what will Gov. Daniels and the IN legislature do with "the money"?

It's a bad idea to borrow money (more debt; higher taxes or less spending later) to try to buy ourselves out of a recession now/soon, especially with a dog's breakfast of spending largely in the future.

But once it's rolling, the question then becomes how to best spend the resources you've been given.

Gov. Daniels wrestles with this in an article by the AP's Mike Smith in this AM's C-J...


Indiana's primary goal for spending any money it gets from a federal economic stimulus package should be putting more residents to work and doing so quickly, according to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Indiana's state and local governments and schools would receive up to $5 billion under an $819 billion spending and tax-cut package approved by the House on Wednesday....

Daniels said Thursday that the stimulus package is designed mostly to help states facing far worse fiscal concerns than Indiana, so money sent here should be spent for one-time purposes that do not increase state and local budgets to base levels that cannot be sustained when the payments stop....

Daniels said of the $5 billion Indiana is expected to receive, between $1.5 billion to $2 billion would be for capital projects, including roads and bridges; mass transit; renovation, repairs and lab spaces for public schools; and clean-water projects....

When asked if some of the money could be used for a one-time state tax cut, Daniels said it was a possibility if cuts were directly related to job creation.

According to the Daniels administration, more than $1 billion from economic stimulus money is expected to go directly to schools. He said school officials, too, should look to spend the money for one-time purposes.

How is that going to stimulate the economy? Perhaps construction jobs, but that will take years to implement!

In any case, this is an amazing bow to the teachers' unions.