The most profound lesson I learned from my college economics class was that economics encompasses so many interacting variables that it is almost impossible to study without looking at simplified theoretical models: pie charts with little basis in reality. It seems to me that the economic stimulus plans of late - both national and in Amador - take the pie charts to a whole new level, implementing their idealized scenarios.
If my personal experience is any indication of larger trends, the $600 federal stimulus check that many of us "poor folks" received earlier this year went straight to credit card companies and Wal-Mart. It's difficult to imagine how this is supposed to trickle back down the economy (perhaps it's trickling down China's at this very moment!). It seems to me like just another scenario where the rich get richer - and it's the same (perhaps even more so) with Amador's stimulus plan.
In a dwindling economy, is it reasonable to assume that those who are not as well off would choose NOW to build a home? What sounds more reasonable to me is that those who are going ahead with construction are those who are not affected by a downturn in the economy: in effect, the rich. The cherry on this particular disappointment sundae is that the impacts that will result from these construction projects will not be mitigated, resulting in a situation where the costs of these impacts are passed on to others in the county. From my outpost here among the working poor, the effects of the national and local stimulus plans have been this: We went from stimulated to jaded. It's my hope that policy makers will ditch the stimulus band-aid fixes in favor of plans that address the root causes of the economic downturn (globalization, anyone?).