President Obama Unveils $50 Billion Infrastructure Plan for Roads, Railways

President Barack Obama used Labor Day as an opportunity to unveil a new $50 billion plan to create jobs and bolster the economy. The plan revolves around boosting the nation's infrastructure to expand roads, railways and runways.

During his speech, the president also took the opportunity to criticize Republicans for turning down many of his measures. He joked that their slogan is "no we can't," and said that they are talking about him "like a dog."

The president said that his goal is to rebuild 150,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of rail and 150 miles of runways. He said that he'd like his rail system to go coast-to-coast. He also wants to invest in a strong high speed rail system similar to that which they have in Europe and China.

The primary objective of Obama's new plan is to create jobs. This has been a pounding frustration for the administration since Obama was elected. The recent jobs numbers showed a slight increase in unemployment to 9.6 percent, with black unemployment skyrocketing to 15.6 percent. All of these issues matter to the president, especially with mid-term elections coming soon.

One additional challenge for the president as he works to spend us out of our misery is that Republicans are attacking him on the deficit. Perhaps because they are having trouble finding other talking points, the right wing has defined Obama as a tax and spend president. This criticism seems questionable in light of the fact that President George W. Bush spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the Iraq war and gave quite a few tax cuts to the wealthy that ended up increasing our national debt a great deal.

It appears unlikely that President Obama will get any of his measures passed any time soon. Additional spending by Democrats is likely to be perceived unfavorably by voters with elections coming up this fall. Even his fellow party members are hesitant to commit to spending additional funds.

Related:
+Black Unemployment Rate Increases 700% More than White
+President Obama Announces New Economic Measures

The president's plan is a very good idea. America's infrastructure is falling apart, and there are thousands of roads and bridges in serious disrepair. Additionally, it is shameful that our national railway system is not nearly as strong as the one they have in Europe. I found great pleasure in traveling across Europe by train, and I remember wishing we could do the same here in the U.S.

Additionally, Obama's idea of improving the dire joblessness situation through infrastructural investments is also a good move. It's similar to your mother allowing you to earn extra money by having you clean out the garage. If you are a teenager who just lost his job at McDonald's, you'd thank your mom for doing you a favor. Obama is like our mom, and the American people are the teenagers being put to work. The problem for us is that our mom (the government) is in serious debt and might not be able to afford to sustain all of her children financially.

With all that said, the problem with creating jobs in America is that our economy is not structured for job creation. In fact, the U.S. has not created one net new job since 1999. Workers wages remain stagnant and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow. Much of this due to our nation's commitment to undermining labor unions, deregulating corporate activity and allowing for rampant, unrestricted globalization by corporations determined to send jobs overseas. At some point, we're going to have to change course, but I am not sure if it's going to happen under Obama. We've had an interesting two years thus far, and it's not completely inconceivable that we've only got two years of Obama left. I guess we'll see what happens.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.