Reporting from USA Today usually leaves me wanting more and this piece was no exception. What about opponents of all this government spending? This is a fascinating story, and needs much better treatment.

This article points out how government spending on infrastructure and other long term projects can boost the economy long after consumer stimulus checks are spent.

This USA Today article gives a disjointed narrative of government at all levels trying to put money into ostensibly economy enhancing projects. The construction figures are an apparently random selection from states and localities. Included are schools and colleges, roads and bridges, mass transit, airports, a courthouse but "You don't want to spend money on fireworks or a monument to the mayor." There is no federal funding specified, although some use matching funds, mostly approved prior to our current financial panic, and what constitutes a good investment in the future isn't discussed.

Yes it is good journalism. I fault it like many stories in the relativities that it portrays. The article makes punchy points, but doesn't make the obvious point, that is, the spending should be occurring at the federal level, not the state level as part of a "depression avoidance" plan. There is no mention that military spending is another US$30-50 billion AHEAD of the record US$480 billion spent in a record year of private homebuilding. The infrastructure spending is laudable and just what the country needs to avoid depression (from the implosion/collapse of the banking system of endemic fraudulent lending and speculative now proven worthless investment banking executive and dealer bonuses, that cannot be recovered, but thats ... More »