On yesterday’s show, I discussed my support for the federal government putting through a big infrastructure bill, such as the one that was announced in China yesterday. China is going to spend $586 billion on infrastructure projects out of a $6 trillion economy. The US economy is $14 trillion, so to spend at the same level, we’d have to put about $1.2 trillion toward infrastructure projects.

Will that happen? I don’t know. I hope we spend a significant amount of money, since that’s one way to provide good-paying jobs that can’t be transported overseas.

Or, so I thought. This email is from one of my listeners:

The state of Georgia is currently using subcontractors for many of its infrastructure projects. And the bulk of the subcontractors are using illegal labor from MEXICO. So this won’t benefit un-employed Americans at all.

If this is true, it’s illegal. And, I agree, it’s completely against the spirit of what I had been suggesting on the show.

But I’m hoping that this listener is misinformed.

Published: Nov 10, 2008