More Stimulus I Told Ya Sos....

One of the biggest complaints from conservatives about the Stimulus was that it didn't encourage investment or long-term economic growth.

Rather than addressing the job crisis by bettering the business environment, it relied on temporary funds to pay for temporary jobs.

And now we're seeing it come home to roost.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Highway-construction companies around the country, having completed the mostly small projects paid for by the federal economic-stimulus package, are starting to see their business run aground, an ominous sign for the nation's weak employment picture.

Tim Word, vice president of Dean Word Co., a heavy-construction company in New Braunfels, Texas, said his income is now coming mostly from projects that are winding up. He said that in normal times he has about $100 million of signed contracts in hand. But that number has fallen to $30 million, and the pipeline is empty. In the past two years, his work force has shrunk nearly 40% to 260 from 420.

Did the stimulus fund some jobs? Absolutely. No one on any side will deny that.

But were temporary jobs lasting months or days really worth spending more than has been spent on the entirety of the Iraq war since its inception over six and a half years ago?

For those on the left still pondering that question, the answer is no.

The stimulus was a boondoggle from the beginning, and anyone with common sense knew that.

And for that the Democratic Congress should be punished in 2010.