Stimulate This.

This is an excerpt. To see the entire article please go to Opednews.com or email us for an unedited copy.

According to a report by NPR this past April 19, 2009, a torrent of money was being released into the American economy as if into irrigation ditches. Nearly a trillion dollars, to be precise.

I was curious about my own state—New Mexico. What did our leaders consider a priority? What did we need to plan for out future as well as for the immediate goal of putting people to work?

It seems we needed $2,937,146,132.00.

For what?

In a state comprised of mainly desert,  you might imagine that a water conservation program might be our number one concern. Or an energy plan that involved trapping the vast amount of wind power or solar power available in a place where winds and sunlight are nearly constant. Something that would not only take care of all our own  energy needs but produce enough to power a good part of the country and get rid of all our debts.

Here’s what we asked for instead:

• A proposal for an Events Center that will cost $418 million;
• A plan for an $11 million rehabilitation of the infrastructure around the dedicated site to support it;
• Plans for landscaping in the millions, repaving of roads that almost never get potholes (there’s rarely any snow to speak of in winter, and never any ice to melt and re-freeze over time), and drainage improvements. There’s even one plan to remove a neighborhood from the flood plain. (Can someone please explain to me why a developer was allowed to build a neighborhood in a flood plain to begin with?)

To explore this on another level, I asked people at a local mall, “Without giving me any personal information, if the government gave you $2,000 right now, what would you do with it?”

The majority said they would go on a little shopping spree and buy something extravagant (a lot of HDTV’s and iPods).  One woman said she’d go to the casino and see if she could triple it. Another person said he’d do some repairs to his house. Another one said he’d hire an attorney to get his kid back. Only one person said he’d pay down his debts.

My conclusion: As above, so below. And…perhaps more importantly, as below, so above. Our "representatives" are only a reflection of us. The corporations that run our country only do so with our permission and our dollars.

What is occurring with our CEO’s, the self-indulgence, the entitlement, and magical thinking (which in their cases has paid off handsomely) is also occurring at every level of society—from the states to the local governments to individuals.

No one seems to be thinking about where they’re going to get their next clean glass of water.  No one has the foresight or self-discipline—not our CEO’s and not ourselves—to be the little pig who builds the brick house.

My interest in this grew out of watching the road leading to my home repaved for absolutely no reason. The road they paved over was perfectly good. I do not exaggerate. In addition, our esteemed legislators are widening the nearby interstate from two to three lanes. Why? I don’t know. There are never any traffic jams because of traffic. Drunk driving accidents, yes. Traffic, no. It's a head-scratcher, for sure.

There are many people who are delighted about the stimulus money. But I’m about as stimulated by this cash flow as I was about the corporate bailout. And I don’t think they’re that different, after all.