What I’m Laughing At: Bailout Ca$h for SoDak Roads

Alright, according to the online version of the Aberdeen American News, SoDak plans to “gain” from the most recent $timulus/bailout package.

The state Transportation Commission added 45 projects to its 2009 construction list Thursday that will be fully funded by federal aid available through the new economic-stimulus package.

The approximate total is $114 million, according to state Department of Transportation officials. The commission took the action in a special conference call because 50 percent of each state’s stimulus aid for highways must be committed within 120 days.

The commission plans to add more projects later in order to fully use South Dakota’s $189 million.

The stimulus-funded projects are listed by county, highway, type of project, and federal funding amount.

I will admit that I do not know too much about the intricacies of Dept. of Transportation funding, etc.  But I laughed when I read: “The commission took the action in a special conference call because 50 percent of each state’s stimulus aid for highways must be committed within 120 days.”  There’s nothing so reassuring to a taxpayer as a image such as this one: a group of bureaucrats meeting in a special conference to hastily spend money on projects not because the projects are needed but because they’ve just got to spend the money before a deadline.

I also got to chuckling when I started thinking about the actual cost of the “stimulus.”  According to the Congressional Budget Office, the “true cost” over ten years is something like $3.27 trillion dollars.  I wonder what  inflation will do to the price of raw materials, labor, etc.  Wonder if $189 million dollars in 2011 or 2012 will spend like $189 million dollars in 2008 or 2009?