Obama is a good marketer

A common feature of activity within political economy is obvious benefits and subtle costs. The result is that we end up with a lot of bad policies that the general public doesn't perceive as bad. Why? The actual costs outweigh the benefits. But since the costs are subtle-- and people don't pay much attention to public policy-- the perceived costs are often far lower than the perceived benefits.

This often happens because the benefits are relatively concentrated (often given to interest groups) and the costs are spread out in smaller amounts over the general public.

Added to that, politicians often twist the information about the policy, emphasizing its benefits and downplaying or ignoring its costs.

Here's an excellent example of the former-- as Obama seeks to take credit for the activity, and hopefully from his political perspective, credit for a recovery that will correlate with his activity.

In particular, I love the O-shaped emblem, with its resemblance to his campaign logos! And it's good to see them investing some of the money in marketing services, underlining the importance of service as well as manufacturing to our economy. (It's a common misperception about economics that manufacturing should be valued more highly than services.)

From Sunlen Miller with ABC News (hat tip: HoosierPundit)...

President Obama announced today that his administration will begin stamping an emblem on projects funded by the economic stimulus package so that people can easily recognize the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

All projects will be stamped with the ARRA logo (short for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and lists the recovery.gov website on the emblem...

More easily recognize...I wonder if he'll do anything to underline the costs of his programs-- both short-term and long-term. Don't hold your breath!

“We’re also making it easier for Americans to see what projects are being funded with their money as part of our recovery....” Obama said.

That's not exactly true. It's going to be funded with debt and paid back by future taxpayers.

This last paragraph almost seems like something The Onion would make up:

Obama, who was at the Transportation Department to highlight the 150,000 specific jobs that would be saved or created under highway spending from the recovery act, also said that transportation specific projects would don a second emblem - bearing the word TIGER (short for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery).