Question US
Stimulus Spending Pork - did any of this spending directly help you ?
Javimendo November 03, 2009 19:34:43
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- +15 raves
Fraud and abuse weigh down stimulus package
Was the stimulus worth the cost?
Fraudsters made the most of homebuyer tax credits
After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up
White House moves to control waste and fraud
The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went:
- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.
- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.
- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.
- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.
- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.
- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.
- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.
- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.
- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.
- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.
- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.
- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.
- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.
- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.
- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.
- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.
- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.
- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.
- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.
- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.
- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri
- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.
- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.
- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.
- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.
Sources: News reports, Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Office of Sen. Tom Coburn
After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
November 3, 2009
ferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com
Was the stimulus worth the cost?
Fraudsters made the most of homebuyer tax credits
After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up
White House moves to control waste and fraud
The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went:
- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.
- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.
- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.
- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.
- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.
- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.
- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.
- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.
- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.
- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.
- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.
- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.
- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.
- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.
- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.
- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.
- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.
- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.
- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.
- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.
- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri
- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.
- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.
- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.
- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.
Sources: News reports, Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Office of Sen. Tom Coburn
After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
November 3, 2009
ferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com
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Top Answer
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No, and hell, no.View thread
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They only "helped" themselves to further DIG into the Pocketbook of Hard-Working, Tax-Paying American CITIZENS (like Myself) with that Monster mess.
I guess you would have to go through that kind of life alturing event to know what I'm talking about. To have aquired everything you have over the years, and then to loose your job because the company you work for decides they need more profit, and YOU have to go.
Then you are on unemployment untill it ends, then you start selling everything you have, little by little, and for less than half what you paid for it because people around you know your desperate and will settle for less to pay your bills for that month. After you have got rid of everything you have, and have nothing, you sell your car so you can pay your bills for a few more months, and eat.
After that, and no job has come through yet, you start to panic, what if I don't ever get a job again, what if, what if.
Some of these people end up putting their last possession, which is a gun, into their mouth and blowing out their brains..................because all is lost, they have come to the end of everything they know, and no job yet.
That is the extreme, not the norm, but I knew someone like that, and I miss them, had I known truely what they were going through I would have stepped in to help, but t...
I guess you would have to go through that kind of life alturing event to know what I'm talking about. To have aquired everything you have over the years, and then to loose your job because the company you work for decides they need more profit, and YOU have to go.
Then you are on unemployment untill it ends, then you start selling everything you have, little by little, and for less than half what you paid for it because people around you know your desperate and will settle for less to pay your bills for that month. After you have got rid of everything you have, and have nothing, you sell your car so you can pay your bills for a few more months, and eat.
After that, and no job has come through yet, you start to panic, what if I don't ever get a job again, what if, what if.
Some of these people end up putting their last possession, which is a gun, into their mouth and blowing out their brains..................because all is lost, they have come to the end of everything they know, and no job yet.
That is the extreme, not the norm, but I knew someone like that, and I miss them, had I known truely what they were going through I would have stepped in to help, but they were proud and would not let others know their pain, they hid it because they were ashamed of being laid off by a greedy employer who saw people as machines, not human beings.
The stimulus has been squandered, and wasted on the wrong things like Big business that foolishly spent money like it was a neverending party, and those who made bad business mistakes, and so were rewarded for those bad decisions with tax dollars. The Bailouts should have never happened in a society like ours, but they did, and we taxpayers will regret those decisions in coming years because of our foolish leaders. But the ONE good thing to come out of all of this is the extending of the unemployment bennifits for millions of americans who are without jobs because of our governments actions of not protecting it's most valuable assets, which is We The People.
If anyone hasn't noticed, the banks who were all crying are now basking in profits! They simply invested the money into the market to drive up the stock prices and bank rolled the dividends. They will run the cycle over and over again. The next bust will be worse than the Depression for sure as there will be no way to bail the banks out again without hyper inflation.
What we should all be doing is marching on Washington and demanding a more equitable distribution of wealth. Of course we will all wait until we can't afford the price of beer.
No tax credits for me.
No cash for clunker money for me
The promise Obama's website made about $6000 more per year for my family - a lie
Real estate taxes up 30% "to cover shortfalls for money no longer coming from the Federal Government"
A new tax on electricity of about $200 bucks per year.
A new tax on our family plan for cell phones about $60 per year
Where the f_ck is all of this money going?
Obama's friends pockets.
Slimy union bosses pockets
Corrupt highway construction companies pockets
DC hookers pockets
And let's not forget all the money spent on signs telling us that taxpayer dollars are funding the road projects. (Well Duh!)
Now that's waste at its best folks.