Bill Powell makes an argument that China has the stimulus plan that the U.S. needs and the U.S. has the stimulus plan that China needs.

Consider: almost half of China’s $585 billion economic stimulus program, announced last November to much fanfare, is earmarked for infrastructure spending on railroads and highways and power grids. Another 25% will go to reconstruct entire towns in Sichuan province, which were devastated by last year’s earthquake. These are “shovel ready” infrastructure projects…

Contrast China’s economic rescue effort with the stimulus package recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. In the U.S., despite all the talk about “shovel ready” construction projects, only about $100 billion of the $787 billion in stimulus spending will go toward new infrastructure this year. Another $282 billion goes for tax cuts or rebates, much of which, as economist Nouriel Roubini argues, will likely be saved, not spent. A big chunk of the rest of the package will go, via the states, toward social services: increased unemployment benefits, more money for food stamps, and for health care spending for the poor and the elderly.

In other words, Washington is providing lots of funding for “social safety net” programs — precisely the kind of programs that poor and unemployed Chinese really need and which the government only barely provides. Meanwhile China is throwing money at infrastructure projects to a degree that the U.S. — with its creaky bridges, potholed roads, crumbling schools and obsolete airports — hasn’t seen in decades. There is some infrastructure spending in the U.S. plan, to be sure, but not enough, many economists believe, to deliver a real jolt to a moribund economy.

When will the world get things right? Or is the fact that Americans are now in saving mode evidence that America is becoming more and more like China, and China, the other power in the global economic order, is now in a situation to switch roles and become more like America, a country that spends more than it produces.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

5 replies on “Shovel Ready Stimulus”

  2. A day late and a dollar short just won’t cut it anymore in this country. The Republicans, who ignored spending on infrastructure gave us a critical mass of failure. From the levees of New Orleans to our crumbling schools, from our health care to our bridges and roads, they were warned that ignoring these things only saves money in the short term and will cost a great deal more in the long run. Sure enough, when their ponzi scheme economy reached breaking point, so did everything else. Head in the sand Republicanism must be killed off, to the point where it can no longer imperil our standard of living.

  3. Charles, cut out the cogent, useful postings.

    now.

    You may resume your accustomed T & A reviews at your leisure.

  4. What I want to know is…when did all the Libs go from being anti-growth, pro-environment Loons, to Concrete Boosters turning cartwheels at the mention of the word “infrastructure” ??!

  5. @4 about the time that Ballard stopped being full of old Danes and Swedes and Bothell stopped being an exurb.

    Seriously, if you can’t get out and see the real Seattle, wtf are you doing here?

    You are my density.

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