REAL "Stimulus"

While Porkulus transfers money to State (and local) gummints to shore up Medicaid and unemployment compensation funding--and to keep state/local payrolls as fat as possible--the REAL stimulus spending is found here.

A job fair Monday in Oshkosh drew between 1,400 and 1,500 applicants for what Oshkosh Corp. currently ballparks as "several hundred" additional production jobs building new vehicles for the U.S. military. A similar turnout showed up to apply Sunday, according to a company spokesman, drawing mostly from the Fox Valley but also from the Milwaukee area. Earlier this month, Oshkosh announced a $1.06 billion military contract that could grow into more work for the company, which has more than 2,200 jobs in its home town and another 10,000 worldwide.

Ordering new military hardware, whether trucks, airplanes, tanks, or ships, puts people to work. A LOT of people. These are the jobs which, in aggregate, pay the vast majority of income and property taxes in this State and in the US.

That's one reason I don't have a problem with the Feds deciding to purchase a bunch of new automobiles for the GSA fleet.

Ironically, we did not see Governor Doyle, nor either of our two fine Senators, taking any credit for "several hundred additional ...jobs".

Doyle DID tout, loudly, four new jobs moving here from the Twin Cities.

Wow.