It was just announced that China is going to put $586 billion into its infrastructure. Most of the major press reported this in the last several days with various stories discussing the broad investment that China is going to make by 2010, according to its government.

The statement said the spending would focus on 10 areas. They included picking up the pace of spending on low-cost housing (an urgent need in many parts of the country) as well as increased spending on rural infrastructure.

Money will also be poured into new railways, roads and airports. Spending on health and education will be increased as well as on environmental protection and technology.

It’s More Than $700 Billion For the U.S.

Before it got passed, the $700 billion U.S. bailout package expanded into another $150 billion in giveaways. That’s not mentioned in many newscasts.

The U.S. bailout package actually exceeds $850 billion. This doesn’t even take into consideration some other previous bailouts like the one to AIG. Perhaps it’s more like a $1 trillion bailout. I’d like to know how many new airports and high-speed railways are coming out of it not to mention multi-gigabit broadband connectivity networks.

When you’re spending several hundred billion dollars in the U.S., it’s easy to waste a couple billion here and a couple of billion there. I don’t see that with the Chinese. If they put close to $600 billion in play to enhance their infrastructure and housing, chances are they are going to put much of it to good use.

Does This Mean More Jobs in the U.S.?

Don’t hold your breath about China’s infrastructure investment creating more jobs in the U.S. If the Chinese are going to be building infrastructure, this may mean some jobs in the U.S. A couple companies may benefit from large developments in China if heavy construction equipment is bought or if professional services are used. Just don’t expect a surge of new job openings.

If they use the money right, they might create more jobs in the U.S. than our own bailout package, which is already turning into a fiasco. It would have been nice to see this “build the infrastructure” type of package approved in the U.S. instead of a bailout package that’s turning out to be a way to get bonuses for undeserving banking and finance executives.

Instead of driving the money into real stimulus and real relief for those caught up in the credit crunch, bailout money has also been used to buy up competitors. This flies in the face of how the bailout program was sold to the public. It was also recently reported that AIG had another retreat in Arizona after it was criticized for holding a $440,000 retreat that included golf outings and banquets (not to mention a $86,000 hunting trip in England).

“Tally ho” with taxpayer money must be the company motto. There is some current talk about including the U.S. auto industry in with the bailout recipients. Are you going to run out to buy a new Tahoe or Expedition with your stimulus check? Is this a good move for us? What if we put our money into improving the platform for commerce (the infrastructure) instead?

What Do You Get For $510 Billion Into Infrastructure?

Let’s assume most of China’s investment goes into the different layers of infrastructure. With $76 billion going into housing and other amenities, that leaves $510 billion for infrastructure investments.

What does $510 billion buy for a layer of infrastructure? The table below shows if all of it is put in one layer ($510 billion) and then if it’s split up into two layers ($255 billion a piece) or spread across three layers (with a total of $510 billion).

This looks like a great investment. With all the higher-quality infrastructure levels, the Chinese economy creates a much more solid platform for its global commerce. The payback will create jobs as well as increased global trade.

Adding several international airports as well as high-speed regional rail and broadband connectivity can only strengthen China’s (or anybody’s) economy in the global marketplace. High-speed rail is something that was voted on in the last California election as “Referendum 1A”. The estimated costs in California were $40 billion for an 800-mile track networked between San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Their estimate is $50 million a mile. This may include stations and other infrastructure. High-speed rail (a train that goes 220 miles per hour) is not cheap to build per mile. It should only be considered in an area that’s going to really utilize it. All the while, it will create a lot of jobs both in the construction phase and permanently.

A $700 billion bailout package would have been enough to do many of these large infrastructure initiatives in the U.S. In listening to reports of non-deserving executive bonuses, hunting trips, junkets to resorts and acquisitions coming out of the bailout money in the U.S., it sounds like the Chinese have a better handle on national initiatives and how to prioritize building lasting infrastructure.

Carlinism: Certain things in Washington have to be fixed before we can really fix the rest of the country.