Monday, January 26, 2009

Economic stimulus or just more pork?

Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Zachary Coile has a column questioning whether the Dem's stimulus package will stimulate the economy:

Is $200 million to rehabilitate the National Mall a crucial way to stimulate the U.S. economy? How about $276 million to fix the computer systems at the State Department? And what about $650 million to repair dilapidated Forest Service facilities?...Some of the biggest winners in the package are federal agencies, which would see a huge infusion of money. The Social Security Administration would get $400 million to replace its 30-year old computer system. The Agricultural Research Service would receive $209 million for deferred maintenance at its facilities. The General Services Administration would get $600 million to replace its older fleet of vehicles with new alternative-fuel cars and trucks.


The Park Service will get $1.8 billion to repair it's facilities and the USDA will receive $44 million to repair it's headquarters.

Coile also notes:

...the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only 7 percent of infrastructure money would make its way into the economy by the end of the year, and only 38 percent would be spent by the end of the 2010 fiscal year.


So, are they stimulating the economy or feeding the hog?

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