What govt spending looks like

Robert Kuttner on the multi-year plans of the stimulus package:

the stimulus as a down-payment on an expansion of government services such as affordable housing and early childhood education that have been chronically under-funded, as well as long term investments in green energy and smart infrastructure.

…. If you look at the details of the Obama recovery plan, however, it includes a lot of outlays that don’t look like one-shots: laying more than 3,000 miles of electric transmission lines; installing 40 million “smart” utility meters to help reduce energy use; weatherizing 2 million homes and most federal buildings. Among the other infrastructure investments are improving security at 90 major ports and modernizing the nation’s water system. These needs and others like them don’t end after two years.

Obama said Saturday in his first radio and video address, “This is not just a short-term program to boost employment. It’s one that will invest in our most important priorities — like energy and education, health care and a new infrastructure — that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century.”

H.E.E.I.P — the economic acronym

For all the talk of essential economic remedies, there is hope in the acronym of HEEIP:

Health
Education
Employment
Infrastructure
Poverty programs

Or as this Wall Street Journal article detailed it last week:

The Obama stimulus plan is directed toward health, energy, education, infrastructure and support for the poor.