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How to use the stimulus funds wisely

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It has been widely reported recently that Illinois hasn’t yet revealed any concrete plans for the cash allotted to it for highway, bridge and transit projects via the President’s economic stimulus bill. And this morning, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood issued a warning that time is running out. Washington is required to distribute funds by the 10th. Combined with Illinois’ recently bolstered reputation for political corruption and mismanagement, the report seems at once predictable and worrisome, bringing to the fore the central pitfall of Obama’s attempts to jump-start the economy—the potential for local governments to simply squander billions of taxpayer dollars—a problem that Barry B. LePatner, author of Broken Buildings, busted Budgets, argues is compounded by a construction industry that “is just as broken as the infrastructure it’s charged with building and repairing.” In his article, “Five Points the Government MUST Consider Before Doling Out Billions to the Construction Industry” LePatner delivers a critical assessment of the construction industry and its inefficiencies, and outlines the steps a responsible government must take to ensure the money from one of the biggest spending programs in history is used wisely. Read the article on the American Surveyor website, or find out more about LePatner’s book at www.brokenbuildings.com.