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Money? What Money? Jobs? What Jobs?

Are you wondering why you can’t find new jobs based on New Mexico’s investment in roads from federal stimulus money:

A very small percentage of New Mexico’s $3.2 billion in stimulus money has been funneled to highway and bridge construction.
    

The state’s total allotment includes $302 million for transportation projects, which covers projects ranging from work on airport runways to bus shelters and mass transit systems. Just more than half of the transportation money, more than $169 million, is going to 15 highway and bridge projects, according to the New Mexico Office of Recovery and Reinvestment Web site. 

I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with the fact that Governor Richardson essentially bankrupt the NM DOT with his reckless spending. But, in all fairness to Governor Richardson, even if this had not been the case, you still would find it difficult to find significant employment gains from stimulus money:

An Associated Press analysis of stimulus spending found that it didn’t matter if a lot of money was spent on highways or none at all: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless. And the stimulus spending only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, the analysis showed.
    

With the nation’s unemployment rate at 10 percent and expected to rise, Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress including billions of additional dollars for roads and bridges — projects the president says are “at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth.”

Well, it didn’t work the first time, so I guess try, try again.  What the heck, it’s only your future earnings they keep spending.