Truthout.org: Yes, We Can Make the Stimulus More Stimulating

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 dollar economic stimulus plan. Among other things, Baker calls for juicing the economy with 2 billion dollars 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.'"

Read the full article at Truthout.org (Opens in new window)