Related: Roadblock in Stimulus
Patrick to Squander Stimulus on Budget Deficit
And even when it comes, it's a fart poot in the palm.
"Larger stimulus projects will wait; 'Use it or lose it' rule means state planners can start with paving" by Casey Ross, Globe Staff | May 7, 2009
Private developments in Massachusetts might have to wait as long as two years to receive federal stimulus funding, a delay that could stall the recovery of the state's business climate, a top economic aide to Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday.
Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, said a large chunk of federal money will instead have to be spent on smaller jobs, such as paving roads and painting bridges, instead of private projects that could create thousands of jobs. The reason is that because smaller jobs can be started quickly, allowing Massachusetts to comply with the "use it or lose it" provisions of the federal stimulus plan, which require state governments to spend hundreds of millions of dollars within a few months of receiving it.
Economists and other business leaders said the provisions prevent states from immediately targeting money to more complex projects that could take more time to get started, but in the long run create more jobs, especially if they spur other construction of office buildings, retail stores, or residences.
Jeffrey Fuhrer, an executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said yesterday that such bureaucratic obstacles will keep the federal stimulus from having a significant economic impact until 2010 or 2011. In the meantime, he said, the economy will continue to downshift.
As planned, no doubt: Bilderberg Group Plans Economic Depression
"It's tough to say exactly when the low point will be," Fuhrer said. "It could be the next couple of months or a little later this year. That's our best reckoning right now."
He doesn't know? Fed whose fixing it doesn't know?
Without an infusion of public money or a thaw in the credit markets, many of the state's largest development projects are likely to remain on hold because they do not have sufficient funding to begin construction....
Where did the trillions go?
