There are so many things wrong with the stimulus, it is hard to know where to begin.  But to me, nothing in this ill-begotten bill screams moral hazard more then the money federal lawmakers are setting aside for states and cities.  At present, it appears that some of this aid was stripped out of the senate version passed today by an overwhelming (cough cough) majority, but just a few hours later Pelosi announced that she wants to put it back in.  One can only hope that her insistence leads to more wrangling and perhaps an end to this foolish enterprise all together.

   Consider: states all across this great union are suffering, but which of them are suffering the most?  Are you hearing about Florida's 40-billion dollar deficit? Are you hearing that Texas is considering taxing itunes downloads and movie tickets?  No, of course not, because those states actually have some idea of how to plan ahead, and they are mixed, in their legislative bodies, between the two parties.  It's the dark blue states like New York, California, and Maryland that need this money.  They need this money because their state legislators are spend-crazy, and their governor's are spineless.  They need this money to "create and preserve jobs".  Baloney. With the money they get from the Feds, these states will simply plug the holes in their budgets and hope that business can continue as usual.  They will use the money to preserve failing, bloated bureacracies, and they will continue to fund pet projects that otherwise will need to be scaled back or scrapped. 

   These Democratic governors and state legislators got into this fiscal mess by not looking ahead, and so therefore the solution is to allow them to continue not looking ahead.  If you think that statement is bit illogical, well, perhaps you are too smart to ever belong to the United States Congress.