Stimulate me

Apparently Jeffrey Loria spent some of hot stove season lobbying in Washington. Among the scores of questionable projects that will be funded by the $800+ billion stimulus package (assuming it passes) is $150 million to fund a Metromover extension to Marlin Stadium.

That's right--the federal government is planning to fund a mass transit extension to a stadium that may not even be approved by local government which will house one of professional sports' least suuccessful franchises.

What I don't know is whether the extension is contingent on the approval and construction of Marlins Stadium, but if the public works spending in the bill truly is limited to shovel-ready projects, I'm leaning toward no. The big problem here is that apparently there's nothing else to see or do in that neighborhood if, in fact, the extension is built without a stadium in place.

Yes, I realize that expanding public transit is worthy cause and that the project will create jobs (3,000, though? How?). But I'm getting really sick of people justifying items in the stimulus bill by noting that they're pro-environment, pro-child develpment, pro-education expenditures. Saying they're worthy projects is not the same as saying they're worthy of a huge chunk of government cheese that doesn't exist right now, except in the Bank of China.

But as our country continues raping third-world countries for cheap resources to stay economically viable for the next several decades, at least we can rest assured that 5,000 Marlins fans will make it to the game on time.