Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Stimulus should have applied the KISS Principle

Everyone from engineers to sports coaches says it. Keep it Simple, Stupid.

The huge spending plans proposed by Obama and the Worst Congress in History do anything but. They have money for STD prevention and abortions across the world, yet Keyser is still waiting on its dangerously decayed water treatment plant and dilapidated US 220 bridge to get replaced. Hampshire, Mineral, and Grant County drivers must contend with the dangerous and unimproved sections of US 50.

The spending plan should have been for simple, basic American needs. Small towns and big cities everywhere have the same issues with infrastructure. Roads need attention. In some areas, the sewer system has lasted a hundred years without a major overhaul. Bridges need replaced. Schools are crumbling. West Preston Middle School not too far from here is an extreme example. Repairing basic needs projects in every state puts people to work and generates revenue in the all important construction industry. It's hard to argue against basic infrastructure repairs because they benefit everyone.
When Obama first pitched the stimulus bill, he emphasized shovel ready projects. Less than 5% of the money is headed for such improvements. The entire bill should have gone towards the repair or replacement of roads, bridges, sewers, and schools. No new projects, just the maintenance on structures already in place or replacement of structures too badly decayed to be repaired. This would have prevented the problem that GOP governors and Manchin cited, the creation of programs with no permanent funding.

Had Obama and Congress addressed those needs rather than tossed money at abortion doctors in places where family planning means eliminate all female babies, they might have restored economic growth and invested funds into items the country needs for decades in the future instead of wasting it on foolishness.

Should have kept it simple. Now we all pay the price far into the future.

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