Stimulus Road Work Signs

[bugo]

#1 Not all states use the signs (Oklahoma & Texas don't)

There is at least one of these signs in Oklahoma.  It's on US 412 just west of the Arkansas border.  It's an Arkansas sign and I'm guessing it was placed there by AHTD.

[US71]

#1 Not all states use the signs (Oklahoma & Texas don't)

There is at least one of these signs in Oklahoma.  It's on US 412 just west of the Arkansas border.  It's an Arkansas sign and I'm guessing it was placed there by AHTD.

Must be for the US 412 project (the one Siloam Springs was going to pay for until they figured out they could get the government to do it)

[agentsteel53]

I realize that the cost of the signs is damn near lost in the underflow, but this whole thing is the equivalent of me hiring an attorney for $300 an hour, and for an extra 50 cents an hour he'd tell me "I am spending your money wisely" without any sort of context or substantiation.  The moment I saw that on the bill I'd be likely to find another lawyer.

[corco]

But there is a marginal amount of substantiation- the well-accepted intent of ARRA is to stimulate the economy. The production of signs does do that, the end result is just not as useful as a repaved road.

The cost of signs is also very likely included in the budgets for the projects, so there's no "additional" expense. I see where you're coming from, but I don't get the analogy. It's more like paying a lawyer $300 an hour, and in addition to giving you sound legal advice he tells you he's spending your money wisely. Assuming the legal advice were good, I highly doubt that would send you looking for a new lawyer.

[agentsteel53]

But there is a marginal amount of substantiation- the well-accepted intent of ARRA is to stimulate the economy. The production of signs does do that, the end result is just not as useful as a repaved road.

Therefore, the cost/benefit analysis falls apart.  As noted before, there are enough ditches to dig and refill without additionally putting up signs saying "your tax dollars digging and refilling this ditch".

The cost of signs is also very likely included in the budgets for the projects, so there's no "additional" expense. I see where you're coming from, but I don't get the analogy. It's more like paying a lawyer $300 an hour, and in addition to giving you sound legal advice he tells you he's spending your money wisely. Assuming the legal advice were good, I highly doubt that would send you looking for a new lawyer.

you're right, more realistically at that point I'd say "just cut the smiling and nodding out of the budget; I don't need to hear it again - do your work, do it quietly and without fanfare, and let the results speak for themselves". 

[US71]

you're right, more realistically at that point I'd say "just cut the smiling and nodding out of the budget; I don't need to hear it again - do your work, do it quietly and without fanfare, and let the results speak for themselves". 

But that has probably been going on since Day One. The question is why are people just now making a big stink when the signs have been around for over a year? It's all about dirty politics (the fuss, not the signs).

[agentsteel53]

But that has probably been going on since Day One. The question is why are people just now making a big stink when the signs have been around for over a year? It's all about dirty politics (the fuss, not the signs).

I remember a topic on this during the v'ger days when the ARRA was just enacted.  It was essentially the same level of stink.

I know I've looked askance at the "your tax dollars at work" signs since the 1980s when I realized just how useless they were as traffic control devices.

[mightyace]

At the present time, it doesn't matter much to me either.  It doesn't excite me or enrage me.

I did see an interesting variant of that last week on Florida's Turnpike.  It said, "Your Toll Dollars at Work"

[hbelkins]

That's entirely valid. I suppose my counter would be that if you are like most people and not driving tens of thousands of miles on random highways every year, but are instead stuck in hole-in-the-Wall, South Dakota working whatever job, and see that "hey! That money I gave away on April 15th is actually being spent to rebuild that bridge I drove over every day," you might think otherwise, and you may not get an opportunity to think that if there wasn't a sign there telling you the money came from federal sources.

Actually, it's more like, "Hey, that money the federal government is printing!" or "Hey, that money we are borrowing from the ChiComs."

[Troubleshooter]

Government boasting at work.

[US71]

Government boasting at work.

Yet, did anyone complain back when the Interstates were first built about THEIR signage?

How about Missouri's "Progress as Promised" signs?

Or the "Boyhood Home of Bill Clinton" signs in Hot Springs?

So, if the ARRA signs are boasting, so are the others. 

[bugo]

Or the "Boyhood Home of Bill Clinton" signs in Hot Springs?

I remember those signs.  They tended to get ruined by right-wing vandals.

[sandiaman]

Corco,  I beleive Missouri  was a Red  State  in the 2008  election,  thus  the smaller  stimulus sign,  right?   Our  last Governor  in NM  wanted his name taken  off  the Welcome  signs at  the  stateline  ( Gary Johnson).  I  never did  understand  the point of that.  Was  he  ashamed  of being  the governor  or ashamed  of governing a poor state?  He was  also  known  for wanting to legalize  ALL  drugs from  marijuna  to  meth, so maybe that explains his paranoia.

[corco]

Corco,  I beleive Missouri  was a Red  State  in the 2008  election,  thus  the smaller  stimulus sign,  right?

It was a swing state that swung red, but it is significantly less red and more favorable to Obama than Arkansas or Mississippi (of the three photos US-71 posted).

[US71]

Corco,  I beleive Missouri  was a Red  State  in the 2008  election,  thus  the smaller  stimulus sign,  right?   Our  last Governor  in NM  wanted his name taken  off  the Welcome  signs at  the  stateline  ( Gary Johnson).  I  never did  understand  the point of that.  Was  he  ashamed  of being  the governor  or ashamed  of governing a poor state?  He was  also  known  for wanting to legalize  ALL  drugs from  marijuna  to  meth, so maybe that explains his paranoia.

Yes, it was a red state but by less than 4000 votes. FWIW, the Governor is a Democrat