Washington Post: Editorial: Dr. Obama's Cure

From Washington Post:

Spending tens of billions of dollars on new infrastructure such as schools,bridges and water systems could also be effective, both as a short-termeconomic boost and as a means of raising the country's long-term productivecapacity. The problem, however, is that such a huge infusion could overwhelmthe capacity of state and local governments to use it efficiently; as a pointof comparison, the entire budget for the Federal Highway Administration is onlyabout $40 billion. Spectacular waste would undercut both the economiceffectiveness and political sustainability of a stimulus program. SenateMinority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has constructively suggested convertingsome or all of the infrastructure money into federal loans, which would givegovernors an incentive to take only what they could actually use.