Obama Roads and Bridges Stimulus Does Little

[Embar Angylwrath]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9527995

Good example of how the stimulus money was ill spent. I need to qualify that I think tax dollars spent on infrastructure are good policy, but that's not how the Obama admin spun it. They spun it as a good investment in JOBS, and that isn't the case. The tax dollars tossed at this, while perhaps good from a policy standpoint, were not what the Obama admin promised.

My stance.. the Obama admin would have been better off preserving and supporting small businesses and keeping people in homes than throwing money at this. He would have had more jobs preserved, and a more content electorate, all for the same amount of tax payer dollars.

Why Lurker and Partha cheer the funneling of taxpayer dollars to large corporate conglomerates is beyond me. I'm all for letting corporations compete as unrestricted as possible, but chucking taxpayer dollars at private orgs is something I thought both the left and the right on this board could agree on.

(Hint to Partha and Lurker.. small businesses typically aren't building bridges and roads.. subcontractors, yes.. lion's share.. no)

[Partha]

The stimulus is how much spread over how long, and how much has been spent?

Thank you. We now return you to Embar's Daily Poutrage.

[Lurker]

And don't forget that according to the CBO the stimulus "sustained between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in the third quarter, and raised gross domestic product by 1.2 to 3.2 percentage points higher than it would have been without the program".

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Yes, Embar, please don't forget about the saved or created jobs.

[Kulaf]

I think a big part of the problem is seeing which "construction workers" are actually out of a job. Most of them fall in the home construction market.......not big government project construction workers. So spending more money on infrastructure, while potentially good for consumers and business, probably won't do much for unemployment unless you spend at such a rate and with short timelines that the current level of employment is unable to meet the obligations of the projects thus forcing hiring.

[Lurker]

I'd also add that most of the money spent so far has gone towards tax cuts for the middle class and direct aid to states and individuals that has helped tens of millions of the most vulnerable Americans and provided the best bang for buck economic stimulus. The talking point that the stimulus money went to "large corporate conglomerates" is false.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

That's funny Lurker. My congressional district got the 2nd most stimulus money in our state (1.1 billion) and we haven't seen jack shit of it put to use.

Unless you count those flyers that went out to everyone in our district from our Congressional Rep. thats up for reelection against the guy he ousted (and is likely going to lose to).

[Torakus]

I don't own a small business, so my experience is limited, but I fear the Fed involving themselves too much in trying to stimulate small business. What I fear are more programs like SBIR where a bunch of small businesses cracked the code on how to write white papers and business proposals to get the bottom two tiers of that program but produce nothing of true value.

Tora

[Embar Angylwrath]

I think a big part of the problem is seeing which "construction workers" are actually out of a job. Most of them fall in the home construction market.......not big government project construction workers. So spending more money on infrastructure, while potentially good for consumers and business, probably won't do much for unemployment unless you spend at such a rate and with short timelines that the current level of employment is unable to meet the obligations of the projects thus forcing hiring.

Kulaf hit it on the head. When Obama made the speech about how building roads and bridges would create 400,000 construction jobs, he missed the mark. Road work and bridge buildinga such a small segment of the overall construction industry, that there's no way the money tossed at this produced the 400,000 jobs Obama said would be saved/created in the construction industry.

Again, infrastructure is almost always a good investment for the taxpayer, but Obama touted jobs. Not the same thing.