Paul Krugman: An American Road to Nowhere

Many American roads are in pretty bad shape - I can attest to that after driving from New Jersey to Massachusetts and back for family business last week. When you combine that fact with the underlying macroeconomic situation (more on that in a minute), the case for spending substantial sums on repair seems obvious.

But President Obama's recent proposal for what is actually a modest infrastructure program - $302 billion over four years for road repairs and transit upgrades - appears to be going nowhere, thanks to a fight over how to pay for it.