Jackson says it’s time for ‘stimulus part two’

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in Las Vegas last week to attend the National Conference of Black Mayors, says it is time for another stimulus package.

During a stop at the Review-Journal, Jackson said the first $787 billion stimulus package, "has watered the leaves but not the roots."

By focusing relief on banks and other companies dubbed, "too big to fail," Jackson says the government is saying, "poor people are too small to matter."

Jackson covered topics that included his overseas trips to places ranging from Syria to Malaysia but kept returning to the topic of folks in America who are struggling to keep up financially.

"We need stimulus part two. It must be bottom up, not top down," Jackson said.

He said struggling home-owners are among those who need relief.

According to Jackson, banks took billions with the understanding they would remain afloat and support economic activity. Instead, he says, the banks took the money but didn't lend it. They aren't doing enough to keep people in their homes.

Through his RainbowPUSH Coalition, Jackson says activists are helping homeowners the best they can, but bigger steps are needed.

"We are trying to do the modifications house by house by house and not restructuring the whole deal," he said.

The idea of a second stimulus has received a mixed reception.

In July, investor Warren Buffett told ABC News, "a second one may well be called for."

Buffett also criticized the government's plan of buying so-called toxic assets, "I do not like the idea of any plan involving the government where Wall Street makes a lot of money. My plan provided they would make no money whatsoever and the American public would make the money."

Also in July, Laura Tyson, an outside adviser to President Barack Obama, said the first stimulus was, "a bit too small," according to a report from Bloomberg News.

More recently, though, the talk in Washington has been about health care and there doesn't seem to be much momentum for a second stimulus.

On Wednesday CNN reported: "Most top Democrats refuse to refer to any new measure as a 'stimulus,' partly out of concern that it will raise questions about the effectiveness of the $787 billion recovery package enacted in February."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the first stimulus, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is still making its way through the economy.

Reid, along with top brass from MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment, credited a debt cancellation provision Reid inserted in earlier economic legislation for saving tens of thousands of jobs in Nevada.

"More money from the Recovery Act is still headed to Nevada to create more jobs. Given that, we need to let the first stimulus finish its work before we even start thinking about the possibility of a second one," Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.

A BIT OF GOOD NEWS FOR REID

A poll last week by Research 2000 showed Nevadans want Reid to deliver health care reform with a robust public option, but they don't necessarily think he will.

By a margin of 54 to 39 percent, respondents favored a government-administered health plan, similar to Medicare, that would compete with privately managed plans.

Nevadans' support for the so-called public option, which Reid backs, was about the only good news for the senator in the poll.

On the question of whether they had favorable or unfavorable opinions of Reid, 35 percent of respondents said favorable and 54 percent said unfavorable.

On the question of whether Reid is a strong or weak leader, 24 percent said strong and 52 percent said weak.

Pollsters asked people who said they have an unfavorable opinion of Reid whether they thought he was too far to the left or not progressive enough. On that question the respondents were closely divided: 47 percent said too far left and 41 percent said not progressive enough.

It suggests Reid will have to craft some mixed messages during his 2010 campaign in order to get voters who don't care for his work back on board.

PROCLAMATION OMITS ETIQUETTE

Happy Weatherization Day!

That's the greeting to use Friday, which was recently declared Weatherization Day, according to a proclamation last week by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

A statement accompanying the proclamation has great information about funding to help low-income homeowners.

It doesn't, unfortunately, provide Weatherization Day etiquette regarding gifts, decorations, songs, rituals or how to celebrate the occasion in a culturally sensitive manner. Oct. 30 is also when the state observes Nevada Day, since the real Nevada Day, Oct. 31, falls on a Saturday this year. Cheers.

'GUERRILLA WAR' CRY

Everyone knows the 2010 campaign for Reid's seat will be a tough one.

But candidate Mike Wiley might have taken the fighting analogies a bit too far when he compared a political campaign to deadly combat.

"We need to send someone who is ready to fight a guerrilla war," Wiley told Republicans at a rally in Reno, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The paper reported Wiley's war plans are a plot to "oust liberals from government."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.