I think for us middle class people, we are being forced into the "every man for himself" area.
I still say burying the power lines would be a good stimulus project. Let the electric companies hire local people to do it and reimburse them from federal funds. I think it qualifies as a national security issue, due to downed power lines being a goal of terrorists and hurricanes and ice storms causing downed lines with loss of productivity and risked lives. It would put thousands if not millions of people to work, with the planning, construction, equipment needed, etc. It would have a definite beginning and end. It would be locally run. I have no hopes of this happening, however.
There is no more stimulus from this idea than with building pyramids, although there would be more intrinsic value. My economics education reached the point where I was a graduate assistant to a winner of the Nobel prize..
Funny you should mention this. For just as I was driving home from church I noted a big convoy of some sort of ladder type cable trucks alongside the road. These guys were putting up MORE power poles, iron things next to the existing wooden ones. I don’t know whether the wooden poles were to be replaced by the metal ones or if the metal poles were put up in addition to the wooden poles. One can never have too many wires and poles alongside the road.
So I took a look down the road and suddenly I realized just how damn ugly all those poles were, big things with many arms, wires hanging everywhere, now the metal poles, alonside the highway for miles.
I even got to wondering why they don’t bury all those wires. My house has NO wires at all, neither cable, electrical phone or otherwise, hanging from it and it really looks nice. All the wires into our community are buried so I know it’s possible.
Now I read your suggestion and ...well it is a good idea but it’s never about common sense, the greater good or any other such nonsense is it?