small business

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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When the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations published its list of the top 101 sayings of 2002, it included a remark that George W. Bush was supposed to have made to Tony Blair: "The problem with the French is that they have no word for 'entrepreneur.'"

After the list appeared, though, a spokesman for the Prime Minister denied that Bush ever said anything of the sort. I believe him. It sounds like exactly the sort of remark the English would cook up to put in the mouth of an ignorant American.

In fact despite the right's current disdain for the French and those who speak their language, "entrepreneur" is one of President Bush's favorite words, and he pronounces it with all the sensuous pleasure that foodies give to "mousellines de foie gras." Speaking in Virgina a few months ago,  he said, "entrepreneur --  isn't that a lovely word? You know, entrepreneur -- we want entrepreneurs."

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