Money Well Spent?

Finally finished this book, it seemed to take a long time. I'm forcing some nonfiction into my daily reading because it just seems like a good idea. And this book also has a lot of great ideas, but a lot of them are ideas that just work so well when actually tested in reality.

This is not a completely neutral book by no means, but it does not outright bash either major political party. I think it does lean left, but not in an overpowering pundit-y way.

The author clearly did a lot of interviewing and research, and all that really shines. The book follows several projects that were born as soon as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (more commonly known as The Stimulus). Many of these projects also died or failed in less than 2 years.

I was continually stunned by the SIZE of some of these projects, and the big numbers. $100 million here, $250 million there, $40 million over there, and so on. All in all, the stimulus money totaled around $800 billion, which was considerably less than some economists recommended. Some suggested a huge stimulus along the lines of $1 trillion or more. ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. Then to push all of that money into projects, projects, and more projects. And that means ridiculous, unfathomable amounts of red tape and hardly a possibility of transparency.

The type of projects that benefited from or failed regardless of the stimulus is really what this book explores. Everything from green cars to solar panels (ahem) to schools to airports to bridges saw money from the stimulus.

I feel much more informed having this huge book (well, it felt big to me anyway). I have some examples of where the stimulus fell short (Solyndra) but also where it worked well (Savannah River). The answer to the title question continues to be hazy - I really can't decide if it was a good idea or not.

This book encouraged me to think about the economy in ways I have never considered. I learned a lot of history too, mostly about the New Deal.