BestOfBid.com

Will the American Reinvestment Recovery Act actually create millions of new jobs?

Now, for logical reasons such as you can't get out of debt by spending, I have not been a proponent of the stimulus package. You don't have to be a Republican to understand this, just an everyday citizen. We always hope that logic transcends social and political divides. In trying to obtain stimulus money for my small town, this is the conclusion I have come to. Stimulus Money for Infrastructure: Transportation projects along with the water and wastewater projects are not going to create the millions of jobs as touted. In the state of Indiana, for example, the type of projects that are going to get the money are the ones that were already in progress and close to the bidding stage. These jobs were going to exist anyway, not create “new” jobs. And furthermore, small communities are the ones that need these projects done as well and they are getting left in the “stimulus dust”. It takes hundreds of hours of paperwork and thousands of dollars spent on engineering to even get an infrastructure project ready and by then all of the deadlines have passed. That being said, what financial troubled community would even start the process in “hopes” of getting the funding? None! These types of projects are going to do nothing for the likes of Elkhart County, IN except to create better roads for people to travel to spend their unemployment checks. When an entire community relies on mobile home manufacturing in an economic crisis it only spells disaster. The only thing that will help these people is for the Federal Government to throw a couple of billion dollars, again, for the production of FEMA trailers. Hey, I’ll bet those tent cities popping up all over the country would like a formaldehyde home.

Public Comments

1. No... It may save a few for a short time. I think the people that earned the money had a better chance of helping
2. No, government spending does not create wealth. Any jobs "created" will simply be lost elsewhere as precious economic resources are taken from efficient private markets and diverted to inefficient government.
3. No. For optimum return for the money, it should be given back to the taxpayers.