You are correct. One of the dumbest uses of tax dollars I have ever seen (knowingly). I can just imagine hundreds of these types of projects all over the country and people wondering why things have not improved.
I can almost hear still Mayor Soulman Young's ribbon cutting speech..."Dis iz a great day fo the peepul of the city of Detroit". I rode on that thing once, once around the loop from Greektown. If it wasn't for my 3 friends and a security guard, the People Mover would have been an Air Mover.
Well, I dont get the purpose of these "package injections", I guess these are for mainstream audience who will probably will have some faith like "things will get better". There are so many countries "injected" their economies with different sums ob $ bln's, but where did these money go. To me its like a monopoly game with the fake currency. Currencies doesnt have its power at 100% atm. Its like the company A in US had $80 bln and the company B in Europe had $80 bln. One year later they only got $8 bln in cash, the rest sum dissapeared and maybe it even did not exist. Thats how the ballon blowed up, it cannot hold that much air. If someone is in this field, care to explain it? Thats how I see the stocks vs cash evaluation.
Road improvements aren't really infrastructure improvements and should be paid for with gasoline taxes. We need about $30 billion of infrastructure improvements on the Missisippi waterway. Some other good uses would be building nuclear plants and some western dams for water and hydro-electric. If people paid their mortgages, there wouldn't be a housing crisis. Many poor people flipped houses at 100% profit but the people that bought at the height of the market were blinded by dollar signs in their eyes. Perfect example of the waste that are contained in huge spending packages. The US spent something like $212 billion rebuilding New Orleans and 50% of it is still in ruins. The purpose of the injections is to keep people working. If people keep working, growing food, building than we can come out of this. But the problem with the stimulus package is that it's really a social spending and earnmark spending bill. If this doesn't work, Obama has to come back for another $1 trillion and add to that trillions in deficits. Plus whatever amount the banking industry bailout is going to cost.
When it comes to energy plants, waterway improvements, trade/transportation networks, why not have the users pay for it? Why does the Federal Government need to pass these bills (what is a bill other than an obligation to pay) forcing everyone to contribute when only some benefit. To me, this leads to overfunding, which leads to waste, which leads to a dampening of the total economy. So, you see how effective the Federal government is with taxpayer money. Imagine that level of incompetence rebuilding the nation's infrastructure? Do we really want jobs at all costs? Do we need more redundant, make-work, wasteful employment which basically describes the banking industry today. We are replacing the housing/stock market bubbles with a government spending bubble. Personally, I blame the baby boomers (Clinton, Bush, and Obama).
The end users ould eventually pay for the infrastructure though fees on the thegovernment could create authorities to manage it. The Port Authority of New York/New Jersey has worked very well managing infrastructure and generates income for both New York City and New Jersey.
I believe this bailout package (let's call it for what it is) won't work because it's not addressing any real needs of the economy or the country. It has been done for political expediency not practical necessity.
The stimulus package will help eaise the pain but it won't stimulate in proportion to the money we are spending. The car companies are running out of cash The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already has an $11 billion deficit http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090216/pension_bailout.html
Most of the money is invested in the market. It's probbly going to get worse. The S&P most likely will fall to 625.
To answer your first question. Not at all. Sometimes things can be explained in such simple terms: Look at the video on here: Global Crisis News Peter Schiff says "The stimulus is the worst thing we can do"
I support bankruptcy, and collapse. From the ashes of the old rise the foundations of a better economy. Holding together the burning remains of the old will only singe your hair and burn your hands.
You can say that again. Put a stake in the heart like we did to Lehman Brothers to stop the bleeding. The Illuminati closed it because they are concerned that the truthmay get out