Grand Junction as a mircrocosm on the efficacy of government stimulus

Watching the local NBC affiliate news this evening I was struck by a piece on the relative health of the Grand Junction economy. The reporter dutifully interviewed the mayor about what the secret was to his economic success. The mayor's answer is an argument in favor of the Federal government stimulus although neither the mayor nor the reporter were able to connect those particular dots. Here's a portion of the transcript from the story,

Despite a recession and slowing energy business along the Western Slope, Grand Junction is showing positive sales tax growth and is gaining attention for being one of the few economic bright spots in the country.

"We projected almost 8-percent growth for the year," Palmer said.

With real estate sales down, John Hoff with Coldwell Banker says an innovative property trading program was instituted to keep transactions moving.

"It's starting to work well with our builders. They would like to build a home for people and people have a home to sell and lots of times they'll consider trading for their home," Hoff said.

At Mesa State College, spokesperson Dana Nunn says enrollment is up and the school is in the middle of a massive building project to construct three new facilities.

"This particular project is a little more than $18 million, the field house is $40 million, the student center is $23 million, so we're putting some money into the community," Nunn said.

Plus, new roads have been built and soon there will be new emergency service buildings Palmer says have been paid for with sales tax dollars.

"We just finished a $100 million road project in Grand Junction. We're looking at another $100 million project for fire and police departments," Palmer said.

The mayor also says unemployment and foreclosure numbers are well below the national and state averages which he thanks to investing in infrastructure and economic diversification.

Out of the 6 specific programs and projects mentioned 5 of them are government funded road or capital construction projects. The mayor does give credit to the infrastructure investments as helping to buoy the economy of his community, I only hope other viewers note the obvious conclusion that government investment can help us stabilize our economy.