Has “Shovel-Ready” Gone Down the Memory Hole?


So much for infrastructure upgrades - the "stimulus" is self-stimulus....

Earlier this morning, I was reading through a recent short analysis (*) of the state of the building materials industry while having my morning tea; the following paragraph jumped out:

“Investors appeared to be disappointed that of the $787 billion spending bill passed by Congress, a meager $27 billion will go directly to fund construction projects. Too, much of those outlays will likely be pushed out a year or more from now. In the near term, nothing will likely be done beyond filling some potholes. In fact, the stimulus package seems more geared to hiring, or retaining, civil servants rather than construction workers.”

Well, so much for “shovel-ready” - the “stimulus” is just “self-stimulus”….

(*) - Sorry, no link; as far as I know this is available only on paper, and if there is an electronic version somewhere it’s certainly behind a subscribers-only curtain.

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The NEXT Big Infrastructure Bill


The Obama-Reid-Pelosi Debt Plan is Only the Start

Glenn Reynolds asks a good question: WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR LAST BIG “INFRASTRUCTURE” BILL?

Everyone seems to have forgotten that just three years ago, in August 2005, Congress enacted the biggest federal public works program in American history, spending a massive $286.4 billion on the 2005 highway bill. At that time, President Bush and congressional leaders from both parties told us that the new highway bill was needed to fix our infrastructure problems.

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