Wow, that’s depressing. Our money went to people already employed. Not to fixing anything.
The rationale was that it prevented further job loss. The most “economical” way for government to prevent unemployment is to create/maintain government jobs. The fact that the jobs create no infrastructure or anything else for that matter and instead throw sand into the gears is irrelevant in the short run, which is all politicians (and many sorts of business managers) can care about. Depressing? You bet