Caterpillar to Rehire Some Workers If Recovery Package Passes

The Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar said today that if the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passes, his company could rehire some of the 20,000 employees it has laid off in the last few weeks.

This could begin even before money from the Act starts flowing to stimulate the economy.

In Virginia today, at a road construction project, President Obama announced the Caterpillar statement. The road construction project was forced to stop because funds ran out. This prject and many others like it are expected to benefit from the financial flow released by the recovery act.

caterpillar

“Where we are standing, that could mean hundreds of construction jobs,” the President said. “And the benefits of jobs we create directly will multiply across the economy.”

Read a partial text of the President’s remarks:

Summary of Remarks By The President on Infrastructure, Fairfax County Parkway Connector Site, Springfield, Virginia

11:18 A.M. EST

February 11, 2009

We’ve passed a version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan through the House. Yesterday, we passed a version through the Senate. Now we’ve got to get a final version to my desk – so that I can sign it and so that here in Virginia and across the country the people can use it.

In Virginia, the unemployment rate has surged to its highest level in more than a decade … Unemployment claims have doubled in recent months compared to last year. Nationwide, we’ve lost 3.6 million jobs since this recession began – nearly 600,000 this past month alone.

We’re here today because there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on our nation’s congested roads and highways, crumbling bridges and levees, and crowded trains and transit systems. Because we know that with investment, we can create transportation and communications systems ready for the demands of the 21st century – and because we also know what happens when we fail to make those investments.

Investing in massive infrastructure projects doesn’t put money in enough workers’ pockets.

So across the country, states need help. And with my plan, help is what they will get. My plan contains the largest investment increase in our nation’s infrastructure since President Eisenhower created the national highway system half a century ago. We’ll invest more than $100 billion and create nearly 400,000 jobs rebuilding our roads, our railways, our dangerously deficient dams, bridges and levees.

Here in Virginia, my plan will create or save almost 100,000 jobs, doing work at sites just like this one. Where we’re standing, that could mean hundreds of construction jobs. And the benefits of jobs we create directly will multiply across the economy.

Again, Obama and Congress are pinning their hopes on big infrastructure projects to fix the economy. That might have worked when a lot of manual labor was needed, but these days, the workers only see a small fraction of the money spent.

They are attacking the problem from the wrong angle. Politicians never learn. Maybe they don’t even care.

Alan Gray is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NewsBlaze Daily News and other online newspapers. He prefers to edit, rather than write, but sometimes an issue rears it’s head and makes him start hammering away on the keyboard.

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Alan has been on the internet since it first started. He loves to use his expertise in content and digital marketing to help businesses grow, through managed content services. After living in the United States for 15 years, he is now in South Australia. To learn more about how Alan can help you with content marketing and managed content services, contact him by email.

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Alan is also a techie. His father was a British soldier in the 4th Indian Division in WWII, with Sikhs and Gurkhas. He was a sergeant in signals and after that, he was a printer who typeset magazines and books on his linotype machine. Those skills were passed on to Alan and his brothers, who all worked for Telecom Australia, on more advanced signals (communications). After studying electronics, communications, and computing at college, and building and repairing all kinds of electronics, Alan switched to programming and team building and management.

He has a fascination with shooting video footage and video editing, so watch out if he points his Canon 7d in your direction.