FOSS Development As Economic Stimulus

heybus writes "Economist Dean Baker, best known for calling the housing bust and warning of the ensuing economic collapse, has just published his recommendations for how to allocate President-elect Obama's estimated $800 billion economic stimulus plan. Among other things, Baker calls for juicing the economy with $2 billion worth of government spending to support the development of free and open source software. Baker's idea is similar to the New Deal federal arts and writers' projects: the government would fund projects as long as they produce freely available code. In addition to employing programmers, 'the savings [to consumers] in the United States alone could easily exceed the cost of supporting software development.'"

Comments

When will they "get it"

[Anonymous Coward]

I voted for Obama primarily because he seemed intelligent. The thing that brings us out of this recession is jobs jobs jobs. I would really appreciate it if there was tax credit for companies that offered a tuition benefit or on the job training for those people needing to transition to different careers. As it is now, companies that are hiring do not want to spend one hour on training for straight forward tasks and would rather leave the job open.

Handing out money to banks that won't lend it, or tax cuts to billionaire investment bankers who buy expensive art, or paying of state debt, or giving tax cuts to corporations that give dividends to shareholders, or construction projects that build bridges to everywhere but no one can afford to drive over them, all do little to replace the jobs that are being lost.

Obama, we are going to learn if you really are intelligent right out of the gate.