A Misallocation of Assets

This week brought news that some of the U.S. government’s stimulus package funding has been delegated to some very unique places in Massachusetts: $1.5 million to fix a lighthouse on an uninhabited island, $123,000 to terrorist-attack-proof the Spirit of Boston party cruise ship and $95,000 for the University of Massachusetts at Boston to study pollen samples from the Viking Era.

With millions of people out of work nationwide (thousands here in Massachusetts, although our unemployment rate improved recently), it seems that there are dozens of better uses for the stimulus money.

The first one that comes to my mind is the Greater Boston Food Bank. When people lose their jobs, demand at food banks increases dramatically while supply plummets because people have less to spare, creating a tension between what’s available and what’s needed.

The Boston Food Bank feeds more than 320,000 people annually in nine counties in eastern Massachusetts (a number that likely increased as the recession worsened). It distributes more than 30 million pounds of food and grocery products annually to a network of nearly 600 member hunger-relief agencies, like soup kitchens.

The Boston Food Bank recently sent out a request for people to donate $12 to buy one very large turkey for needy families. I donated and hope that the turkey provides a nice Thanksgiving feast for a family who otherwise would not have had one.

Imagine if instead of making sure the Spirit of Boston was terrorist-attack-proof, the money had gone to providing turkeys and other food items for hungry families in the Boston area. The Boston Food Bank could have provided 10,250 turkeys with the $123,000 that was spent on this seemingly frivolous project.

The Entertainment Cruises (the parent company of the Spirit of Boston) vice president of marine operations Gary Frommelt was even quoted by the Boston Globe as saying, “We feel that we’re really a low threat for a terrorist incident. But the stimulus was a nice perk.”

Giving the money to the food bank wouldn’t have created any jobs, but it certainly would have benefited those who had lost theirs and were struggling to get by.

When Congress approved the enormous stimulus package, the primary concern was for creating jobs and helping the unemployed.

I just don’t see how spending $1.5 million to restore the Monomoy Point Lighthouse on an uninhabited island is to going to strengthen our local economy. Located off of Cape Cod, the lighthouse will be opened to the public once the restoration is complete. But again, how is that helping to create jobs for the thousands of unemployed Bay Staters?

I have seen evidence of money going to so-called “shovel-ready projects” along the highways in and around Boston. I’m glad that many of the roads damaged by our harsh winters will have fewer potholes and that people are gaining employment through this channel.

But not even these projects, which do create jobs and directly benefit the tens of thousands of people who commute each day, are immune from waste. Most of these roadwork projects have large signs near them announcing that the funding came from the U.S. stimulus plan.

The cost of the 66 signs the state of Massachusetts has erected so far? More than $100,000.

Some of the funding has gone to appropriate channels, as many Massachusetts school districts were able to purchase necessary supplies, but most medical and science grants were handed out based on agencies’ usual criteria that do not account for the economic potential of the projects.

David Williams, vice president of policy for Citizens Against Government Waste, was quoted by the Boston Globe as saying, “People are scratching their heads because some of this doesn’t make sense. Studying pollen during the Viking Age isn’t going to create a lot of jobs and help the economy.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.