Governments do operate like a business, at least relative to other governments and the global markets for labor, products and services. If our government puts wealth into dubious "investments" in "people", especially if it's just a bunch of make-work, we'll fall behind internationally. A nation builds its wealth by making products for export that other countries want to buy, not by employing people sorting garbage. I swear sometimes that people really mean "governments can do stupid shit forever" when they say governments "don't operate like a business". No, I'm sorry to burst your bubble of belief in the ability of governments to do stupid shit forever, but they can't. For proof, look at how many governments which have tried stupid shit in the past still exist. Ultimately, people won't stand for their efforts being commandeered for wastefulness.
The "spoils" of war with those countries? OK, maybe Iran's oil would qualify, but I doubt that Syrian sand or North Korean bamboo would be "spoils".
economics not even once you want people being productive not having jobs for the sake of having jobs... broken window fallacy 101
The poor don't vote, neither do they do campaign donations. They are irrelevant to those who make the rules
That pipeline wasn't stopped by environmentalists, it was stopped by oil refiners in Flyover who didn't want to get cut out of the action.
legalize pot and just mail out the seeds to the unemployed. Problem solved. Take the billions and pay down the debt.
As far as I know, projects like the WPA from the 30's are now illegal. The gov't can't create make work programs just to employ people to build things or clean things. And of course like others here have said, it would take ten years to build anything. Obama's shovel ready projects turned out to be parking lots.