Investment in Our Future

Nathaniel Loewentheil and Vera Eidelman, Roosevelt Institute Campus Network

We’ve largely abandoned our intergenerational responsibilities. The most important distinction isn’t between public and private spending. It’s between short-term and long-term thinking. We don’t need to cut our spending; we need to invest more and more wisely. 

Investment Ideas 

  • Establish mentorship program for new teachers nationwide
  • Incentivize community colleges to expand continuity-of-learning programs
  • Create trial programs to enroll graduating seniors in community college
  • Develop and distribute high-quality, online curricula for fifty basic courses
  • Replace the indirect gas tax with a direct vehicle-miles-traveled fee paid by private vehicle users
  • Create bus-only lanes and priority at traffic signals
  • Invest in buses with larger, more comfortable seats
  • Provide free wireless Internet for riders
  • Fund broad advertising programs promoting fresh, positive visions of bus systems

 

Excerpted from Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era, our shared agenda for Congress and the Administration.

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