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Highlands Today

Mahoney Outlines Plan To End Recession

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By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: May 12, 2008

SEBRING — U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, a self described "blue dog Democrat," called the federal stimulus checks only the first of four steps needed to boost the economy out of the recession.

"The president is still having trouble saying 'the R-word,'" Mahoney told about 60 people at Monday morning's meeting of the Highlands County Homeowners Association.

But, the first-term congressman said, the country in general and Florida in particular are in a deepening recession. Mahoney said the foreclosure and credit crises, rising food and gasoline prices, and rising crime and unemployment are combing to create "the perfect storm."

Mahoney spent most of his speech outlining what he calls practical, do-able solutions to the country's economic woes.

Beyond the federal tax rebate checks, the congressman said, Congress and the president have to do three other things to stop the recession.

First, he said, Congress must pass pending legislation to bail out homeowners – and not real estate speculators – who face or are in danger of falling into foreclosure. Each foreclosed home that becomes vacant drops the value of the other homes in that neighborhood, he said.

By finding a way to help people in foreclosure stay in their homes, Mahoney said, the government will stop both neighborhoods and the economy from falling into further decline.

Second, Mahoney said, the government needs to help people obtain mortgages and start buying homes again. The best approach, Mahoney said, is for federal legislation that would give interest-free loans of up to $7,500 to help people become home buyers.

"And this," Mahoney said emphatically, referring to the interest-free, $7,500, home-buyer's loan, "will not be for speculators."

Third, Mahoney said, the federal government needs to spend money to put people back to work rebuilding America's infrastructure.

Tragically, he said, the United States is spending huge amounts of tax money to rebuild Iraq. That should end immediately, he said, because that money is going to "little Mafias," small groups of Iraqi thugs who are fighting over the American aid money pouring in.

"We should put money into putting Americans back to work rebuilding America," said Mahoney, who said his self description as a "blue dog Democrat" equates to a "fiscally conservative" Democrat.

In a move reminiscent of the huge public works projects which put unemployed people back to work in the Great Depression of the 1930s, Mahoney said the federal government should pay Americans to rebuild our aging infrastructure. Many of the country's roads, bridges and harbors need rebuilding, he said.

"I want to make sure Florida is at the top of that list," Mahoney said, referring to his hoped-for public works funding to create jobs.

In Florida, Mahoney said, state and federal funding must be provided for the Everglades restoration project because fresh water is crucial to Florida's economy. Without an abundant, safe supply of clean, fresh water, he said, Florida will be in big financial trouble.

Mahoney touted the cellulose bio-fuels industry as a way to ensure America's safety and create good-paying jobs in rural Florida. He praised Highlands County for putting out the welcome mat for a proposed sweet sorghum bio-fuels plant in the Venus area, and noted that five similar plants are planned in the Okeechobee area.

"And that means new, clean, green jobs," Mahoney said. "This is jobs for the 21st century."
Local and state leaders in Florida also should look into boosting "eco tours," Mahoney said, because environmental or ecological tourism has great potential in this state.

In a question-and-answer session, Mahoney fielded several inquiries about illegal aliens.
"First of all, we have to secure our borders," he said.

One questioner asked how Mahoney would keep illegal aliens from taking construction jobs on public infrastructure projects aimed at putting American citizens back to work.

"We can get this problem fixed, but it cannot be a campaign issue," Mahoney said. "It's not rocket science, you just have to have the will to do it."

Mahoney said the politicians who stand in the way of solving the illegal alien problem do so because they think they can profit politically from making it an ongoing political issue that makes voters angry.

According to Mahoney, President George W. Bush, the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate, and the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives agree to bipartisan solutions to the illegal aliens issue.

No solution is being enacted, though, he said, because of Republican members of the House of Representatives.

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