A stimulus plan that might actually work
Disarming in its simplicity, confident in its transparency — it’s the Vodkapundit Stimulus Plan, and it costs only $1 billion. It goes like this:
Give me a billion — just one single little tiny billion — and I can get twenty guys adding a new wing to my house in under a month. Twenty guys will get work directly. An architect will have to draw up the plans. The county will get money for approving them. I’ll be forever paying extra property taxes, helping to educate children in my community, so that they can have more-productive futures. And they’ll pay more in taxes, too.
Timber suppliers will get extra business, and maybe take on an extra employee or two. Same with people who make copper and nails and travertine tiles and sauna rooms big enough for, say, half a dozen strippers and myself all at once.
And so that you won’t even need to thank me for my efforts, I’ll just pocket any leftover money, mmmkay?
Ever-mindful of the value of a free-enterprise system, I just want to say this:
“Hell, I could do that for a measly $840 million.”
McGehee »
23 January 2009 · 3:15 pm
Don’t forget the small print: “This bid is an estimate. Once the work has started, contingencies may require that the budget for this project be expanded. By signing this contract, Contractee agrees to cover any cost overruns represented to him/her/it/them by Contractor.”
fillyjonk »
23 January 2009 · 5:03 pm
Well, if it’s lowballing that people are looking for, I am quite sure the unfinished attic on my house could be converted into an exceptionally nice guest room/library/aerie for about 500 grand. For that price, it could even be plumbed and have a bathroom of its own.
(I don’t play the lottery, but if I did and if I won, that’s what I’d do.)
Kay Dennison »
23 January 2009 · 5:58 pm
I’m not greedy — just give me a million and I can buy the little old house around the corner and I can restore it properly and live there and pay the taxes on it the rest of my life. I like being frugal.
Tatyana »
24 January 2009 · 11:57 am
Didn’t Lileks wrote this piece a year or two ago? How he funded the addition to his manse, and all the financial consequences thence?
CGHill »
24 January 2009 · 12:23 pm
Indeed he did, although unlike Green, he wasn’t asking for actual funding for the task.