Let's first agree that the stimulus bill's primary justification was to spur the development of jobs.
well, we can certainly agree that that was a major aspect, yes.
but, to be specific, according to the statement of purpose, the act was enacted to:
preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery - assist those most impacted by the recession - provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health. - invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits. - stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.
Would you like to argue the stimulus bill wasn't frivilous spending by the top elected bureaucrats?
sure.... i'll take a whack at it.
let's start with defining "spending". A significant amount of this spending actually comes in the form of 'lost revenue' - that is, tax cuts amounting to some $95 billion. if there is anything "of little weight or importance, lacking in seriousness, marked by unbecoming levity" in tax cuts it is on the part of the folks that received them, not the bloated gummint. I have no doubt that some portion of that 95b went to whores and whisky and what did not probably went to paying down debt and into savings, neither of which does much to refuel the economy, but it helps to slow the slide or, as Moody's puts it "While spending has not rebounded sharply, without the stimulus it would still be declining."
some has definitely been well spent on education saving 250,000 jobs (according the the Washington Post).
in fact the major criticisms among economists is that there was not enough allocated and the spending has been too slow. According to Moody's, that has been corrected recently with $80b going out the door in recent months. ProPublica maintains a website where the pace of spending can be monitored.
Moody's actually has pretty firm opinions about the Stimulus:
The federal fiscal stimulus is working.
simple enough.
as for monies allocated and jobs created, yep, there have not been enough. one reason is that most of those monies have not yet been spent. f'r instance, as you bring up my good old home state, 2.25b has been allocated for high speed rail. not much of it has been spent because.... there is a lotta preliminary work to be done (epa reports and such) before laying track from which the jobs will grow.
if yer gonna criticize the allocations for being to projects that do not generate speedier results you will be in good company... lots of folks agree. but that does not make high speed ELECTRIC rail frivolous.
and it is in such projects that fall under the heading of 'infrastructure' that have gotten shortest shrift.... but, within the last week have move to the top of the priority list.
no, you can hate the principle or disagree with the allocations or criticize the pace or dispute the spending... but calling it frivolous is, well, frivolous.
geo.