Merry Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I don't think that the government funded building programs will help the citizens much with getting the jobs to work on roads, bridges, etc. Because at the same time, the government intends to make it easier for the illegals to become legal. Then the companies would most likely hire them for cheap labor. It's already happening. My ds who is a lineman tells me about how the company has started hiring construction companies to put in the new power lines and using the linemen less for that purpose. And the companies use an awful lot of the out of the country workers. Same thing with the construction and plumbing. I'm all for putting money into fixing our instrastructure as it really needs to be upgraded but I'm not optimistic about the new jobs for the average citizen. Hope I'm not stepping on any toes here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I think the infrastructure rebuilding program will only help or will be the most effective if it's initiated quickly. Rebuilding a yr from now, won't help those out of jobs currently. As for hiring new immigrants, they get hired because they are willing to work for less pay. Regular americans can get hired too if they're willing to work for less, but due to many American's materialism and greed, they can't afford to work for less in their minds. It's a tough call, some money is better than no money though. I think our whole country over inflated itself leading to debt, and now everything has to be releveled (is that a word) to it's true value. That goes for wages, home values, goods etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 well the infrastructure building plan is suppose to reenact FDR New Deal, that was suppose help to get them out of the depression. Depression didn't end until WW2. There are economist that believe all his spending prolonged the depression The other thing is that their is not the same work ethic as the depression era. The men and their families were hungry and they were willing to work doing anything and at any price. We now have unemployment check, food cards, etc. I know they don't get a lot of money but it's still money that was not available during the depression There are a lot of people that want take a pay cut just to work. Their is the right of entitlement mentally prevalent now. I don't see it really helping the economy. The illegal Mexicans have that need to provide for their families and they will do any kind of work at any price. So I agree with you the whole building stimulus will not help the economy and it will only raise our future taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Where are all the trained workers to build the infrastructure going to come from? It's government work, too - lowest bidder will probably win. Frankly, it scares me to think of the quality control issues that will come up. And as for how it will help the economy, I don't see how putting our country deeper into debt to pay for all of this is going to help things. The bills will have to be paid eventually, and that will only hurt the economy more, as people have less income they can keep due to higher taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 In a word, NO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in SC Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 In a word, NO. This is my belief as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abreakfromlife Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I say No, for all the reasons listed, and another reason that came from dh's boss....he works for a small civil engineer firm, and they do a lot of infrastructure type stuff; and work has slowed way down b/c subdivisions aren't really being built now b/c of the whole housing thing and Michigan sucks ...... but their big fear is that if this infrastructure part of the bill came through and all of a sudden there were all these engineering projects to work on - the big firms from detroit would underbid everyone all over the state and take over, and that would be it for small buisnesses like theirs. It already happens to them from time to time, but they think it would massively increase with all of the money for it suddenly available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Where are all the trained workers to build the infrastructure going to come from? It's government work, too - lowest bidder will probably win. Frankly, it scares me to think of the quality control issues that will come up. And as for how it will help the economy, I don't see how putting our country deeper into debt to pay for all of this is going to help things. The bills will have to be paid eventually, and that will only hurt the economy more, as people have less income they can keep due to higher taxes. I know quality has suffered due to work going to the lowest bidder. There was a road project this past summer that went to pot(holes) before the blacktop was dry up here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathmom Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I know quality has suffered due to work going to the lowest bidder. There was a road project this past summer that went to pot(holes) before the blacktop was dry up here. They massively screwed up a highway repaving project here that took forever and had to redo part of it. This is the main commuter highway around here! I mean, come on, the ROMANS built roads that are still in existence, and we can't build one that lasts 5 years? I remember reading an article 20 years ago in Time magazine that showed the difference in how they build roads in Europe and the US, and the European ones last much longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I am currently reading Amity Shales "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" and I must say I find there are so many unintended consequences of the government's intervention that actually prolonged the depression. For example, many small businesses were hurt and capital was held back because of wage controls enacted by the government. Small businesses could not add jobs because the wage control. More people were out of work because small businesses could not compete. This book is very dense with examples and I'm having a hard time getting through it. I am finding it very interesting to read it in these times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in CA Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 (edited) I don't think that the government funded building programs will help the citizens much with getting the jobs to work on roads, bridges, etc. Because at the same time, the government intends to make it easier for the illegals to become legal. Then the companies would most likely hire them for cheap labor. It's already happening. My ds who is a lineman tells me about how the company has started hiring construction companies to put in the new power lines and using the linemen less for that purpose. And the companies use an awful lot of the out of the country workers. Same thing with the construction and plumbing. I'm all for putting money into fixing our instrastructure as it really needs to be upgraded but I'm not optimistic about the new jobs for the average citizen. Hope I'm not stepping on any toes here. I don't think it will help much. Perhaps it will provide some optimism for those in construction, but overall, I don't think it's going to make much of a difference. What would make a difference, imo, would be small-medium sized businesses looking confidently towards a future where they were able to build their businesses (and their profit margins) without excessive government interference. I'm saying this as a person who owns one of those small-med. sized businesses. We will not be making any improvements, hiring any new employees, or looking to grow our business until we're more confident that we'll be able to keep a reasonable ratio of the fruits of our hard(er) work. After all, if working harder to build our business will just result in higher taxes, where's the benefit of the harder work and higher risk? Might as well keep it small & more manageable on our own. I suspect many business owners feel the same way, which in my opinion, is the reason our economy is not bouncing back after the economic crisis. Sorry, more than you asked, I know... ETA: Hasn't history shown us this already? Edited January 30, 2009 by Julie in CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 They massively screwed up a highway repaving project here that took forever and had to redo part of it. This is the main commuter highway around here! I mean, come on, the ROMANS built roads that are still in existence, and we can't build one that lasts 5 years? I remember reading an article 20 years ago in Time magazine that showed the difference in how they build roads in Europe and the US, and the European ones last much longer. If you find that article I'll see about sending it to the company that did the road that didn't last 2 weeks. The way the plan is set up now, no, I don't think it will work. There are too many other thing in there that take away from doing it properly. If all that pork that was added were taken away, and the thing was strictly an infrastructure/economic recovery bill then maybe. Putting people to work nation wide, and paying them a competitive wage will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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