Word: whited
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...ever since, public doubts about the stimulus have, if anything, deepened. The economy deteriorated faster than economists expected, with unemployment now predicted to exceed 10% next year, higher than the White House had projected in January. While that might under normal circumstances make any stimulus more popular, voters have been spooked by the enormous deficits Washington is running up as it tries to right the economy. In 2009 alone, the U.S. government will take on debt equal to about 13% of its economic output, and by 2016 the U.S. debt is projected to top 70% of GDP, twice...
...into the economy fast, where it can replace lost consumer and business spending and keep people employed. But Biden's team knew that it's just as important to maintain public confidence in the enterprise, especially in an age of $500 million helicopters and Bridges to Nowhere. At the White House, this worry translated into a simple if fuzzy standard for deciding which projects pass muster: prudence. "It's like pornography," says Edward DeSeve, the senior adviser to the President for recovery and reinvestment. "You know prudence when...
Biden's team informed states and localities months ago to scrub their wish lists of anything that might be seen as unnecessary or wasteful. White House officials were happy to sign off on bridge repairs and roadwork on busy intersections and new runway signals for strapped airports. But they have spent a lot of time trying to kill projects that sound like red alerts on Fox News: a plan for military-cemetery headstone-straightening was scrapped, as was a request for a $10,000 refrigerator to house fish sperm in South Dakota. Gone too was $7 million for Interior Department...
What really haunts the White House is the fear that much of the money might be spent less efficiently than it could have been. For example, studies have shown that more jobs are created when cities and states repair existing roads than when they build new ones. Highway-maintenance projects not only put more people to work more quickly than building new roads does but also keep costs down in the future. But according to one recent study by a nonprofit smart-growth advocacy group, roughly 31% of the state-certified first-round transportation funding in one $27 billion highway...
...over all these concerns is the prospect that a second stimulus bill may be needed to bail out states in late 2010 or 2011. State budgets have been drowning in red ink as jobless claims and Medicaid bills have skyrocketed; few expect those trends to ease soon. In June, White House counselor David Axelrod left open the possibility that a second stimulus may be needed. The White House is confronted with the prospect of having to ask for more money early next year - even as a group of voters is ready to dump the first stimulus right...