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Jun 11 2009, 4:57 pm by Matthew Cooper

But, Hey, The Stimulus Is Good

An administration official took about eight minutes before whacking me (gently) about my post on the Biden stimulus celebration tour. So let me be clear. I think the stimulus was clearly needed and probably should have been even bigger and more focused on the kind of construction projects that are being touted. My only beef was with the aesthetics of doing a victory laps with such frequency. But that said, I love a bridge repair as much as the next guy...

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von Holst

GAO said in April that about two-thirds of the stimulus money Congress is sending to the states in FY09 is not for building bridges, but additional federal matching funds for Medicaid.
That's 2/3 of the stimulus this FY, safety net spending.
Biden's trip thus diverts attention from reality.
A young mother with two kids who are on Medicaid is not a brawny, New Deal-ish image or photo. But it is the reality.
See
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09580.pdf

Surgical gloves, gauze and blood tests, not concrete. It's still spending.