The stimulus process brings to mind the old adage that while you might like sausage or legislation, you don’t want to watch either one being made. But I think the final bill came off better than most expected. For the first time in over a decade I have some hope for the U.S. government working in our country’s best interests. Whether or not you agree with the Obama team’s strategy of letting Congress do the drafting until the final negotiations, the investments in high-speed rail, research, and the internet will pay off in creative class productivity (and these are investments – if the government were a business they’d go straight to the balance sheet, not operations spending.)
- A post here worried about cuts to transit to fund tax cuts. The final bill increased high speed rail to $8 billion (up from $300 million in the first House bill), $8.4 billion for mass transit, $1.3 billion for Amtrak (only 60 percent for NE corridor, so maybe some will reach Oregon). Yes, still too much for highways and leaving decisions to the states could be bad, but I think there’s language about focusing on maintenance before new construction.
- There’s $10 billion for the electric grid to support the $20 billion for alternative energy.
- In research, NIH gets $10 billion (thanks to Arlen Specter), $1 Billion for NSF, $1.6 for NASA, and more.
- The funding for $7 billion for rural high speed internet and $17 billion online medical records are steps toward catching up with the rest of the industrialized world.
- Increases in Pell grants and tax credits for college will hopefully help more people go to college.
Beyond these productivity building investments, other parts of the package are necessary or at least not as bad as they could have been:
- The tax cuts, while not as productive as investment, are targeted at the middle class and toward being spent in the real economy, rather than rewarding people buying a third “home.”
- Some of the holes in the safety net are being patched with more money for Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment.
By the way, probably the best political job in America today is John Baldacci’s, the Democratic Governor of Maine. As far as I can tell, his state’s two Republican senators didn’t ask for anything in negotiating the Stimulus. But don’t be surprised to see some extra job training centers and wind energy farms Down East.
OK, what do you think?