Seriously though, it seems a lot of smart people out there are calling for the next stimulus to be about reinvestment in public goods. Others disagree.  Perhaps we need reinvestment in infrastructure just to remain competitive globally.

A major infrastructure initiative would create jobs for the less-educated workers who have been hit hardest by the transition to an information economy. It would allow the U.S. to return to the fundamentals. There is a real danger that the U.S. is going to leap from one over-consuming era to another, from one finance-led bubble to another. Focusing on infrastructure would at least get us thinking about the real economy, asking hard questions about what will increase real productivity, helping people who are expanding companies rather than hedge funds.

David Brooks: A National Mobility Project