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Positive effects of stimulus are measurable
To the editor:
Tom Firey asks if those who explain the effects of the stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) are credible (column, Sept. 28). In a word, yes.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the stimulus created 3.3 million jobs.
Also, any analysis of the effect of the stimulus that does not address what would have happened without it, is deficient. A survey of economists by the University of Chicago Business School (no liberal bastion) found that a solid 80 percent believed that unemployment would have been higher without it. Indeed, some believe that without it, we would have entered a depression.
Furthermore, while immediate relief was definitely a goal, many of the provisions in the stimulus were designed for long-term impact, to lay the groundwork for future prosperity. So on those provisions, we won’t be able to measure the effect for some time.
Yet job creation is not where it needs to be to keep pace with population growth, and long-term unemployment remains a concern. Economists have a number of hypotheses about this, and more than one of them could be true, but one that seems plausible to me is the debt overhang caused by the housing bubble.
If consumers are 70 percent of the economy, but they can’t spend until they pay down their debts, that might be an explanation why employers can’t sell their products and hire more people to make them. One thing economists agree on is that it will take some time for the recovery to gain steam.
For all our sakes, and for our country’s, let’s hope for continued progress.
Chris Morehouse
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Bester project will employ local people
To the editor:
This letter is in response to several articles in the local paper concerning the work force that will be building the new Bester Elementary School.
Much has been said about the lack of experience and significant training that these contractors have in order to build a quality long lasting school. I can assure you otherwise.
I can attest to the fact that at least five of the major contractors on this job, who represent 51 percent of the total cost of the contract, will provide local labor.
And, as members of our organization, they have had training for their employees through our Craft Apprenticeship Program. This is with the same curriculum we use not only in the local school system, but in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania schools as well.
There are contractors on this project who have completed over 70 major school projects involving over 6 million square feet of construction with a value of nearly $160 million, paying both prevailing wage and nonprevailing wages.
For anyone to say that Washington County Public Schools ended up with a group of “less qualified contractors” is nowhere near the truth.
To the editor:
Tom Firey asks if those who explain the effects of the stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) are credible (column, Sept. 28). In a word, yes.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the stimulus created 3.3 million jobs.
Also, any analysis of the effect of the stimulus that does not address what would have happened without it, is deficient. A survey of economists by the University of Chicago Business School (no liberal bastion) found that a solid 80 percent believed that unemployment would have been higher without it. Indeed, some believe that without it, we would have entered a depression.
Furthermore, while immediate relief was definitely a goal, many of the provisions in the stimulus were designed for long-term impact, to lay the groundwork for future prosperity. So on those provisions, we won’t be able to measure the effect for some time.
Yet job creation is not where it needs to be to keep pace with population growth, and long-term unemployment remains a concern. Economists have a number of hypotheses about this, and more than one of them could be true, but one that seems plausible to me is the debt overhang caused by the housing bubble.
If consumers are 70 percent of the economy, but they can’t spend until they pay down their debts, that might be an explanation why employers can’t sell their products and hire more people to make them. One thing economists agree on is that it will take some time for the recovery to gain steam.
For all our sakes, and for our country’s, let’s hope for continued progress.
Chris Morehouse
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Bester project will employ local people
To the editor:
This letter is in response to several articles in the local paper concerning the work force that will be building the new Bester Elementary School.
Much has been said about the lack of experience and significant training that these contractors have in order to build a quality long lasting school. I can assure you otherwise.
I can attest to the fact that at least five of the major contractors on this job, who represent 51 percent of the total cost of the contract, will provide local labor.
And, as members of our organization, they have had training for their employees through our Craft Apprenticeship Program. This is with the same curriculum we use not only in the local school system, but in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania schools as well.
There are contractors on this project who have completed over 70 major school projects involving over 6 million square feet of construction with a value of nearly $160 million, paying both prevailing wage and nonprevailing wages.
For anyone to say that Washington County Public Schools ended up with a group of “less qualified contractors” is nowhere near the truth.
