Our Congresswoman, Carol Shea Porter proudly reported today that she had secured all of $1.5 million to fund two local New Hampshire projects. One million of this was for streetscape improvements in the Gaslight District in Manchester and $500,000 for infrastructure improvements for the Berwick Bridge in Somersworth.
Great, thank you! In the meantime, the State Department of Transportation has a Red List of 77 bridges most in need of repair. The projected cost, according to DOT, would be $403 million. The DOT estimates that there are resurfacing needs on highways that would cost $58.7 million. A quick calculation shows that this appropriation represents 3/10 of one percent of what New Hampshire needs.
Category Archives: Stimulus Plan
You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me!
Also posted in Infrastructure, New Hampshire, The Economy Tagged Healthcare, infrastructure, New Hampshire, stimulus, stimulus package 1 Comment
The Only Way the Economy Will Rebound
One of the dangers of all this historically unprecedented spending is that it will spark a very dangerous new round of inflation. Never mind the spenders argue, before inflation can get started, we will pull the money out of the system. This of course sounds very much like the drug user who says that he is not hooked and can quit anytime. Washington does not work that way and never has; real spending cuts have rarely been seen. A brief history of the size of government as a percent of GDP shows that government never shrinks. At best, it plateaus from time to time.
Also posted in The Economy Tagged federal reserve, financial sector, government spending, Healthcare, Inflation, recession, regulatory system, spenders, stimulus Leave a comment
Washington’s Great Bait & Switch
They sold the stimulus package as one that was largely oriented towards the infrastructure and other important public works to rebuild the nation’s crumbling physical base. What emerged was anything but.
Analysts at the Engineering News-Record (ENR) have just finished sifting through the 1,000 page bill that was used to frame the $787 billion in stimulus package – something the House of Representatives neglected to do. What emerged from this careful analysis shows that the stimulus package just approved by the Congress contains merely 16.5% of spending for infrastructure projects.
Also posted in The Economy Tagged economic stimulus package, financial crisis, Healthcare, infrastructure projects 1 Comment
Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right
The constant refrain from the Democrats these days is that they are fully justified in the massive spending programs they are racking up because the last administration also ran up massive deficits. The fallacy of this argument should be self evident, yet somehow they are not being called on it. Washington has now committed well over $12 TRILLION worth of spending thus far and that figure seems to be climbing daily. For perspective, if one adds up the Louisiana Purchase, all New Deal programs, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the S&L bailout, the Second Iraq War and the space program (all adjusted up for inflation) the entire package would only come to $3.9 trillion.
… It is very much starting to look like the Obama Administration has learned another bad lesson from the just departed Bush Administration. It is now clear that the current spending spree is to the economic crisis what the Iraq invasion was to the 9/11 attacks. If the Bush Administration used 9/11 as a pretext to attack Iraq (something they were itching to do) then the Obama Administration is using the crisis to undertake all of the liberal spending programs that the Democratic Party has built up on the shelf for the past eight years.
Also posted in The Economy Tagged Healthcare, Inflation, monetary policy, stimulus package, Stimulus Plan Leave a comment
Washington’s Stimulus Package - Delayed, Diffused and Dug In
Larry Summers was famously quoted as saying that a stimulus bill should be timely, targeted, and temporary - something we can all agree on. Unfortunately, when the White House turned over the drafting of the bill to the Congress what we got was the exact opposite.
Also posted in The Economy Tagged fixed incomes, Healthcare, Inflation, New Hampshire, Stimulus Plan 1 Comment
Bailing Out the Stimulus Plan
As far as experts go, economists are an argumentative bunch that seldom agree on most things. But one thing they do agree upon is that infrastructure spending has the biggest bang for the buck. Infrastructure spending will provide real “nutrition” to the economy, not the “sugar high” of most of the goodies in the House bill.
Also posted in The Economy Tagged budget deficit, Healthcare, infrastructure, monetary policy, stimulus package, Stimulus Plan Leave a comment