"Federal stimulus prolonging hard times by delaying state restructuring?"
November 09, 2009
Philip Greenspun argues "yes".
The stimulus money is apparently not being used to invest in infrastructure that can be used by the future generations who will be paying for it. It is being used to delay restructuring by states whose payroll and pension expenses cannot be sustained via local taxation. The overhang creates fear among private investors. Fear causes them to hold back, thus prolonging the recession, as noted in The Forgotten Man, a history of the Great Depression.