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Who loves high-speed rail? The $8-billion question
When we went to bed last night, people who track transit spending were in agreement there would be $1 to $2 billion allocated for high-speed rail in the economic stimulus bill — and a document from the...
View ArticleHeartbreak in the heartland as Caterpillar layoffs remain firm
What looked like hopeful news out of the heartland is heartbreak instead for employees at Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar. The company indicated that if the Obama stimulus passed it might hire back...
View ArticleThe future of infrastructure
The $790 billion economic stimulus plan has money in it to change America’s infrastructure forever. As we consider the future of urban planning in this country, The Takeaway talks to Enrique Peñalosa,...
View ArticleEven at $700 billion, is the stimulus bill enough to save the economy?
The question is no longer if will we have an agreement on the stimulus, but rather if the stimulus plan will be enough. Will this trillion dollar infusion save the economy? This morning we’ve invited...
View ArticleSeven stimulus lessons
The stimulus plan was Obama's first attempt at pulling together a bipartisan A team and it didn't go so well. It now seems that the Democrats and Republics are no closer to working together after the...
View ArticleThe stimulus has passed. Now comes the hard part.
Congress has finally passed the stimulus, but it’s hardly smooth sailing from here. Now federal bureaucracies must adapt to get the money out the door and fast. Neil King Jr., Washington reporter for...
View ArticleStimulus smackdown: Feds vs states vs cities on how to spend the money
President Obama is expected to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill tomorrow and as the money from the plan trickles down to the states and cities it may not be pretty. The New York Times' Monica Davey...
View ArticleGet on a bus, gus: The nation is heading towards a transit crisis
Despite the eight billion dollars the stimulus will pump into the nation’s transit infrastructure, local transportation agencies around the nation are in for a potentially devastating year. For the...
View ArticleThe stimulus and the states: California and Missouri await their funds
California is facing down a $42 billion budget gap and now Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced lay offs of over 10,000 government workers and an immediate halt to all public works projects. All...
View ArticleStimulus on the state level with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been a united party over the past few weeks, as they refused to help pass President Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy. Now that the stimulus bill has...
View ArticleGround zero Detroit: Auto industry, foreclosures, and the recession hit hard
Facing a triple threat from the spiraling economy, mortgage foreclosures and an ailing auto industry, President Obama began his economic counteroffensive this week. He signed a huge stimulus bill, was...
View ArticleA look ahead to President Obama's busy week
President Obama hasn’t been in office long enough to give a state of the union address. But on Tuesday he'll go for a test drive, when he addresses Congress in a state-of-the-union-like speech. For...
View ArticleStimulus funds to pay debt to Filipino WW II vets
During World War II, thousands of Filipinos fought for the US military. They were promised benefits from the US, but denied them after the war. But finally, after decades of fighting for their pay,...
View ArticleOut Takes: Will the stimulus package stimulate education reform?
Now that the American Recovery Reinvestment Act has been passed into law, the Department of Education has been given an unprecedented injection of money. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has $100...
View ArticleRep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., explains why he voted no on the stimulus
Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter voted against the stimulus package even though his district west of Detroit is fighting major economic challenges. And since the funds will flow to his district...
View ArticleBarack Obama's address to Congress, on economic stimulus and more, Feb. 24,...
Read a transcript of President Barack Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress, concerning the economic stimulus plan, health care, education and more, from February 24, 2009, and discuss...
View ArticleOut Takes: How the stimulus package is pushing technology in education
A $5 billion grant to states is helping schools develop data networks to monitor students’ progress and keep track of tests mandated under the No Child Left Behind legislation. New York City has the...
View ArticleOut Take: A look at how the stimulus funds will affect early childhood...
Now that the American Recovery Reinvestment Act has been passed into law, the Department of Education has been given an unprecedented injection of money. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has $100...
View ArticleGovernors may reject stimulus money to the chagrin of the unemployed
Governors in nine states, mostly in the South, are thinking about rejecting millions of dollars in federal stimulus money pegged for increased unemployment insurance. Joining us this morning is Michael...
View ArticleEducator-in-chief Arne Duncan on the stimulus bill
Congress took a potentially transformative step when it devoted $100 billion in the stimulus package to education—the money could revive the reform efforts that began promisingly with President Bush’s...
View ArticleTracking every dollar (redux)
You can find every dollar on recovery.gov, right? Not exactly. But you can find your state's recovery Web site. The reporting on the recovery act funds begins today, with agencies being required to...
View ArticleThere are no residents here: Cleveland as the center of the housing crisis
The effects of the housing collapse are being felt acutely, daily, powerfully in Cleveland, Ohio. For a time, it led the nation in foreclosures, and now it’s a city that lives with one out every 13...
View ArticleSenate holding hearings on stimulus transparency
The Senate is getting ready to grill the Office of Management and Budget on transparency and accountability... OMB Deputy Director Robert L. Nabors is on the hot seat this morning as Senator Joseph...
View ArticleRecovery.gov numbers due "this week"
OMB doesn't want "perfect to be the enemy of the good" So now we know. The numbers are coming this week -- if not exactly "every dollar." The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says the public will...
View ArticleTransit systems tunnel through the financial crisis
Transit systems around the country are facing higher fares, service cuts and layoffs; with little help from government agencies. Some are facing increased stress because of what once seemed like a...
View ArticleThe New Deal and African Americans
In the face of the financial crisis and the debate over how to save the economy, the New Deal is held up as a model of success or failure, depending on political leanings. Many New Deal programs...
View ArticleThe first stimulus numbers are in...
Go ahead take a peek... your inner wonk is dying to. So far, up to now, it's been all PR, pretty much — how much money will be allocated by the stimulus bill, how many jobs will be created. But now...
View ArticleTransportation officials cause confusion at White House recovery plan...
The president stopped by a meeting of 49 state representatives gathered to discuss ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (aka "the stimulus bill") and got a big round of applause....
View ArticleWhere do you get one trillion dollars? Fed plans to print its own
The Fed announced its new plan to help stimulate the economy yesterday calling for roughly $1 trillion to be spent on the mortgage market and treasury securities. Maya MacGuineas is the Director of the...
View ArticleGreat explanations: Steve Coll blogs the stimulus plan
Veteran journalist Steve Coll has turned his investigative skills on the SEC’s relationship with Wall Street, the secret history of the CIA and the legacy of the Bin-Ladens. Now he is taking on a great...
View ArticleA look back at six months of stimulus with the Congressional Oversight Panel
It’s been six months, almost to the day, since the TARP stimulus package was put into law. Last night, the Congressional Oversight Panel charged with monitoring the use of those funds and making sure...
View ArticleA look at state spending of the stimulus funds
Yesterday Vice President Biden announced the federal government is releasing $2.3 billion in recovery act funding for child care and vaccines. The announcement is the latest in a flurry of national and...
View ArticleVice President Joe Biden pushes mass transit spending
Instead of spending his Earth day out in the wilderness, Vice President Joe Biden held an event at a bus depot in Maryland. He was announcing a plan to spend $300 million in stimulus funding for...
View ArticleFuzzy Math? Jobs and the Economic Recovery Act
In his prime time press conference last week, President Obama credited his Economic Recovery Act with the creation of 150,000 jobs. It's an astonishing number. But is this a case of some slightly fuzzy...
View ArticleSurprise! Optimism in Charlotte
As part of The Takeaway's ShovelWatch project, Correspondent Andrea Bernstein is in banking capitol, Charlotte, North Carolina. Despite Wachovia's announcement that is was laying off over 500 employees...
View ArticleShovelWatch: Looking at the Stimulus in Charlotte, NC
Takeaway correspondent Andrea Bernstein is in Charlotte, North Carolina, looking at how the stimulus is affecting people's lives. She spoke with the mayor, employees of the big banks headquartered...
View ArticlePublic Transit: Charlotte Bucks the Cutback Trend
Cities around the country are shrinking their mass transit systems in the face of economic woes. Charlotte, NC, is bucking that trend, though. They are in the process of tripling the light rail in...
View ArticleBiden Gives the Stimulus Plan an A+. Grade Inflation?
Vice President Joe Biden is in charge of implementing the White House’s $787 billion economic stimulus package. In his first quarterly accounting to President yesterday, he gave the Obama...
View ArticleBlackRock Under The Microscope
Many Wall Street giants toppled during the financial crisis, but a few giants have been created. One is money manager BlackRock. BlackRock manages $1.3 trillion in assets for a range of big private...
View ArticleTraffic Jam: How to Reduce Congestion
By 2050, there will be 130 million more people in the country, relying on an increasingly aging and inadequate transportation system. The stimulus money is supposed to help— tens of billions of dollars...
View ArticleWhat the Transportation Bill Really Means
Forget the fight over fuel efficiency standards. An even more controversial measure is on the horizon — the transportation reauthorization bill. It only comes up for debate every six years and could...
View ArticleRAT Board to LUST Trust: Acronyms For the Stimulus
The New Deal brought us the CCC, the TVA, and the WPA. All thanks to FDR. And today’s stimulus comes along with its own bumper crop of acronyms, like SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program...
View ArticleA Talk with the Pay "Overseer": What's Fair?
The Obama administration has announced the appointment of a compensation czar who will regulate executive pay at seven of the largest companies getting TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds. He...
View ArticleHow Are Airport Stimulus Funds Being Spent?
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has nearly finished awarding $1 billion in stimulus funds to cities and towns across the country to improve airports. Even though the agency has urged 11 of...
View ArticleOn the Ground, Is the Stimulus Working?
Back in March, St. Cloud, Minnesota was excited. Vice President Joe Biden was in town to announce that the town would be receiving an influx of money from the stimulus plan. The money would be spent on...
View ArticleTakeouts: Republicans, Stimulus, Listener Reactions
Washington Takeout: Julie Mason of The Washington Examiner talks about bickering in the Republican party. Business Takeout: New York Times reporter Louise Story on where the money from the second...
View ArticleJust Where Is the Stimulus Cash Going?
Today, the White House releases a huge amount of raw data on how and where stimulus money is being spent. We talk about the numbers we know so far, what listeners have noticed, and what we'll be...
View ArticleLiving Snow Fences? Subway Station Skylights? High-Speed Rail? It's the...
One year ago, the Obama Administration began pushing billions and billions of dollars out the door. The federal stimulus combines tax cuts, huge chunks of federal spending and the extension of...
View Article'TIGER' Grants Aim to Revitalize Neighborhoods with Funds for Transit
Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the winners of a government stimulus grant called TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery). Communities around the country...
View ArticleGM Stock Price Goes Public Today
After unexpectedly strong interest from potential investors made itself apparent, formerly-bankrupt carmaker GM raised its initial price on last night's stock offering to $33/share. This morning, the...
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