Democratic Districts Won Twice as Much Stimulus as GOP Districts, Study Shows

[Admiral Yi]

The obvious answer is that most Republican areas are Republican for a reason - they don't need money.

Which would should up as a negative corelation between stimulus money and district income, but didn't.

[Jacob]

Yes, surprised.  Pork is bipartisan and gets spread pretty evenly (at least it did under Wubya).  You're just not supposed to pass a gigantic economic crisis spending bill and lard it up for the home team.

My impression of pork type system is that those with more influence get more of it.  Thus I'm unsurprised, but I am not well versed in the subtleties of the American political system.

[dps]

Given that as far as I'm concerned, the stimulus was, at best, money just pissed away, I don't really care if it was pissed on Democratic ground or Republican ground.

[Fate]

Why should the majority reward an obstructionist minority with pork? Starve the beast!

[Admiral Yi]

My impression of pork type system is that those with more influence get more of it.  Thus I'm unsurprised, but I am not well versed in the subtleties of the American political system.

Just barely crosses the threshhold.

On your side of the argument there's the fact that Steven's of Alaska used his position as chairman of appropriations to amass mind boggling amounts of pork.  Then there's Jack Murtha, who should be, but isn't so far, in trouble for using his position to steer DoD contracts to his home district.

On the other side I remember an article a while back talking about the pork in one of Wubya's transportation bills.  The pork was spread evenly on a per reprentative basis in that one between Republicans and Democrats.

But the stimulus bill is supposed to be different.  By definition it's not business as usual.  You appropiate a bunch of money then the executive branch comes up with rules and procedures for spending it.  The guiding principle is supposed to be restarting the economy.

[Jacob]

But the stimulus bill is supposed to be different.  By definition it's not business as usual.  You appropiate a bunch of money then the executive branch comes up with rules and procedures for spending it.  The guiding principle is supposed to be restarting the economy.

So perhaps that's was how it was allocated, and it's just a coincidence that more was spent in Democratic districts?

Okay... maybe not

But is there any real reason to suppose that the economic effectiveness of the stimulus (however you rate it) was significantly influenced by the partisan inclinations of the neighbourhood?  I mean, if it helps the American economy that you spend $50 million on building a bridge or whatever, whether that bridge is in a Republican or Democrat district doesn't really matter does it?

[Fate]

I would think that a Republican willing to vote for the stimulus be able to negotiate a pork amount similar to a Democrat willing to vote for the stimulus. However if you approach the issue with a blanket position of government spending BAD BAD BAD (except for missile shields), then your negotiating position will be quite weak.

[Admiral Yi]

But is there any real reason to suppose that the economic effectiveness of the stimulus (however you rate it) was significantly influenced by the partisan inclinations of the neighbourhood?  I mean, if it helps the American economy that you spend $50 million on building a bridge or whatever, whether that bridge is in a Republican or Democrat district doesn't really matter does it?

If your goal is to stimulate the economy, you spend it where unemployment is high, and where incomes are low.  The first because you don't want the spending to just bid up labor costs, and the second because you want people to spend and poor people spend more of their income.  Now labor is mobile to a certain degree, and since we're talking about infrastructure projects you could introduce additional arguments about infrastructure that has the most urgent need for repair, or infrastructure who's expansion will generate the most growth.  But if the George Mason study is accurate we know the money was not distributed using the first two criteria, and it would be very weird if all the bridges on the verge of collapse just happened to be in Democratic districts.

[dps]

I would think that a Republican willing to vote for the stimulus be able to negotiate a pork amount similar to a Democrat willing to vote for the stimulus. However if you approach the issue with a blanket position of government spending BAD BAD BAD (except for missile shields), then your negotiating position will be quite weak.

Available evidence would tend to indicate that there's no-one in Congress who takes a blanket position of government spending BAD BAD BAD/

[Fate]

Looking over the vote totals on the stimulus bill - House Republicans were a unanimous NO. Snowe, Collins, and Specter voted yea. I bet Pennsylvania and Maine were rewarded quite nicely relative to reactionary states like Kansas and Oklahoma.   

[Admiral Yi]

I would think that a Republican willing to vote for the stimulus be able to negotiate a pork amount similar to a Democrat willing to vote for the stimulus. However if you approach the issue with a blanket position of government spending BAD BAD BAD (except for missile shields), then your negotiating position will be quite weak.

What negotiating power does a Democrat have?  He thinks all government spending is GOOD GOOD GOOD and he's going to vote for it anyway.

IF it turns out that this study has some validity, then come the midterms and 2012 the Democrats are going to have to explain to voters why they increased national debt by 12% of GDP just to get themselves reelected.

[Fate]

What negotiating power does a Democrat have?

I believe the power of Joe Liebermanism is self evident.

[Admiral Yi]

I believe the power of Joe Liebermanism is self evident.

It wasn't self evident on the stimulus bill.  Neither is the power of the hundreds of other Democrats.

[alfred russel]

Yi, I think you need to be more cynical. People fight like mad to spend defense dollars in pork projects--so if they play games with the military's budget why wouldn't they play games with a stimulus?

[Sheilbh]

This study's valuable but you can look at this on the website.  For example here's California:
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/StateSummary.aspx?StateCode=CA
And you can then see it by Congressional district. 

But I wonder if part of this is to do with distortions of very large and very small projects.  For example the biggest project is in a South Carolina (Republican) district and it's over $1 billion for the decommissioning of some old nuclear site and trying to make the site clean for redevelopment.