America Needs A New Deal by Matthew Mientka

As a young engineer, a student of science and economy, world traveler, and critical thinker, I have several thoughts about America and the current state of the world economy. I am not saying this is a way to save the world, but it is something to think about.

The great world economy that had been running on all cylinders is now in desperate need of a tune-up. The past several months have shown when the United States hits a speed bump, the rest of the world feels it too. The last several months have also exposed some major problems with the economy here in the United States. If markets are working correctly, we don't have enough energy and everyday people feel the pain. If markets are doing poorly, people loose their jobs and historically strong companies show brutally weak foundations and a tough future. How is the United States of America to weather these tough times? I say we look at the past, to our darkest times. We need to create jobs, invest in the county's infrastructure, and get us ready to lead the world economy for the next 100 years. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal helped fight the way out of the darkness of the great depression, it should inspire what we need today. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Tennessee Valley Authority(TVA), Civilian Conservation Corps, the Social Security System and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were all created in the dark days of the great depression, some are still around today. Besides for new laws and regulations, the programs also included a way for the government to create jobs. The idea to pay Americans to build dams, protect against drought, and improve general infrastructure across the country. I think the time is right for programs like these to be created again.

I am one who is normally in favor of market economics, and letting markets take care of their own problems. But the United States' government is going to spend trillions of dollars trying to inject money into a failing system. If we as a country are going to pump money into the system, we should invest in capital projects that make the country more efficient. All 50 states will show you failing bridges, highways, tunnels, and unfunded projects. We can build carbon friendly railroads, mass transit systems, and develop the future of transportation in the United States. We can build new environmentally friendly power plants, huge solar cell manufacturing plants, and fields of wind turbines across the heartland. Reducing our dependence on the infamous 'foreign oil' and building our future around what we can support on our own. These projects will make the country money and most importantly reduce operating costs for private companies and living costs for people across the country. The benefits to revamping transportation and energy system in the United States are almost endless and are just the start of what a new 'new deal' should include. I could write a book about all the economic impacts as well.

If we are investing in the country, we will not be investing in the companies that are failing, and that is a hard pill to swallow. We will be loosing jobs, but we will be creating new jobs, guaranteeing pay, and showing tax payers that their money is not going to waste. We can keep talking about these future technologies, but unless we invest on a huge scale they will take their sweet time to arrive to market. If we are going to invest trillions of dollars, why not invest in what we are demanding, especially clean energy. We need to bring together engineering and politics, science and finance, blue collar and white collar, and we need the government to bring the projects to these people. Let's stop talking about how good this county can be, we need to show it. A new new deal will give the United States a kick start on the next 100 years of being in the drivers seat of the world economy.

~Matthew Mientka
Colorado Springs Native
Pueblo Centennial, 2002
Colorado School of Mines, 2006
Challenge Engineer, BP Houston

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