The Stimulus Time Machine

That $355 billion in spending isn't about the economy.

The stimulus bill currently steaming through Congress looks like a legislative freight train, but given last week's analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, it is more accurate to think of it as a time machine. That may be the only way to explain how spending on public works in 2011 and beyond will help the economy today.

It looks like the main purpose of this bill is to fund projects Obama campaigned on like socialized health care and environmentally friendly, but not yet commercially viable, projects like windmills and electric cars.