To get the correct answer, you’ve got to ask the right question.
An article in USA Today mistakenly concludes that Recovery Act benefits are not reaching the communities that need the help. Now you might reasonably ask whether the 3 million or so people working because of the Recovery Act live in places where they don’t need those jobs – kind of an absurd proposition. And it’s also the case that USA Today reaches this conclusion using some incomplete data to begin with – but the article also makes two mistakes: First, USA Today fails to separate out programs directly keyed to joblessness, and second, they conflate state unemployment with need.
Before going into the details, it’s important to reflect on this second shortcoming, because it’s a fundamental flaw in their analysis. We put recovery projects where they’re needed, regardless of a state’s unemployment rate. We build roads where roads are needed, we clean up superfund sites where they are located and we repair schools where schools need fixing.
Fonte: White House