While he's a fan of infrastructure spending, he hasn't, as far as I know, called for a Roosevelt-style public works program.

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Mr. LAITHUM: I'm thinking maybe something along the line of what they did during the Depression, when they made the Public Works program where the government put people to work.

NPR: Detroit Poverty Getting Worse

Why would an environmentally oriented public-works program be any different?

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From 1977 to 1995, Mr. Itta worked for the North Slope Borough, ultimately serving in a number of leadership positions including Chief Administrative Officer, Public Works Director, Planning Director, and Director of Capital Improvement Program Management.

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This is what Mr. Abe calls the "third arrow" of his economic program, after monetary easing and additional spending on public works.

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While many stimulus projects have come under fire as pork barrel spending, backers of the nets program say it is a model for helping those battered by the economic downturn while completing needed public works.

CNN: Stimulus money pays fishermen to snare lost nets