$50 Billion for Infrastructure

President Obama is calling for a $50 billion transporation bill to increase spending on infrastructure. According to the Wall Street Journal article, the President said, "All of this will not only create jobs now, but will make our economy run better over the long haul."

In previous posts, I noted that much that was in the stimulus package was not really stimulus, but that infrastructure spending makes sense because it does increase the productivity of the economy over time. The original stimulus bill called for almost $50 billion for the Department of Transportation. According to the government's web page for tracking the recovery, the Department of Transportation has spent $18.5 billion so far. This is since passage of the Act in early 2009. The government has not been very quick on spending money that may actually be stimulative and a true investment.