The 10,000 job myth

Sorry PrimeBuzz, but I think you're math is wrong. Not that it's your fault, you're just repeating what the transportation people tell you. Heaven forbid you check facts.

The KC Star's PrimeBuzz has a post up about the new construction projects being funded by federal stimulus money. In all Kansas got $378 million in transportation funds from the feds (that's us, the taxpayers.) KDOT claims that will create 10,000 jobs.

The problem, as the Kansas Meadowlark pointed out clear back in February, is that the math doesn't add up. The average highway worker makes around $32,000 a year. Take that times 10,000 and that's $320 million, or about 85% of everything the state got from the feds (us.)

Could labor costs represent 85% of total costs on the six projects planned in Kansas? Or did KDOT just make up some funny math to make the stimulus look good? 10,000 jobs created is a myth. The only way 10,000 jobs could possibly be created is if each and every one of them pays well below the federal poverty line. And if the government keeps spending at its current pace, we'll all be shortly joining them.