mogrovejo
12-08-2009, 04:24 PM
Sen. Coburn and Sen. McCain published a second report on 100 projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
You can read it here (http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=a28a4590-10ac-4dc1-bd97-df57b39ed872)and you should. Some of the stuff is simply hilarious (at least if you forget it's your money that is being used for those ridiculous things, I guess).
Introduction
Good jobs for millions of Americans.
Investments in priorities that create sustainable economic growth for the future.
Those were the promises made to uneasy Americans when Congress approved the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or economic stimulus bill, in February.
Nine months later, with over $200 billion of stimulus funding already spent,1 the rolls of the unemployed have grown by millions and, by any measure, more jobs have been lost than created.
Since the stimulus bill was enacted in February, nearly three million Americans have lost their jobs2 and the percentage of people who are without work has risen to 10 percent.3 Many who had been looking to the government for help have already lost hope.
As this and the last report, 100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion,4 suggest, billions of dollars of stimulus funding have been wasted, mismanaged, or directed towards silly and shortsighted projects. Many projects may not produce the types of jobs that most Americans had hoped for or expected.
Some of the close to seven billion dollars in projects in Stimulus Checkup create few jobs; benefit private interests over the public good; or make improvements where they are not necessary. Some send money to companies facing fraud charges. Others take millions of dollars to do work local officials and experts admit are not needed or will not help.
Stimulus money has been, or will be, spent on dinner cruises, golf courses, puppet shows and stimulus road signs. Many Americans will question whether investing $787 billion in these projects are the highest national priorities.
Spending $25,000 for a puppet show may not seem like a big deal in Washington, for most Americans it is a lot of money. Washington, D.C. politicians blithely spend billions of dollars a week, but every dollar wasted is also a dollar borrowed—and a dollar to be paid back with interest in the future.
Over the past ten years, the national debt more than doubled as Congress went on a spending spree—and yet we still find ourselves in the midst of an economic downturn.
Americans who have lost their job, health insurance, or home, are facing mounting personal debts, but are also faced with the question of who will pay off the staggering national debt that has grown by more than $1.4 trillion over the past year.
The federal government must join American families in prioritizing its spending by making tough decisions. When we downplay wasting money on a $6 million project, it is easy to do it again ten more times. Once $60 million is out the door, it is easy to spend another $60 million and before you know it, billions of dollars we do not have are spent on things we do not need. Sadly, this type of spending is excused in Congress because ―it‘s always been done that way.‖
The American people have always rejected arguments based on ―it‘s always been done that way,‖ and will continue to do so. Congress needs to make hard choices and eliminate things that are a low priority—even if doing so is unpopular—so we can preserve this country for future generations.
In the previous report, one hundred questionable projects were identified that did not appear to hold out promise for helping the economy grow. The Administration was quick to review these projects and to its credit addressed a number of them. In the months that followed, many more questionable stimulus projects costing millions and even billions of dollars were identified. This follow-up, Stimulus Checkup, takes a closer look at 100 more projects that raise questions about how stimulus money has been used so far.
By the way, I had never noticed that the logo for the stimulus program is so closely... inspired, let's put it this way, on Obama's campaign logo. Talk about permanent campaign. I wonder if the company owned by the WH chief of staff was hired and paid by public money to design this logo as well.
You can read it here (http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=a28a4590-10ac-4dc1-bd97-df57b39ed872)and you should. Some of the stuff is simply hilarious (at least if you forget it's your money that is being used for those ridiculous things, I guess).
Introduction
Good jobs for millions of Americans.
Investments in priorities that create sustainable economic growth for the future.
Those were the promises made to uneasy Americans when Congress approved the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or economic stimulus bill, in February.
Nine months later, with over $200 billion of stimulus funding already spent,1 the rolls of the unemployed have grown by millions and, by any measure, more jobs have been lost than created.
Since the stimulus bill was enacted in February, nearly three million Americans have lost their jobs2 and the percentage of people who are without work has risen to 10 percent.3 Many who had been looking to the government for help have already lost hope.
As this and the last report, 100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion,4 suggest, billions of dollars of stimulus funding have been wasted, mismanaged, or directed towards silly and shortsighted projects. Many projects may not produce the types of jobs that most Americans had hoped for or expected.
Some of the close to seven billion dollars in projects in Stimulus Checkup create few jobs; benefit private interests over the public good; or make improvements where they are not necessary. Some send money to companies facing fraud charges. Others take millions of dollars to do work local officials and experts admit are not needed or will not help.
Stimulus money has been, or will be, spent on dinner cruises, golf courses, puppet shows and stimulus road signs. Many Americans will question whether investing $787 billion in these projects are the highest national priorities.
Spending $25,000 for a puppet show may not seem like a big deal in Washington, for most Americans it is a lot of money. Washington, D.C. politicians blithely spend billions of dollars a week, but every dollar wasted is also a dollar borrowed—and a dollar to be paid back with interest in the future.
Over the past ten years, the national debt more than doubled as Congress went on a spending spree—and yet we still find ourselves in the midst of an economic downturn.
Americans who have lost their job, health insurance, or home, are facing mounting personal debts, but are also faced with the question of who will pay off the staggering national debt that has grown by more than $1.4 trillion over the past year.
The federal government must join American families in prioritizing its spending by making tough decisions. When we downplay wasting money on a $6 million project, it is easy to do it again ten more times. Once $60 million is out the door, it is easy to spend another $60 million and before you know it, billions of dollars we do not have are spent on things we do not need. Sadly, this type of spending is excused in Congress because ―it‘s always been done that way.‖
The American people have always rejected arguments based on ―it‘s always been done that way,‖ and will continue to do so. Congress needs to make hard choices and eliminate things that are a low priority—even if doing so is unpopular—so we can preserve this country for future generations.
In the previous report, one hundred questionable projects were identified that did not appear to hold out promise for helping the economy grow. The Administration was quick to review these projects and to its credit addressed a number of them. In the months that followed, many more questionable stimulus projects costing millions and even billions of dollars were identified. This follow-up, Stimulus Checkup, takes a closer look at 100 more projects that raise questions about how stimulus money has been used so far.
By the way, I had never noticed that the logo for the stimulus program is so closely... inspired, let's put it this way, on Obama's campaign logo. Talk about permanent campaign. I wonder if the company owned by the WH chief of staff was hired and paid by public money to design this logo as well.