a way that unifies people in a belief that it serves the common good. The focus would be on America's deteriorating infrastructure of interstate highways, state roads, bridges and dams, aviation, drinking water, toxic waste sites, national power grid, public parks, beaches and recreation sites.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has provided a Public Infrastructure Report Card of conditions in 15 areas, and the grades have been poor to failing. These projects to upgrade infrastucture would not be make-work, but vital to the health and safety of Americans no matter where they live or how much money they make.

Recent high-profile disasters such as the failure of the levees to protect New Orleans from Katrina and the collapse of a major bridge in Minneapolis  provide ample evidence of the need to improve America's infrastructure. How would Jobs for America project work?

When Americans file their tax returns each year they would be invited to make a voluntary contribution of $100 to $500 to the project by adding the amount to the tax they owe or deduct their contribution from their tax refund. If 20 million taxpayers contributed an average of $100 it would generate $2 billion for the project. More than 132 million Americans file tax returns, and we believe that at least 20 million would buy into the project.

The political pressure of a citizen-led stimulus plan would require Congress to become a partner with the citizens' voluntary contributions by providing matching funds of 10 times what citizens contribute; in this example, $20 billion. The money would come from the procurement side of the defense budget (currently at $104 billion) which always has spending for new ships or planes that the military has not requested.

Infrastructure building projects would be located in each state, and when states apply for project funds to rebuild infrastructure they would have to make a matching contribution, either financial or in-kind. National labor unions would provide the skilled work force of carpenters, electricians and masons that would be at the heart of the infrastructure projects. They would be expected to become a partner by making wage and work-rule concessions to help reduce the cost of the infrastructure projects.

The project would be started by bringing together a leadership team of high-profile Americans, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Ralph Nader, who are unifying symbols with a record of having worked on behalf of the common good. They would initiate a national public education effort to inform Americans about the Jobs for America project. Buy-in contributions would come from national advertising firms and national media outlets who would work together to deliver the message to the public.

The solution to the current economic crisis and recession will depend upon a sustained effort to create jobs in a way that calls on all Americans to share the pain and the gain. The key to restoring hope requires a combination of creating jobs and making existing jobs more secure. It is time to bring Americans together for another "moon mission," but this time we should land in the United States.