Recommended: How to Lower Unemployment

William Galston in The New Republic has an interesting proposal in his article How To Lower Unemployment.

We certainly need to invest in updating our infrastructure in this nation - our roads, bridges, water systems, electric grid, railroads, etc, etc. Most are in poor shape after years of neglect and underfunding. I agree with his approach - put money into infrastructure, covering the cost partly with user fees and partly with public investment. That will prepare the nation to remain competitive in future years, while giving people badly-needed jobs right now.

The problem is, as he points out, that this process has to be divorced from politics. One can't trust Congress on this, because they will simply allocate funding on the basis of politics, not on the basis of a rational assessment of priorities. An empowered independent non-political body needs to make the calls. But will Congress ever give up that lucrative power to anyone else? I doubt it.

Still, it is an interesting and rational proposal.