Sunday, January 25, 2009

Stimulus vs Pork

$850 Billion is enough money to choke a hog (but not a congress). Skimming shows the bill full of all kinds of stuff, medicare, money for TV converter boxes, welfare, unemployment.
In my book, stimulus ought to be limited to investment in real assets that make the US more productive. Building dams, power plants, oil and gas pipelines, airports, bridges, power lines, wifi hotspots. Things that produce wealth, or facilitate producing wealth by improving transportation and communication and basic utilities count.
Paying medical bills, paying routine maintenance costs, repaving, repainting, buying "energy efficient" vehicles don't count. They just consume money that could be better spent.
Also, we need it now, this year, next month. Spending targeted for 2010 and the outyears isn't stimulus, its special interests locking in their funding so they don't have to worry about lobbying for money next year.

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