Richard Alexander

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the Stimulus Package, takes a couple of steps in the right direction. The best part of the package is the money that it provides for improvements in infrastructure.

That's good, because our roads, bridges, power grids, and water systems are in bad shape. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the nation's overall infrastructure a grade of D, and we can't maintain the world's biggest economy with failing roads, bridges, and water systems. Still, the plan’s spending for infrastructure is just a tiny part of what the country needs.

Maintaining our infrastructure is something that government must do. So doing something that’s already the government’s responsibility hardly qualifies as a stimulus.

The time lag for infrastructure improvements and creation of new green jobs is not the only problem.

A bigger problem is that the package perpetuates the myth that government can create wealth. 

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