Hopefully this won't be the end result of the Obama infrastructurestimulus plan

Obama stimulus plan
Originally uploaded by rllayman

Image source unknown. But apparently it's only a slightly doctored version of an image of I-405 near the Getty Museum in California. Apparently, there the freeway is "only" 14 lanes wide.

I forgot to include this Tom Toles (from the Post) editorial cartoon from 12/29/2008 about the challenge of the stimulus program and investment in infrastructure.

Plus, there is David Brooks' column from earlier in the month in the New York Times, "This Old House," which is concerned about the lack of vision in spending on the here and now. From the article:

... there’s no evidence so far that the Obama infrastructure plan is attached to any larger social vision. In fact, there is a real danger that the plan will retard innovation and entrench the past.

In a stimulus plan, the first job is to get money out the door quickly. That means you avoid anything that might require planning and creativity. You avoid anything that might require careful implementation or novel approaches. The quickest thing to do is simply throw money at things that already exist.

Sure enough, the Obama stimulus plan, at least as it has been sketched out so far, is notable for its lack of creativity. Obama wants to put more computers in classrooms, an old idea with dubious educational merit. He also proposes a series of ideas that are good but not exactly transformational: refurbishing the existing power grid; fixing the oldest roads and bridges; repairing schools; and renovating existing government buildings to make them more energy efficient.

This is the federal version of “This Old House.” And this is before the stimulus money gets diverted, as it inevitably will, to refurbish old companies. The auto bailout could eventually swallow $125 billion. After that, it could be the airlines and so on.

It’s also before the spending drought that is bound to follow the spending binge. Because we’re going to be spending $1 trillion now on existing structures and fading industries, there will be less or nothing in 2010 or 2011 for innovative transport systems, innovative social programs or anything else.