This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, February 24th, 2009.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Just $50 billion of the massive $589 billion stimulus legislation was designated for infrastructure.

For state and local governments, it will fund projects,

but it's not clear that those projects will be ones that enhance long-term growth.

Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randall O'Toole says will be ones that enhance long-term growth.

Cato Institute Senior fellow Randall O'Toole says one way to make sure that taxpayers

aren't on the line for useless spending is to make states pony up half the dough.

Not with taxes, but with user fees on the project.

Supposedly, if you build something, it's valuable to somebody, and that value will be carried

through, and so you not only get the jobs from

construction you get the jobs from that value for example if you build a

bridge to nowhere you're gonna get some jobs from building the bridge but

because nobody uses the bridge because it goes nowhere you're not going to get any more

jobs after that at a secondary effects if you build a bridge to somewhere

you'll get the job from building the bridge and then you'll build a bridge to somewhere, you'll get the jobs from building the bridge.

Then you'll get the jobs that are created when people are using the bridge.

They're going across the bridge. They're building new things on the other side of the river or whatever,

and you get double your jobs or maybe more than double your jobs.

So to me an infrastructure package has to focus on things that people are going to want and use so that you actually get those

secondary effects. Whether you're just rebuilding a bridge that might otherwise fall down

or have to be closed because it's falling apart or you're building a

...