The story

Laid-off construction worker Tim Baxter says new federal infrastructure spending could rescue him from his economic free fall -- but he's skeptical.

In the two years since the 54-year-old supervisor was let go from his firm outside Atlanta, Georgia, Baxter has exhausted his unemployment benefits and burned through much of his retirement savings while working two part-time jobs.

"My retirement money is just basically gone," Baxter said recently during a visit to an empty construction site south of the city off Interstate 75. The stress comes when he thinks about whether the economy will begin to turn around by mid-year -- or by year's end. Read full article »

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