Jun

The Incredible Stimulus that Stimulates only Government

Your money via the Stimulus, is not really doing anything but funding the social programs loved so much by the left. If the New Deal and the Great Society didn’t stimulate the economy, what makes you think the third time is the charm?

The graph above, comes from Recovery.gov. You can click through the various links and see how the money is being spent, program by program.

The largest share of the money released so far is going to the Education Department. First, even spending $41 billion, what will that do for the economy? As most of you already know, there is no correlation between money spent and the quality of education received at the primary and secondary levels. Bottom line, the first $41 billion is just another social welfare program. And note, only $5.5 billion has been spent so far.

Health and Human Services was allocated $29 billion. Simply put, this is nothing but a massive welfare program. How will this “build” our economy? How will this create private sector jobs? Block grants, public housing, and subsidized rents. Wow, long term jobs here we come. No wait, how about long term dependence on government….

The Department of Labor received about $20 billion and only spent $5 billion so far. So even if the intention was stimulate the economy, $5 billion isn’t going to do much. But wait, it gets better, because here are some the programs funded by that $5 billion:

Youth activities recovery plan? Unemployment grants? Senior employment plan?

While you might consider those NOBLE programs, please explain or show how they have created one single solitary long term private sector job?

Moving on, the Department of Transportation was given $15 billion dollars to spend and has spent a whopping $175 million so far! Wasn’t infrastructure the cornerstone of Recovery Act? Wasn’t it supposed generate hundreds of thousands of jobs? Yet, only $175 million has been spent?

But it gets better, look at what it has been spent on:

As of June 5, FAA has announced all but $5 million of the $1.1 billion Recovery Act funding for airport grant projects. These allocations represent approximately 323 projects, of which three (totaling $4.1 million) are awaiting DOT processing to Congress.

June 2 – FAA executives spoke on ARRA issues at the Tri-State Regional Aviation Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

June 2-3 – FAA executives spoke on ARRA issues at the Western-Pacific Regional Airports Conference in Los Angeles, California.

On June 3 FAA awarded a $1.1 million contract for the installation of an Instrument Landing System at Decatur, AL.

FHWA Division Offices have authorized 4,101 projects in all 50 states, the District of Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands for a total of $13.58 billion. This represents 51% of total funds available.

Federal Lands has authorized 18 projects for a total of $79.3 million. As of June 5, 39 states and the District of Columbia have met the ARRA legislation requirement to obligate 50% of funds allocated.

Federal Lands allocated $576,000 for pavement preservation of a National Park Service road in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

On June 4th, Federal Lands participated in a conference call with White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs with 12 tribes and 12 regional consortia of tribes to answer ARRA-related questions.

On June 2nd and 3rd, more than 750 Division Office staff participated in FHWA’s “all hands” web training related to the “Risk Management Plan for the Recovery Act” – the sessions focused on the development of the FHWA Risk Management Plans, understanding & mitigating ARRA risks, and the related “”visible monitoring” performed by Division Offices. A third web session will be held on June 12th.

On June 4th, FRA approved nine Amtrak ARRA projects totaling $78.2 million. These projects involve improvements to stations throughout the county, program administration expenses and the replacement/upgrading of fixed bridges on the Northeast Corridor. FRA has now approved approximately $1.1 billion worth of Amtrak projects. The nine Amtrak ARRA projects approved by FRA are as follows: Program Administration – Non Security & Life Safety; Program Administration – Security & Life Safety; Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations Project Management; Mid-Atlantic Division – Station Upgrades; New York Division – Station Upgrades; Central Division – Station Upgrades; Southeast Division – Station Upgrades; Mid-Atlantic Division – Bridge Upgrades; and Fixed Bridge Replacement – Middelton, PA.

On Wednesday, June 3rd, Vice President Biden and Secretary LaHood hosted a roundtable discussion at the White House with governors from eight states on the future of high-speed rail in the United States. This event was the culmination of FRA’s seven city workshop outreach tour. The purpose of these workshops was to solicit stakeholder and public input into the development of guidance for the high-speed and intercity passenger rail grants program. In total, approximately 1,139 people attended the workshops: May 20, Charlotte, NC (73 attendees); May 21, Orlando, FL (164 attendees); May 27, Seattle, WA (87 attendees); May 28, Sacramento, CA (144 attendees); May 29, Houston, TX (173 attendees); June 1, Chicago, IL (266 attendees); and June 2, Philadelphia, PA (232 attendees).

On June 3rd, FTA held an ARRA outreach workshop entitled Understanding the Transit Implications of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in conjunction with the Community Transportation Association of America’s (CTAA) 2009 EXPO and National Paratransit Rodeo in Providence, RI. Approximately 200 rural transit providers, State transit officials, and other federally funded human service transportation providers attended the workshop which focused on the types of projects that may be funded, eligible recipients of funds, application processes, and related timelines.

On June 4th, FTA held a second ARRA workshop at CTAA’s annual conference for approximately thirty State DOT transit program administrators. This outreach session focused on the application process and reporting results under ARRA.

The week of June 1st, DOT responded to approximately 89 ARRA phone and email queries a week.

During the second 100 days of ARRA, DOT has committed to ensuring that 1,500 highway projects and 98 airport projects will be underway. OST worked closely with the Recovery office to produce maps showing these potential projects. Deputy Secretary Pocari represented the Secretary at the White House Cabinet meeting to discuss these plans.

On June 2nd, Secretary LaHood was interviewed by Foresight Magazine, a Japanese business publication, regarding high-speed rail.

On June 5th, Deputy Secretary Porcari joined Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle in Racine County, WI to break ground on a $19.6 million project for the County Trunk Highway G Interchange. At this event, Deputy Secretary Porcari highlighted how ARRA is creating jobs, improving our nation’s infrastructure and revitalizing the economy.

On June 1st, Secretary LaHood appeared on the Diane Rehm Show, WAMU-FM in Washington, DC to discuss high-speed rail and transportation’s role in economic recovery.

On June 2nd, Secretary LaHood was interviewed by CNBC regarding high-speed rail.

Look at all those highway projects and bridges in your state….oh wait, just kidding.

Next on the list is the Social Security Administration. They were given $13 billion and they have spent almost all of it.

As you can see, the money spent by the SSA is simply in form of transfer payments and a remodel of their offices and the purchasing of new equipment.

Not one new job created.

You can read the rest of the list and follow the various links for yourself, because the story is pretty much the same.

The bottom line, to be successful, the stimulus needed to be spent quickly and it needed to be focused on facilitating the recovery of our business sector.

Instead, Obama and the far left Democrats in Congress have taken a scatter gun approach. The Stimulus funds aren’t concentrated to do much good, they are spent on social programs and the growing of government rather than capital projects such as roads and other infrastructure and of course, the funds aren’t being spent in a timely manner to start with.

Government once again proves that the best person to spend your money, is you.

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