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Archive for January 30th, 2009

WHERE IS THIS “STIMULUS PACKAGE” BEING SPENT?

Posted by straight shooter on January 30, 2009 under Political

That is a question more Americans are asking now that details are trickling in about the controversial $825 billion plus “economic recovery” package.

This “stimulus” bill so far is over 1,588 pages with only 5% of the legislation actually going towards infrastructure. The rest of the bill reads like a taxpayer funded payoff to groups that have supported liberal/socialist Democrats’ interests.  The cost to every American household will be over $10,000.00.

Real Cost of Stimulus Plan? Almost $1.2 Trillion

Taxpayers will pay much more for the fiscal stimulus than previously revealed – over $1.17 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Most sources have assessed the cost of the stimulus package at approximately $825 billion. But the CBO reports those estimates do not include the cost of the money that must be borrowed to pay for the plan. CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf estimated the cost of borrowing the money would be $347.1 billion – or about 42% of the cost of the projects. That would push the total cost of the stimulus package to over $1.17 trillion. The true cost may climb even higher, however, because the CBO’S calculations are all based on its low-end estimate that the base cost of the stimulus package will be just $815.9 billion, compared to the $825 figure commonly used. The higher the cost, the more expensive the program is to finance and the greater the total debt burden on future taxpayers.

The last several months are a foreshadowing of a new era of government activism, rather than an unfortunate but necessary (and anomalous) emergency action. We will soon shift from a market-based economy to a political one in which the government picks winners and losers and extends its reach and power in unprecedented ways.

Democrat Absurdities in Obama’s Spending Plan

As the veil begins to drop from the shady elements of the stimulus, more people are beginning to understand what’s at stake. Today’s New York Times reads, “Stimulus Offers Road to Retooling Social Policy” with “little notice and no public hearings.” The 1,588 page H.R. 1 has plenty of waste, wish lists and pork.

As the list grows it and the subjects are decoded into everyday language, it is extraordinary and mind numbingly stupid for them to be part of a “stimulus package.” And how exactly do these items create new, immediate, sustainable jobs for everyday people?

This is not a complete list, and to be fair a couple of these were dropped*, or partially dropped, but the rest are still there.

  • $2 billion to help subsidize child care.
  • $400 million for research into global warming.
  • $2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.
  • $650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.
  • $600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.
  • $75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.
  • $21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.
  • $2.25 billion for national parks. This item has sparked calls for an investigation, because the chief lobbyist of the National Parks Association is the son of Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wisc. The $2.25 billion is about equal to the National Park Service’s entire annual budget. The Washington Times reports it is a threefold increase over what was originally proposed for parks in the stimulus bill. Obey is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
  • $335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
  • $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.
  • $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The bill allows nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money, which means a substantial amount of it will be captured by ACORN, the controversial activist group currently under federal investigation for vote fraud. Another $750 million would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN – meaning cities and states are barred from receiving that money. This money highly likely to be a “payoff” for the partisan political activities community groups in the last election cycle.
  • $44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.
  • $32 billion for a “smart electricity grid to minimize waste.
  • $87 billion of Medicaid funds, to aid states.
  • $53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.
  • $13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing, help the homeless, repair foreclosed homes.
  • $20 billion for quicker depreciation and write-offs for equipment.
  • $10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.
  • $20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program.
  • $360 million to potentially be used to put on transsexual beauty pageants and erotic art shows.
  • $300 million for Americorps
  • $246 million tax break for Hollywood film investors.
  • $1.4 billion to the National Science Foundation at the same time its employees are under investigation for viewing and emailing porn on the taxpayers’ dime.

More to come . . .