The Stimulus Disaster

The original stimulus plan was a tragedy and the sloppy manner it was passed was not about economic growth. The only thing it accomplished was to satisfy the wish list of the incumbent Democrats while Obama wasted his political capital on an 800 billion dollar shibboleth written by Pelosi and Reid. Containing provisions such as modifying unemployment benefits it never focused on creating growth, but pork and liberal fantasies. The original grant formulas were themselves questionable as well off districts had an easier time qualifying for money over needier districts, in addition there was the whole AIG Bonus nonsense where Line by Line Obama was shocked to find the bonus protections written in the legislation, (For the Record I have no problem with bonuses but am simply trying to illustrate the Democrats behavior over the Stimulus). As Obama's job loss disaster continues, and understand these job losses are directly related to Obama's plans to burden business, from health care to energy we can only expect an even more frenetic push by Obama and his allies to accomplish their goals. The latest evidence on the questionable nature of this package is how rural areas are tending to get the bulk of the "shovel ready" transportation money.

The stimulus law provided $26.6 billion for highways, bridges and other transportation projects, but left the decision on how to spend most of it to the states, which have a long history of giving short shrift to major metropolitan areas when it comes to dividing federal transportation money. Now that all 50 states have beat a June 30 deadline by winning approval for projects that will use more than half of that transportation money, worth $16.4 billion, it is clear that the stimulus program will continue that pattern of spending disproportionately on rural areas.

“If we’re trying to recover the nation’s economy, we should be focusing where the economy is, which is in these large areas,” said Robert Puentes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, which advocates more targeted spending. “But states take this peanut-butter approach, taking the dollars and spreading them around very thinly, rather than taking the dollars and concentrating them where the most complex transportation problems are.”

The 100 largest metropolitan areas also contribute three-quarters of the nation’s economic activity, and one consequence of that is monumental traffic jams. A study of congestion in urban areas released Wednesday by the Texas Transportation Institute found that traffic jams in 2007 cost urban Americans 2.8 billion gallons of wasted gas and 4.2 billion hours of lost time.

The Times analysis shows that a little more than half of the stimulus money will be spent on “pavement improvement” projects, mostly repaving rutted and potholed roads. Nearly one-tenth of it will be spent to fix or replace bridges. More than a quarter of the money will be spent to widen roads or build new roads or bridges.

Now Rural areas should get a batch of stimulus money and I can understand people who live in these areas pointing out how important produce and agriculture are to this country. The point is that if you are going to grant money it needs to be done in an equitable and intelligent manner. Not the slap dash approach favored by the Democrats. This behavior is more then incompetence , the Democrats want to pass legislation without people reading it nor anyone understanding it. After wards it can be interpreted and steered in any direction the influence peddlers desire. As people begin to wise up is it any wonder we are begin seeing polling such as this:

The Democrats have about one more year before the the midterms heat up making the passage of any massive legislation highly unlikely as incumbents begin to focus on getting re-elected. A weakened Democrat party, and it has done a remarkable job in frittering away the good will it gained over the years will only maintain nominal control of the Congress based on the sheer weight of its current majorities.