I'm sick of the stupid stimulus...

[rudeguy]

Here in MI, our wonderful governor has decided to put the stimulus money into road construction. Spring/summer is always bad enough construction wise around here but now its out of control. They are tearing up roads that just got redone and now they shut down the busiest stretch of interstate to redo it again.

WTF is the point? I understand that it gives people jobs for 8 months out of the year, but then what? They just wasted a couple hundred million and didn't create any real jobs.

Shouldn't that money go towards something that will actually create long term jobs? Or is the goal to pad the unemployment numbers for a few months?

 

[nonlnear]

Gotta break those windows...

 

[theeedude]

Ever think of stopping and having a chat with the construction workers and see what they think of your ideas?

 

[Nielsio]

Shouldn't that money go towards something that will actually create long term jobs? Or is the goal to pad the unemployment numbers for a few months?

Only the market can decide what are real jobs, i.e. which are sustainable.

As long as you have a special group who can tax people and give the money to other people, they will do so, and they will find they have more friends than they ever imagined.

 

[Nielsio]

An example of those 'friends':

Ever think of stopping and having a chat with the construction workers and see what they think of your ideas?

 

[JSt0rm]

raaawr

 

[Throckmorton]

The goal is to get people working when unemployment is at 10% because of the recession, not create long term jobs. We aren't socialist.

Cities always unnecessarily tear up roads and create traffic problems, regardless of whether the money is stimulus money or local tax money

 

[rudeguy]

The goal is to get people working when unemployment is at 10% because of the recession, not create long term jobs. We aren't socialist.

Cities always unnecessarily tear up roads and create traffic problems, regardless of whether the money is stimulus money or local tax money

That's my point...construction in MI is always bad, now its getting out of control.

How is creating long term jobs socialist?

 

[TwinsenTacquito]

Cities always unnecessarily tear up roads and create traffic problems, regardless of whether the money is stimulus money or local tax money

Quoted for massive untruth.

The reason these projects exist is to give more opportunity to siphon off stimulus funds into the correct bank accounts. Why would they tear up one road twice in a 6 months just to repave it, and ignore the road a quarter mile away that needs to be paved? Because they don't care what they pave, they just want to spend the money as fast as possible. And that means no planning of projects, and not making the community any better. It means approve the same project over and over and over just so that all the money disappears. And because whoever got 10% of the money in their bank account gets to get that 10% again.

And when the money runs out, they get to complain that they don't enough money for something vital and they get to do their favorite thing, increase all their budgets and raise taxes to cover it. That way next time around, that bank account gets 11%.

 

[ShawnD1]

Shouldn't that money go towards something that will actually create long term jobs? Or is the goal to pad the unemployment numbers for a few months?

Actually that is the whole point. The economy will naturally recover on its own (probably) so in the mean time the government tries to upgrade things at a reduced cost because people work for lower wages in a recession. This is all theoretical.

My own city has been trying to upgrade the ring road for a long time but the price was just ridiculous during boom periods due to a worker shortage. Now that we're in a recession, there's a whole army of construction workers trying to finish that road finally. Construction will slow down when the economy picks up and people go back to whatever they were doing before. Then the government will increase taxes and start saving for the next recession's project.

edit
Saving is the wrong word. What I mean is they'll pay back the debt they acquired during the last construction project. Governments never save money. It doesn't work that way.

 

[soccerballtux]

Actually that is the whole point. The economy will naturally recover on its own (probably) so in the mean time the government tries to upgrade things at a reduced cost because people work for lower wages in a recession. This is all theoretical.

My own city has been trying to upgrade the ring road for a long time but the price was just ridiculous during boom periods due to a worker shortage. Now that we're in a recession, there's a whole army of construction workers trying to finish that road finally. Construction will slow down when the economy picks up and people go back to whatever they were doing before. Then the government will increase taxes and start saving for the next recession's project.

edit
Saving is the wrong word. What I mean is they'll pay back the debt they acquired during the last construction project. Governments never save money. It doesn't work that way.

lol, government saving for the next recession's impact. Have you lost your mind?

 

[Genx87]

Gotta break those windows...

Love the reference

 

[Genx87]

Ever think of stopping and having a chat with the construction workers and see what they think of your ideas?

I'd try but they are too busy smoking and chatting among the other 20 construction workers not working.

 

[SandEagle]

how do you get to work without roads?

 

[Matthiasa]

Incase you missed the other thread, people dont want it going into any kind of education.
Since that would actually lead to long term jobs, and increases in a states economy.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Cities always unnecessarily tear up roads and create traffic problems, regardless of whether the money is stimulus money or local tax money

Yeah, like the geniuses in Indy who decided to tear up the entire west side of I-465 (the loop around Indy) right before the Indy 500 last year -- which happens to be on the west side and is accessed via I-465. Nothing like 400,000 to 500,000 people stuck in construction traffic.

 

[Lemon law]

Maybe our OP is employed and hence does not need stimulated.

But we got ask our OP, exactly how many jobs he or she created?

 

[Hacp]

Stimulus is pointless if you hire expensive workers. Hire the cheapest workers you can get and yes, then stimulus will be useful because government is getting a discount on labor. However, when you hire union workers making 80k a pop, you're just throwing money into the toilet.

Look at China. It isn't paying any of its stimulus laborers 80k a year. Instead, its 1-2 dollars an hour.

 

[kitchiku]

OP does have a good point. Instead of re-developing perfectly good roads, why doesn't the government spend the money on something that both creates jobs and improves something.

 

[OrByte]

Stimulus money went to the repaving projects first, and that is because those projects require less environment clearance to do....which is why everywhere you look the stim money is paying for repaving. Those were easy projects to fund and get the money/jobs rolling rapidly.

Other more comprehensive, more costly, and more long term projects have their stimulus money too.

So on the one hand we have people complaining that the Recovery Act money wasn't getting spent fast enough....and now people are complaining about all the stimulus projects out on the highways.... interesting.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Yeah, like the geniuses in Indy who decided to tear up the entire west side of I-465 (the loop around Indy) right before the Indy 500 last year -- which happens to be on the west side and is accessed via I-465. Nothing like 400,000 to 500,000 people stuck in construction traffic.

Construction projects are estimated in how long it will take.

If possible, they DOT wants the work completed by November to avoid weather related issues.

If a project is expected to be completed in 6 months; that means it must be started between March and May for that area.

Much also depends on equipment/manpower availability if transitioining from another project.

 

[elitejp]

Maybe our OP is employed and hence does not need stimulated.

But we got ask our OP, exactly how many jobs he or she created?

I hate those working class people thinking they are better than everyone else and then getting angry at giving me some of their money.

Do you know who actually creates and sustains long term jobs the best...wait...wait for it...thats right them thar rich people in the private enterprise. See the interesting thing about the private enterprise is that they cant afford to just do something for no reason. They must make a profit and must think things through. The gov can send billions of dollars into a project, lose the money somewhere in the process, send poeple in to investigate where the money went, and then give the project some more money with an increase because that useless project never got finished or started.

And hiring someone to dig a hole and then someone else to fill it back in does not seem to me like a good allocation of money.

 

[Modelworks]

They ripped up and replaced all the sidewalks downtown in a small town near me. Interviewing an old lady on tv the lady said "yes these sidewalks sure are nice, no chance of falling now, but I never go downtown and neither does anyone else, everything is empty and closed"

Sums up stimulus money nicely.

 

[CycloWizard]

Ever think of stopping and having a chat with the construction workers and see what they think of your ideas?

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and government jobs. Yes, I paraphrased, but that's the only way I could shoehorn that last one in there.

 

[ericlp]

well, we got a lot of badly needed roads paved around here. Quit your bitching --- I'm kinda happy to drive down a SMOOTH ass road. Damn some people will bitch, scream, cry, kick at anything.