Earlier this month President Obama said that the United States should be more like China, proposing yet another jobs bill to spend $50 Billion Dollars for repairs to the nations infrastructure, promising to create jobs in construction, manufacturing and retail industries, saying that China spends much more on roads, rails and related projects than the United States.
Huh? How has China spent money on capital improvements? Are the Chinese better off than Americans?
Guangzhou Sewage System following a 3 to 4 hour Rain Storm at Night
Most Construction in China Only Has Life Span of 25 to 30 Years
A True Dwelling in Shanghai Longchange Apartments, Yangpu District
Newly Built Apartment Building in Shanghai Collapses Nearly Intact
Elevated Road in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province Collapses Crushing Many
Obama is naive and disingenuous, money just doesn’t grow on trees, you get what you pay for. Whatever happened to the $787 Billion Dollars actual $862 Billion Dollars for all of those shovel ready projects that were promised to “create or save” 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year?
Economists have known for decades that public works projects are a poor way to create jobs and stimulate the economy, by the time public works projects come online, most recessions are long over. Nearly 20 years ago Bruce Bartlett, Economist and Domestic Policy Adviser to President Ronald Reagan wrote in National Affairs–Public Interest that public works programs cannot be triggered and targeted in a sufficiently timely manner to compensate the cyclical fluctuations in employment and economic activity; public works projects have had minimal impact on unemployment; the duration of employment for individual workers, is too short to provide meaningful economic relief; public works projects are extremely costly–the cost for generating a construction job for one year ranges from $70,000 to $198,000 (1980 dollars, adjusted for inflation it would be $185,000 to $525,000 per job) Burce Bartlett–Capital Gains and Games Why Public Works are a Poor Stimulus and Why we Still Need Them
Why has President Obama only sought $50 Billion for Infrastructure improvements? What does he really want the money for? Why not reallocate the $191 Billion Dollars remaining from his 2009 Economic Stimulus boondoggle instead?
It’s been estimated to make actual infrastructure improvements to our nations roads, rails and air transportation will cost $262 Billion Dollars annually through 2035 and not what President Obama has sought, in order to be more like China.
