Stimulus Money

The state of Missouri is going to get so much money, it doesn’t know what to do with it all. It’s created a website where you can give it suggestions: Transform Missouri. So far, suggestions are pouring in at the rate of 2,000 ideas each week.

Also, this Springfield News-Leader article about the stimulus reports that a panel convened to study the stimulus has recommended sending a temporary lobbyist to Washington, D.C. My guess is that, like the rest of the stimulus, any lobbyist who’s put in place won’t be as temporary as he’s made out to be. Governments have a way of starting programs in response to “emergencies,” and then keeping them in place long after the original need has passed. Missouri did have a lobbyist in Washington for many years, even without a stimulus to divvy up. The supposedly temporary lobbyist will probably just be a reinstatement of the position.

For another perspective on the stimulus, read this quote from Gov. Nixon:

“The bottom line is, I don’t think at this time, with this economy, that a chief executive should walk away from this opportunity. My golly, this is chance to transform our economy” […]