The New New Deal seems to be talked about a great deal these days and if President Obama will embark on massive infrastructure projects I’d like to request something be done about the frail utility grid. It seems anytime a snowstorm blows through the north or a hurricane blows through the south, there are millions of homes that are left without any power for days or weeks on end and this needs to change.

I would suggest we bury all those electric cables and while we’re at it, let’s run fiber to every home to get truly high speed internet access and please leave AT&T, Verizon and Qwest out of the project. Since we’re digging in new power lines and fiber, we might as well add new water pipes and sewer lines too. We should invest in some flooding pumps too to keep areas from flooding too badly.

Finally, there will be temptation to build new roads and freeways but with the auto manufacturers going bankrupt, there isn’t really that great a need. By all means, fix the crumbling bridges but lets not invest too much on roads and fossil fuel burning autos Let’s invest in high speed rail to replace dilapidated Amtrak.

The cost for all these things should be very low as there will soon be millions of unemployed workers out there willing to work on these projects. It’s perfect timing.