President Obama touched a nerve with some by claiming in his state of the union message that the stimulus bill does not contain earmarks. Unless one wished to parse the definition endlessly, it does. But earmarks have become a necessary way to gain the votes for legislation to pass Congress, and congressmen claim that this enables them to determine which projects get funded in their districts, rather than an executive official who lacks knowledge of the district.
The following story points out how this need makes it difficult for overall economic planning (the type the national government was set up to provide) difficult. While the executive is in a position to make plans nation wide, the local needs of the 435 members of the House of Representatives make this difficult:
You do not need an economics degree to see, for instance, how tens of millions of dollars of unconnected train station projects scattered around the nation might derail a focused program to concentrate high-speed rail where it is most needed. A college or Girl Scouts initiative might not have the same effect as a federal effort to support after-school programs. Is a $22 million addition to the Kennedy library more important than propping up our struggling public libraries?
