Shovel-Ready Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does

Speaking of social services, it seems that the economic stimulus might not have been directed to “shovel-ready” projects in quite the way it was sold:

Remember the “shovel-ready” projects lined up for all that stimulus money? It turns out social spending, more than construction, is hitting pay dirt in the huge federal effort to turn the economy around.

The public face of the stimulus package has been the worker in a hard hat, getting back on the job to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

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The reality of how the vast majority of the stimulus money will be spent is quite different, and that raises questions about how much help the Recovery Act achieved by President Barack Obama will be to the economy in the long run.

Most of the roughly $300 billion coming directly to the states is being funneled through existing government programs for health care, education, unemployment benefits, food stamps and other social services.

“We all talked about ‘shovel-ready’ since September and assumed it was a whole lot of paving and building when, in fact, that’s not the case,” said Chris Whatley, the Washington director of the Council of State Governments, a trade group for state governments. He estimates states will get three times more money for education than for transportation.

Two-thirds of recovery money that flows directly to states will go toward health care.

A cynical person might assume this was because it was really a chance for Democrats to fund their supporters in a tough ecnomic environment.  I think maybe “shovel-ready” means you better have your shovel ready when we start to explain the economic rational for the stimulus (or at least a tall pair of boots).

The reality is that the economy is struggling to overcome structural problems that are a result of monetary policy, government intrusion into the housing market, and and in Ohio a unattractive business climate.  None of this is going to be helped by large amounts of government spending – on infrastructure or social services.

But Ted Strickland assured Ohioans that his friend President Obama would provide the economic jump start Ohio needed.  How long do you suppose we should wait for things to “Turn Around”?