Real Stimulus

I had the opportunity to chat with two paving contractors from Baltimore yesterday. They are both working on million-dollar-plus stimulus projects, paving over perfectly good roads and parking areas. One said it makes him sick to do this. They both pointed out the freshly-paved I-83 from the PA line south into Baltimore. It was in perfectly good shape before the stimulus. Is this the government’s idea of creating infrastructure to drive job creation into the next decade? WHAT!?

Big O says we’re “creating jobs” as the unemployment rate passes 10.2%. OK, let’s see, that I-83 paving job lasted three months. It slowed down the pace of commerce while it was underway (how many jobs did this impact?). The road has fresh paving, and where are those jobs now? This is like crack – now we need another rock! Then another. And another. These are the government version of profoundly highly-paid summer jobs. Sounds like just the ticket to get the economy back on track, doesn’t it?

Oh, by the way the cost of asphalt has now gone up due to the artificial demand, so it’s now more difficult for private industry to build real, job-creating infrastructure using asphalt. I know. We’re actually trying to do it.

The good news is that only about 20% of the stimulus money has been “invested” as I write this. If the stimulus keeps being wasted so slowly, the good news is that more-conservative thinkers may gain control of the senate and put the brakes on the remaining 50%. $350 billion of the national debt cancelled! It’s a start.

You wanna’ see stimulus? Suspend the capital gains tax for a year and get out of the way. It’s amazing what entrepreneurial, free-thinkers can and will do for a profit. In the commercial real estate arena, instead of just flying the industry into a mountain, the government could free up opportunity beyond legislators’ imaginations. But they won’t. Heaven forbid! That would be “tax cuts for the wealthy”. Just flying it into the mountain would be far more respectable. Heck, then they can craft a fix for it. And on, and on it goes.

Clearly (with a few exceptions) the best and brightest do not generally seek legislative positions. Or the presidency for that matter. I just with they’d wake up and remember what creates actual, long-term jobs in this country. Entrepreneurs with economic freedom can do wonders.