It was a nice idea. Today the unemployment rate is hovering above 9 percent—better than it would have been without the stimulus, most experts agree, but still painfully high. Why didn’t we get more for our money?
While liberals and conservatives alike blame the stimulus itself—It wasn’t big enough! It was never going to work!—the problem may have more to do with how the money was spent. It’s not enough just to inject money into infrastructure, because not all transportation funding is created equal—or at least, it doesn’t create jobs at an equal rate. As any infrastructure policy wonk can tell you, money spent on fixing up existing systems or building mass transit delivers more jobs, and faster, than building new highways. With their wallets bulging with their federal allowance, the states were allowed to spend $26.6 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money however they saw fit.
A new study shows that most states didn’t end up making the most of the windfall. The report by the transportation research group Smart Growth America found that states spent more than a third of the money on building new roads—rather than working on public transportation and fixing up existing roads and bridges. The result of the indiscriminate spending? States missed out on potentially thousands of new jobs—and bridges, roads, and overpasses around the country are still crumbling. Meanwhile, the states that did put dollars toward public transportation were richly rewarded: Each dollar used on transit was 75 percent more effective at putting people to work than a dollar used for highway work.
The government meant to get the biggest bang for its buck, with “shovel-ready projects.” But building miles of new roads requires planning, land acquisition, and other lengthy steps that put fewer workers on the job immediately.
Mandel Ngan / Getty Images
The government, of course, meant to get the biggest bang for its buck. The stimulus bill forced states to spend their allocated cash quickly, which was intended to get them to fund maintenance needs—“shovel-ready projects”—that had already been identified. Building miles of new roads, on the other hand, requires planning, land acquisition, and other lengthy steps that put fewer workers on the job immediately.
Some states did that. Sue Minter, Vermont’s deputy transportation secretary, says a longstanding “fix-it-first” policy for infrastructure and bipartisan collaboration shaped Vermont’s decisions about how to use the funds. The state spent all of its highway money on system maintenance, with a small amount going to mass transit. (Minter, a Democrat, was a member of the state legislature at the time.) “This shot of money into our economy was very, very significant. It’s part of the reason we have a relatively low unemployment rate,” she says. Only 5.8 percent of Vermont residents are out of work, one of the nation’s lowest rates. State research shows that ARRA funding employed 11,000 people—a small number overall, but a significant one in a small state. Minter says the maintenance was important for keeping economic growth, particularly in tourism, strong.
Other states, however, took a different tack. Arkansas used 81 percent of its money for new projects and none on transit; it also has a higher unemployment rate than Vermont. And unlike other states near the bottom of the list, just 38 percent of its roads are in good condition, according to a report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, a trade organization.
It goes without saying that having a heavy right foot while driving tends to waste fuel while creating more carbon emissions than desired, but altering driving habits can be a pretty tricky process. Good thing the Eco-Navigator device is here to help, where it will let you know how to get to your destination courtesy of Navteq maps of the U.S., Canada, Europe and China – but its goodness doesn’t end there. The Eco-Navigator will also deliver high-speed Internet access into your vehicle’s cabin, while making sure you arrive at your intended appointment in the greenest method possible. Plugged into your car’s diagnostic port, it will then monitor and display a number of vehicle parameters. Selecting Eco-Drive will show your current miles-per-gallon, throttle position (as a 0-100 percentage), and pounds of CO2 emitted per mile. This helps you figure out and adjust your driving style accordingly, and it is definitely not something to look at when you’re in a mad rush. The Eco-Navigator will retail for $249 a pop if you’re interested.
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You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can't see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space. And when we say giant, we mean GIANT.
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Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
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You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can't see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space. And when we say giant, we mean GIANT.
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Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b>' Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>
While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...
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Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
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While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...
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Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
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CBS <b>News</b>' Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>
While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...
bench craft company credit card
Scientists, telescope hunt massive hidden object in space – This <b>...</b>
You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can't see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space. And when we say giant, we mean GIANT.
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
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CBS <b>News</b>' Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>
While reporting from Egypt for a "60 Minutes" story, CBS News correspondant Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten. According to a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, Logan was attacked on Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni ...
bench craft company credit card
Scientists, telescope hunt massive hidden object in space – This <b>...</b>
You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can't see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space. And when we say giant, we mean GIANT.
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
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CBS <b>News</b>' Lara Logan assaulted in Egypt | Show Tracker | Los <b>...</b>
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