Rev. Jesse Jackson talks about stimulus aid

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in Las Vegas 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 other companies dubbed, "too big to fail," Jackson says the government is saying, "poor people are too small to matter."

Jackson covered topics ranging from his forays overseas to everywhere 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 homeowners are among folks 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. Nor are they 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 Buffet told ABC News, "a second one may well be called for."

Buffet 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., says 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.