Brooks: Want Real Economic Stimulus? Fix the Roads

Panic is afoot, so of course, Congress is bearing down on another stimulus package, though the last one seems to have missed the mark. These “politically designed, ad hoc” measures “amount to an economic sugar rush,” David Brooks writes in the New York Times. If he’s wise, the next president will eschew checks for one essential project: rebuilding America’s transit infrastructure.

The US desperately needs new roads to adapt to new travel patterns. Brooks’ sweeping “National Mobility Project” would provide jobs for low-education workers while improving the country’s underpinnings. Eventually, it would dovetail with energy and transportation technology initiatives both presidential candidates say they support. Panic will pass, but “a smart president could take advantage of it to build something that will last.” (More economic stimulus package stories.)