Eli,
Michael Grunwald's "The New New Deal," has your typical "Stimulus Good, Republican Bad," thesis but overlays the idea that the Stimulus was not just stimulus but a Trojan Horse (my description, not his) to transform the US economy into Obama's vision of clean energy, digital health records, universal health insurance, education reform and economic equity.
There's a great passage about the smart grid. Obama wants something big. A Hoover Dam. A moon shot. A Skyline Drive. A smart grid. “God, wouldn't it be wonderful,” says Biden (I think this is in a later conversation with the author, not a quote at the time). “Why don't we invest $100 billion?”
Where does that number come from? How will it be spent? What will the results be? What are the returns? How will success, or failure be measured? Who cares? It's big, it's bold. As I go through this book, and example after example of rushed, wasted, ineffective spending, I keep asking myself, "Now, the author is in FAVOR of the stimulus, right?"
Bill
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