Obamabucks fizzling out

From what I've seen so far, the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes will generate more economic stimulus than the $787 billion dollar porkulus plan signed six months ago.

The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is one of the Gem State's finest gems. From its trailhead in Plummer, it follows the bed of a discontinued railroad for 72 miles, ending in Mullan. From one end to the other, one will encounter dense forests, a climb up and over an old railroad bridge, the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, marvelous wetlands, the Coeur d' Alene River, and numerous small towns.

Riders will experience natural beauty and a riot of wildlife. Along its length, I have encountered moose, elk, whitetail deer, osprey, yellow-headed black birds, painted turtles, great blue herons, egrets, kingfishers and a great many other beasts. For those who appreciate flora as well as fauna, the sightseeing is every bit as rich.

The trail is the result of a private-public solution to a Superfund hazardous waste cleanup.

The trail isn't just good for exercise and sight seeing. It's great for business. Tuesday's Lewiston Tribune carried the story of John Kolbe, who opened a bike shop called "Pedal Pushers" in Harrison when he saw plans for the trail. Similar trails had been laid down elsewhere in the country and typically preceded an economic boomlet. This is precisely what Kolbe and Harrison experienced. The town is alive again. The same can be said for towns further up the trail. There are several businesses in Wallace and Kellogg that cater to trail users. One of my favorite Idaho restaurants, the Snake Pit, is near a trailhead and has experienced a doubling of business since the trail opened.

Before the trail, Harrison was in peril of blowing away like ashes. Harrison's original economic foundation had pretty much evaporated as the mines closed and logging took a different course.

This past week, while on vacation in Oregon, I saw Obamabucks in action. Along a perfectly serviceable stretch of Highway 101, between Florence and Reedsport, there was a huge machine chewing up perfectly good asphalt and pouring the debris into large trucks. These trucks carried their loads to Gardiner, Ore., where it was fed into a machine that re-processed the old asphalt into new, whereupon it was loaded back onto the trucks and hauled back to the work site, where it was laid down as fresh pavement, about 200 yards behind the machine that was devouring the road in the first place.

Naturally, there was a sign proclaiming that Lord Obama had bequeathed the funds upon his subjects.

The belief that expenditures on infrastructure contribute to economic growth dates back to the 1950s, when President Dwight Eisenhower initiated the Interstate highway system. Many Americans were employed to build the roads and bridges, but we continue to enjoy the economic impact to this day. Was it the money paid to the construction workers that spurred this growth? This seems to be the position held by the Democratic Party core. But in truth, it was not. The Interstate highway system stimulated growth by facilitating commerce. Raw materials could be moved more efficiently and finished goods could be distributed more quickly. The Interstate highway system accelerated the money supply's velocity, not the amount of money.

The Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes is a miniaturized version of the Interstate highway system. Building the trail did not revitalize Harrison, Wallace or the Snake Pit. It was the commerce that grew up in response to the trail.

Now perhaps this repaving will someday save money, as all roads eventually decay. But this stretch of 101 is not being improved. It will carry no more traffic than it did before. The jobs that Obamapork created will end when the road building ends and will not stimulate the economy beyond the last buck paid to the construction workers. So far as stimulating the economy is concerned, we may as well be paying men to dig holes, then refill them. This, of course, largely describes many of the make-work programs that defined Franklin Roosevelt's recovery efforts. Roosevelt remains the Democratic gold standard for economic stimulus. But in truth, Roosevelt's programs actually prolonged the Great Depression. Go look at the statistics. Until manufacturing exploded in response to the Second World War, Roosevelt's economic performance was dismal.

Some people cannot learn.

---

Costello is a research technician at Washington State University. His e-mail address is kozmocostello@hotmail.com.