Too little, too slow. But not necessarily too late. That seems to sum up steel's verdict on the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), better known as the economic stimulus package.

Too little, because the amount of new demand likely to be generated by the ARRA—anything from 2.5 million to 3.5 million tons of steel, depending on estimates—is a small fraction of what has been wiped out by the economic slump. Building new bridges, renovating highways, investing in school buildings and constructing more wind towers are all worthwhile, but they don't begin to compensate for the idling of construction sites and auto plants across the country in the first half of the...