Yes, that all makes perfect sense. (And does exactly what the stimulus needs to do).
That construction project gives immediate jobs, prevents immediate layoffs, buys durable goods, gives medium-term stability to that company and workforce, and has a long-term structural benefit cause by short-term spending. Perfect. Another good example Obama mentioned yesterday is the weatherstripping. Immediate need for US made durable goods (weatherstripping). Immediate job openings for the installers (and coordinators). Lightens the load on a stressed energy system. Lightens monthly costs for the recipients. And makes us less dependant long term on "foreign oil". Again, perfect. The smoking cessation program, as i understand it, will not create any new jobs. it will not save at risk jobs. it will not buy any meaningful amount of durable goods. it _will_ have a very-long-term benefit. That (to me) is not perfect. If the smoking cessation programs put new people to work (rather than just adding money to a single advertising company, and adding money to a tv network), and had a SHORT TERM benefit equal to the money spent, and _also_ had a LONG TERM benefit, then it fits the stimulus bill. As Gruss points out hourly, we need to get the stimulus money into people's pockets NOW, and need to put it into the pockets of people who are going to _spend_ it NOW. And hopefully that money gets spent over, and over, and over again. We cannot afford to put that money into the pockets of people who are comfortably leaving the money in their pocket (or putting it into their savings account, or paying off their boat). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:287391 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
