News Articles
Berlin Daily Sun: Hodes: Recovery package ‘good news’
February 18, 2009
“It’s good new for all,” he said.
The new economic recovery package includes about $860 million for
One major portion for the funds is $130 million for road and bridge repairs throughout the state, said Hodes.
“There’s lots of other money coming for lots of other things.”
Many provisions in the bills will help create jobs, repair water treatment facilities, give tax cuts to individuals, help schools and other construction projects like upgrading transmission lines, said Hodes.
Hodes said that he hasn’t seen any specific figures stating what amount of those funds would be coming to the
On an individual basis, Hodes said people will find some relief from the tax credits built into the recovery package. At the root of the recovery package, said Hodes, was the need to help stimulate the economy to stop the downturn. Hodes said two traditional methods to promote economic recovery are increasing housing purchases and vehicle purchases. He added that that didn’t do anything to help the economy. The last resort, said Hodes, is that the government puts money into the economy to help level it out.
“The government money is trying to soften a crash landing,” said Hodes.
Along with funding the recovery package, the government is going to have challenges with fiscal
responsibility to maintain a stable economy in the long-term. The recovery package, said Hodes, isn’t just designed to help a consumer economy, but also transition the country’s economy into the 21st century. He added a combination of these elements should help the economic decline, but it isn’t fail-safe.
“We’ve got to try to put a floor up on this things.”
Aside from the recovery act, several workers inquired about the bailout package for banks and the looming potential for an auto industry bailout. On the banking bailout, Hodes said the major problem was that it lacked accountability. He added that he voted against it twice for that reason.
The money was supposed to free up credit to make loans for people, but Hodes said it didn’t happen that way.
“It didn’t get down to
The way the bank bailout was designed, said Hodes, was that the government gave the money to the treasury department that in turn gave it to the banks.
“The real problem is with the treasury department,” said Hodes. He added that with the new administration there are new people at the department trying to fix the situation.
Hodes said the government was being told the banks couldn’t separate out what funds went to keep the institutions afloat and what funds were given out as loans to help people that are struggling.
The auto industry bailout, said Hodes, would be designed to help keep manufactures going. He added that about one in 10 jobs in the country are somehow tied to the automobile industry. Hodes said that representatives from the auto industry haven’t yet made their case, but he wants to make sure that the workers are protected. He added the workers often get the short end of the stick in many of the instances.
“I want to see what they plan,” said Hodes. “I haven’t made a decision [whether to support the plan].”
Hodes said the purpose of the packages isn’t for the government to own these businesses but take a partial stake in ownership until the money is paid back.
“Our object is not for the government to own these businesses,” said Hodes. “We want to get out of this as soon as we can.”
