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Stimulus: It's about the economy, not pork
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The size of the economic stimulus package that may be proposed by the incoming Obama administration grows larger by the minute. At last measurement, it was approaching $1 trillion.
That has generated a list-making frenzy by local governments, state agencies and other interested parties to line up projects they claim are ready to go and appropriate for federal aid.
Although details are not yet clear, it appears that the new administration may propose funneling much of the stimulus money through state governments. States surely need the help, but without careful controls, the result could be a boondoggle of mythic proportions, a disgraceful waste of scarce resources that looks like earmarks on steroids.
By the time the stimulus package becomes reality later this winter, Missouri will have a new governor. Jay Nixon must provide crucial leadership to ensure that any money that comes Missouri's way is spent wisely.
Illinois, too, may have a new governor by then. Or Rod Blagojevich still may be in charge. Either way, the infusion of hundreds of millions of federal dollars into a state government rocked by political scandal will demand the strongest possible oversight.
There's broad consensus, in some cases across liberal-conservative ideological lines, that a huge infusion of government money is needed to prevent an already foundering U.S. economy from falling to potentially disastrous depths. The goal is to get money circulating quickly into the economy. That's why money for unemployment compensation and food stamps, funds for local governments services facing cutbacks and added support for health care are ideal ways to spend stimulus funds: The money will be spent immediately.
Public works have a place in this process, just as they did in the Works Progress Administration and other New Deal-era programs. The St. Louis region and the governments that comprise it have a rare opportunity to undertake important, hard-to-fund projects involving roads, bridges, transportation and other infrastructure needs. But waste can't be tolerated.
City, state and local governments have different wish lists. Municipalities are pressing their claims through the National League of Cities. MoDOT and IDOT are holding hands with a national association of state transportation agencies. Public transit agencies have banded together with their national counterparts.
It doesn't end there. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums argued last week, for example, that its members' infrastructure projects should be part of the federal stimulus mix, noting that "many zoos have their roots in the Great Depression, when the WPA helped build many zoos across America."
Some of these projects are being touted as "shovel ready," meaning approved plans are on the books and could be started quickly. But "ready" may not be the same thing as "worthy." The stimulus package must get the economy moving, not repackage pork.
This may be a tough sell in Congress, where a $1 trillion in spending will attract every lobbyist in Washington, every one of them waving campaign contributions and arguing that his pet boondoggle is just the ticket for getting America back on its feet.
President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders must create a process to identify the projects that most directly create jobs and stimulate spending, rather than those that simply fulfill the dreams of special pleaders and pad the campaign treasuries of key members of Congress. The question is too important for politics as usual.
Simply put, states that fail to present a solid plan, that don't meet a stiff burden of proving they will make good use of stimulus funds, that cling to rural-urban divides and that abdicate public responsibilities in favor of powerful lobbies should be denied access to stimulus funding.
Even without a congressional directive, given the gravity of the economic crisis, state and regional leaders have a duty to move beyond protecting turf and pursuing narrow interests. State leaders must reach a consensus on a public works agenda that will yield public improvements of broad and lasting importance.
To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stltoday.com.
Copyright © 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Subscribe To Lake AlertsThe size of the economic stimulus package that may be proposed by the incoming Obama administration grows larger by the minute. At last measurement, it was approaching $1 trillion.
That has generated a list-making frenzy by local governments, state agencies and other interested parties to line up projects they claim are ready to go and appropriate for federal aid.
Although details are not yet clear, it appears that the new administration may propose funneling much of the stimulus money through state governments. States surely need the help, but without careful controls, the result could be a boondoggle of mythic proportions, a disgraceful waste of scarce resources that looks like earmarks on steroids.
By the time the stimulus package becomes reality later this winter, Missouri will have a new governor. Jay Nixon must provide crucial leadership to ensure that any money that comes Missouri's way is spent wisely.
Illinois, too, may have a new governor by then. Or Rod Blagojevich still may be in charge. Either way, the infusion of hundreds of millions of federal dollars into a state government rocked by political scandal will demand the strongest possible oversight.
There's broad consensus, in some cases across liberal-conservative ideological lines, that a huge infusion of government money is needed to prevent an already foundering U.S. economy from falling to potentially disastrous depths. The goal is to get money circulating quickly into the economy. That's why money for unemployment compensation and food stamps, funds for local governments services facing cutbacks and added support for health care are ideal ways to spend stimulus funds: The money will be spent immediately.
Public works have a place in this process, just as they did in the Works Progress Administration and other New Deal-era programs. The St. Louis region and the governments that comprise it have a rare opportunity to undertake important, hard-to-fund projects involving roads, bridges, transportation and other infrastructure needs. But waste can't be tolerated.
City, state and local governments have different wish lists. Municipalities are pressing their claims through the National League of Cities. MoDOT and IDOT are holding hands with a national association of state transportation agencies. Public transit agencies have banded together with their national counterparts.
It doesn't end there. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums argued last week, for example, that its members' infrastructure projects should be part of the federal stimulus mix, noting that "many zoos have their roots in the Great Depression, when the WPA helped build many zoos across America."
Some of these projects are being touted as "shovel ready," meaning approved plans are on the books and could be started quickly. But "ready" may not be the same thing as "worthy." The stimulus package must get the economy moving, not repackage pork.
This may be a tough sell in Congress, where a $1 trillion in spending will attract every lobbyist in Washington, every one of them waving campaign contributions and arguing that his pet boondoggle is just the ticket for getting America back on its feet.
President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders must create a process to identify the projects that most directly create jobs and stimulate spending, rather than those that simply fulfill the dreams of special pleaders and pad the campaign treasuries of key members of Congress. The question is too important for politics as usual.
Simply put, states that fail to present a solid plan, that don't meet a stiff burden of proving they will make good use of stimulus funds, that cling to rural-urban divides and that abdicate public responsibilities in favor of powerful lobbies should be denied access to stimulus funding.
Even without a congressional directive, given the gravity of the economic crisis, state and regional leaders have a duty to move beyond protecting turf and pursuing narrow interests. State leaders must reach a consensus on a public works agenda that will yield public improvements of broad and lasting importance.
To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stltoday.com.
Copyright © 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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Daryl Atamanyk wrote on Dec 28, 2008 4:02 PM:
" Not about pork you say??? Who are you trying to kid? You are actually trying to sell this to an electorate that saw before its very own eyes two presidential candidates neither of which got themselves whipped into a frenzy of indignation when, "It [was] about the economy": but the members of the Senate and Congress PIGGED OUT on $185 BILLION dollars of pork, in an instance of a SINGLE piece of legislation... pork of an arrogant scale unlike ever before witnessed in the history of planet earth??? You got to be kidding me.... Zoos in the Great Depression you say? The Senate and Congress are "zoos": why is there not a special investigator looking into the legislative mechanisms of these two bodies to determine whether or not a pattern of racketeering exists consisting of voting for legislation in exchange for political campaign contributions? The penalty for those who are guilty of such ongoing criminal enterprises engendered by racketeering... is ten years without parole in a federal penitentiary. I think its time to straighten out the legislators. Their ignorance of the law is no excuse. Where is the FBI investigation of this matter!? Pigs get slaughtered. "
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Ateles wrote on Dec 28, 2008 10:36 PM:
Similarly, any jobs or other economic activity created by public-sector expansion merely comes at the expense of jobs lost in the private sector. And if the government chooses to save inefficient jobs in select private industries, more efficient jobs will be lost in others. "