pimpdave wrote:Here are three off the top of my head:
The shovel ready infrastructure projects have made great improvements in road quality, at least near where I live. This makes driving safer and more efficient.
Increased spending on maintenance of the infrastructure has also led to more bridge inspections, which has helped a friend of mine get a job, who was laid off late last year. So personally, I don't have to feel guilty about asking him to pay up for gas money or beer money when he hangs out, but on a more general level, I feel safer knowing that the government actually gives a flying fart about the infrastructure and integrity of our bridges (remember how under W, that bridge collapsed in the midwest? remember Katrina? I have confidence our current president will not repeat such arrogant errors of neglect, based upon his already under-way initiatives).
The Cash-For-Clunkers program was a resounding success, to the point where there's a huge backlog of applications for the rebate (and unfortunately an awful lot of fraudulent applications)
well i dont know where you live, But I beleive the shovel ready programs dont start until feb 2010 because the money hasn't been provided yet. I would be interested to see your source on that. I have seen a LOT of bridgework around here, being from saint paul i was here when the bridge collapsed. Did anyone know it had nothing to do with gov't inspectors missing it or anything like that. the contractors that were working on the bridge at the time set a huge super heavy/super dense stack in 1 spot that the bridge was never expected to handle. Either way your 2 points on raods and bridges, what I am hearing in my "bubble talk" that the gov't is just moving money around, robbing peter and paul to pay peter, with jobs that dont have lastability value. when the job is over, your friend will be unemployed again, no?
Your third point I hugely disagree, since it seems the dealers haven't gotten their money yet, the gov't said "you'll get it when you get it" in the meantime the dealers are supposed to PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES! The only success I will agree with you on is success in re-affirming that when someone gives away something for nothing, a whole bunch of people show up. I move to disqulify what you list as "accomplishments" on the facts they have not started yet, and certainly disqaulify cash for clunkers as a success. However, if you can provide a link about how that sitmulus money has already reached your state, I will reconsider your point 1 and 2 to a small extent.