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Post a Comment On: Steve Sailer: iSteve

"WaPo finally notices that infrastructure takes a long time to get going!"

29 Comments -

1 – 29 of 29
Anonymous headache said...

Nice stuff Steve!

WAPO writes: "Obama has pledged to create or preserve 2.5 million jobs"

Gotta love how the Big Brother media is changing the script again just weeks after the election. It was clear from Obama promises during the election that he was talking about "creating" those jobs, not "preserving" them. The slight implication of adding the word "or" between these terms means 5 mio. has now become 2,5 mio at best. Obama promised 2,5 mio. more, and the implicit assumption for the morons who voted for him was that that other 2,5 WAPO is now talking about would heave been preserved anyway. So that's 5 mio our hero would have created and preserved according to pre-election Obama.

WAPO, in true and trusted AA fashion has just lowered the bar for Obama: If he can prevent another 2,5 mio. jobs disappearing he has already won (which would be hard to prove anyway, and WAPO has just explained to us why Obama may not achieve that goal, that implicitly many of the GOP governors are also guilty).

Whether that would have been due to something more mundane such as a low oil price or whatever, WAPO will be ignoring for shure. Nice how these wordsmiths are always at it.

But then the reasoning of WAPO may be more mundane, such as Steve's point that journalists are clueless about basic math.

12/3/08, 2:56 AM

Anonymous headache said...

Steve,
You should get a medal!
I was just laughing all the way through that article. And everything you wrote is true. Excellent post!

12/3/08, 3:13 AM

Anonymous rightsaidfred said...

One consequence of this ec. downturn is that we are re-visiting the history of the Great Depression. Some suspect that low productivity policies such as propping up existing wages and the emphasis on "make work" projects prolonged the depression.

12/3/08, 4:14 AM

Anonymous Henry Canaday said...

In about a quarter of a century of hearing about "crumbling infrastructure," the only lousy roads, bridges, signage and other public facilities I have actually seen in America have been in the lousy parts of major cities where the local population demands government jobs and public assistance spending, rather than repair of roads and bridges. There are sections of Washington DC which do have pretty rusty and wrecked public facilities, but it is not because the government's total spending in these areas is stingy, quite the opposite.

12/3/08, 4:36 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"If Mitch is thinking about stepping up to being a major Republican national figure, I've got three words of advice for him: Run against California."

Any Republican with half a brain would run against Calfornia, New York, and the media. All threee are hoplessly lost to the Republicans, so why not make them the Other?

12/3/08, 4:52 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The 600 billion dollars we have spent on Iraq (look, no WMD's!), sure could come in handy about now.

12/3/08, 5:31 AM

Anonymous trev said...

Never mind all that. Why didn't you break the Obama Mau Mau story?

12/3/08, 5:33 AM

Blogger Jim Bowery said...

The silence out of Charles Murray about his citizen's dividend is deafening.

12/3/08, 5:44 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another reason why our infrastructure is in such cruddy shape: population increase due to immigration. Simply put, our infrastructure has no where near expanded enough to meet the demands that mass immigration has put on our resources. Just look at the NYC-Metropolitan area for example. Its infrastructure was essentially designed for the population that was projected for the 2nd half of the 20th century, EXCLUDING mass immigration. Also, money that could be going to infrastructure is now going to schools, social services, etc. for many low skilled immigrants. Damn shame....

12/3/08, 5:46 AM

Anonymous garyinfh said...

Two words: Haley Barbour.

12/3/08, 6:20 AM

Anonymous Bob said...

The Big Dig is really awesome now that it is done. A few deaths in the the years it has been open should not discredit it. Both an incredible engineering marvel, and something that has greatly helped beatify Boston by removing a big freeway that cut through and divided its historic center.

In terms of time saved and increased property values everywhere around it, I think it is cost justified. While some of the money comes from federal sources, MA is one of the states that pays much more in federal taxes than it gets in federal spending. Illinois is another!

On potholes, one reason European roads last longer, even adjusting for weather, is they have stricter regulations on heavy vehicles. Isn't regulating heavy vehicles on roads SWPL (if they bothered to think about it)?

Another, as you mention, is that the roads are simply made better, for example they are dug deeper and higher quality materials are used.

Euro cars also tend to be lighter than American cars and light trucks, but these cause so little road wear compared to heavy trucks that this difference is not material.

12/3/08, 6:23 AM

Blogger PeterW said...

The idea behind economic stimulus is to essentially give money away to consumers, who will then spend it on goods and stimulate business spending, via the multiplier. Infrastructure projects like these are little different than Bush's stimulus checks; the actual project is window-dressing.

12/3/08, 6:36 AM

Anonymous Reader said...

Here's a practical idea for infrastructure projects: build nuclear power plants. That would create jobs and produce something economically useful as a result.

12/3/08, 8:39 AM

Blogger Matt Parrott said...

Mitch Daniels has promised not to run for any other office after he finishes his term as Indiana's governor. And he shouldn't, being that he's gone and made Indiana solvent, forcing us to make sacrifices and spend our money intelligently.

We don't get to be fiscally irresponsible and get bailed out. No, we'll have to pony up to bail your state out, Steve. I'll be expecting a check in the mail from you when it happens, to square us up.

P.S.
I had an opportunity to question Lt Gov Becky Skillman about illegal immigration while she was on the campaign trail. She was painfully evasive, obfuscatory, and careful to avoid siding with state senator Mike Delph's admirable efforts to clamp down on illegal immigration.

12/3/08, 9:10 AM

Blogger Ronduck said...

And the reason we're bad at efficiently spending big piles of government money on infrastructure is because of all the shakedown artists and leeches -- the unions, the politically connected contractors, the community organizers, etc etc -- that have to get their cut.

Those are the same reasons GM has been failing for so many years. 30% of their hourly workforce is Black compared to 1% at Toyota USA, they have to pay exorbitant wages to unskilled laborers and they are prohibited by law from dumping dealers they do not want. We are seeing the long term fallout from the New Deal. If we go into a depression instead of a recession we can look back at FDR as the man who made it happen.

12/3/08, 9:21 AM

Blogger Concerned said...

"The real reason our infrastructure is pretty cruddy compared to other First World countries"

Is it? What proof is there that this is so?

12/3/08, 9:37 AM

Blogger Rob said...

They have been proposing so much spending and bailouts that I'm not sure anymore which one they are taking about. I literally just got done reading your article about it and I'm totally confused again..... LOL
I think I need a pie chart or something easier to understand this....

12/3/08, 10:20 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm not traveling in style, but I like to think of myself as fashion-forward -- in a couple of years, lots of people will be driving cars that look like mine.

Ha! Swimming in schadenfreude, and the water's fine!

I live in Atlanta, and my personal definition of it is Ground Zero for Manhattan wannabe/cash-rich assholes. (That could be a Rolex brand by the way: the Yacht-Master, the Submariner, the Manhattan Wannabe, the Cash-Rich Asshole...)

There are all these developments premised on Atlanta being populated exclusively by millionaires in 2009. Here's one of them. Just a couple more years and you'll be able to admire that $300 tie you bought over that $50 plate of appetizers and $20 glass of wine. And you'll be able to do so in an atmosphere of utmost solicitiousness, being the only customer they've had in a week. It'll be a pleasant diversion from pondering how your mostly empty condo building is going to come up with a million dollars to keep the elevators and the HVAC running now that the developer's in bankruptcy.

You should move here Steve-o, once the market realizes the worth of your brilliant, Swiftian takedowns of the mainstream print media. But for heaven's sake please buy yourself a new car.

--Senor Doug

12/3/08, 11:04 AM

Blogger Evil Sandmich said...

He raised the specter of Japan, which languished in a decade-long recession in part because massive spending on construction projects in the late 1990s flowed too slowly to boost economic activity.

Oh is that what it was? I was under the impression that the Japanese government drove their economy further into the ground by misappropriating their capital in order to steer projects to mob connected construction unions. It was ridiculous of me to think that the same thing could happen here.

12/3/08, 12:19 PM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I know a way to lower the unemployment rate among construction workers, but it will be a long, long time before it occurs to the Washington Post: send the illegal immigrant construction workers home."

Does anyone know if the federal government stats on unemployment include illegal aliens?

12/3/08, 12:35 PM

Anonymous AllanF said...

I expect something like a national birthright college bill. Something that can be touted as a GI Bill "for all Americans".

I think the pump is already being primed on this with news reports of sympathetic college kids being forced to drop out or delay college because of the frozen student loan market.

In a perverse way, it makes perfect sense. About the time people are starting to figure out college doesn't pencil out for a great many colleges and careers, the Govt steps in and interferes with the market.

12/3/08, 1:54 PM

Blogger Chic Noir said...

On the other hand, my 11-year-old Accord's paint has completely eroded away from most of the roof and parts of the trunk and hood, but, guess what, it still takes me from point A to point B.
Ha you and I don't agree on much I must say I you are "on the money" here.

Maybe I'm not traveling in style, but I like to think of myself as fashion-forward -- in a couple of years, lots of people will be driving cars that look like mine.
*shakes head in agreement*
In 2011, they will be called vintage or grunge wheels. Every celebrity in Hollywood will own one.

12/3/08, 4:32 PM

Blogger Chic Noir said...

Allan F saidIn a perverse way, it makes perfect sense. About the time people are starting to figure out college doesn't pencil out for a great many colleges and careers, the Govt steps in and interferes with the market

Perhaps many colleges will lower tuition since they can't count on student loans. There is no good reason going to a non Ivy League college should cost as much as a house.

12/3/08, 4:39 PM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/city-s-immigrants-shut-out-of-affordable-housing

I thought you might find this interesting. California isn't the only state having trouble with immigration and housing.

12/3/08, 7:24 PM

Anonymous dollmaker said...

Dear Mr. Obama: you know, there's this fence that needs to be finished down in the Southwest...

12/3/08, 8:40 PM

Anonymous Cancel Our Debt said...

Recover in 2009? Pure delusion, willfully ignoring basic facts.

Such as the fact that the engine driving this whole collapse is still going strong: the housing collapse. In fact, the housing collapse is still accelerating. We have not even reached its peak yet, let alone being anywhere near its recovery.

The deflation driven by the housing collapse is still picking up steam. Oil now below $50, everything on super-sale, businesses collapsing daily, banks still refusing to lend money in the deflationary environment, the stock market collapsing by the day, evaporating over half of our nation's investment and savings, manufacturing activity at an all time low, unemployment and food stamp claims spiking.

And people are talking recovery as if it just around the corner?

If we cancel all debt right now, we would have an instantaneous recovery. Canceling all debt is the only way to end the negative effects of deflation and unhinge our productive economy from our fiscal death spiral. But until we face economic and fiscal realities, we are in for a long slow bleeding death.

12/3/08, 10:18 PM

Anonymous headache said...

Concerned sed:
"The real reason our infrastructure is pretty cruddy compared to other First World countries"

"Is it? What proof is there that this is so?"

Concerned, you obviously haven't been to Germany or Switzerland. When I landed in Chicago, after leaving Düsseldorf, I was struck by the poor quality of workmanship w.r.t. steelwork (welding joints), floor tiles (joints, alignment), electrical gear etc. The roads are huge but not very aligned or straight. I was not impressed. It goes on and on. If you are from Europe you see it immediately.

12/4/08, 12:35 AM

Anonymous Lawful Neutral said...

Allan F:
a GI Bill "for all Americans".

Good God, that's brilliant! Pure evil, but absolutely brilliant. I fully expect this now. There's no way our betters will miss this opportunity to reinvigorate credentialism.

12/5/08, 4:34 AM

Blogger Ronduck said...

headache said...

Concerned, you obviously haven't been to Germany or Switzerland. When I landed in Chicago, after leaving Düsseldorf, I was struck by the poor quality of workmanship w.r.t. steelwork (welding joints), floor tiles (joints, alignment), electrical gear etc. The roads are huge but not very aligned or straight. I was not impressed. It goes on and on. If you are from Europe you see it immediately.

You should see the airport here in Phoenix. Simple, clean and well put together, at least compared to the airport in LA that I remember going to. *For the time being* AZ looks nice compared to other parts of the country. In Northern states like Illinois the unions don't add much value in training, they are just another extortion racket. This means that under qualified workers get protected while good men who could do better are locked out of the building trade. In a Democratic controlled state everything seems to get distorted towards rent-seeking.

12/6/08, 12:10 AM

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