Define "Shovel Ready"

Hey, let's do another stimulus for "shovel ready" projects but change the definition of "shovel ready" to shoveling more money into the states to preserve what bureaucracy they already have! That's "shovel ready," alright. As long as you use the shovel from the barn.

Not so great news via The Hill, the Fed now expects unemployment to be higher and last longer than first thought. And with the stimulus appearing to not be working, what do you do? You do another one, of course! Even defenders of the first stimulus quoted are forced to admit there's no way to gauge its effectiveness.

The "shovel ready" revisionism in the last graph from the first excerpt is especially priceless. Forget the private sector, we need to simply give more money to the states, so they can preserve what bureaucracy they already have! Also, the new transportation bill Pelosi wants to see done will require even more new taxes, so Obama wants to drag it out by extending the old one ... for now.

Federal Reserve officials see signs of a turnaround in the economy but expect unemployment to remain high through 2010, according to minutes of their June meeting released Wednesday.

The officials predicted a range in unemployment of between 9.7 and 10.5 percent for the rest of 2009, and a range of 8.5 to 10.6 percent in 2010, according to the minutes.

The outlook was worse than what was forecast in April by Fed officials. Unemployment projects were about one-half a percentage point higher across the board.

Still, some rank-and-file House Democrats say the job numbers suggest another stimulus may soon be necessary.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said that President Obama should be suggesting another package focused on giving aid to states. Providing money directly to state governments could help them avoid laying off public workers, an option that California and other big states facing budget crises are considering, said Sherman, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. And unlike with infrastructure projects, the impact of state aid on employment would be immediate, he said.

“Nothing is as shovel-ready as not firing a teacher,” Sherman told The Hill. “It's not a Bridge to Nowhere, it's a bridge to the 21st century.”

Pelosi can't seem to find anything that isn't worth a tax increase inher view.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that she’s committed to making the first stimulus work and to passing a healthcare bill.

Asked about another stimulus, she said she’d like to see the House do the transportation bill.

That $500 billion bill, written by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), would provide money for road, rail and mass transit projects for the next six years. It would be a significant increase in spending over the current six-year transportation reauthorization bill, which expires at the end of September and called for $286 billion in projects.

But the White House, not eager to tackle another bill that will require more taxes, has called for an 18-month extension of expiring legislation. That proposal won the recommendation of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday.

Comments

[Ran]

"As long as you use the shovel from the barn."

Heh. Good one.

Obama reminded businessmen that he had a few pitchfork ready projects in the works...

[mark l.]

350 billion and they could have prevented all these state layoffs with the first stimulus.

the admin doesn't want to spend THEIR money propping up OTHER govts.

[SacTownMan]

Hey but don't forget the Sorosbot-in-Chief Xerxes said "Tax cuts for 95% of Americans!"

800 billion here, 1.5 trillion there, another 600 billion here another 500 billion there and still we all get tax cuts!!

Ain't America great?

How do those Dems do it?

2010 will be here before you know it! Americans will most certainly reward all of their hard work at the polls!

[Rich K]

Unfortunetly the Dems cant scurry up a war to cover the mess we are gonna be in because Ol Bamma isnt cut from that kind of cloth. See how smart Ol George was in hindsight.
I figured Id get that meme out in the open before one of our pet trolls tossed in into the mix here.
And if they are projecting 10.5 I can imagine what the real numbers will be. To quote Mr. Dean,,,,YEEEEHAAAAAAA

[Fred Zeppelin]

You expect honesty from DC?

the U3/U4 (and the others) have been glossed over and slanted to produce good numbers, but he fact remains - we're in double-digit unemployment, and it isn't gonna get better any time soon.

NO matter how hard Obambi, Granny McBoTox, Stumpy Hoyer, (daddy warbucks) Reid, or Groundskeeper Axelrod flails, its gonna be a tougher recovery from the ground they've hoed. Thanks loyal People's servants!

Proof positive that you get the results you vote for, along with the mounded pain. And, there's a whole lot of pain across the fruited plains....

[celebrities]

Well written blogs, the comments raise good points too