One Year of Failed Policies- One Year of the the $862 Billion Stimulus Bill
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 7:30 PM
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today released a new YouTube video targeting the failure of Washington Democrats trillion-dollar stimulus bill and asking, “Where are the jobs?”
John Boehner also released a report to go with the video titled, “Where are the jobs?”
And, Republican Whip Eric Cantor released this list of top 12 lowlights from the Democrat Stimulus bill from this past year.
One Year Later: A Look Back At The Democrat Stimulus Top 12 Spending Lowlights
On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the “stimulus” bill, we take a moment to highlight 12 – one for each month – of the most outrageous wastes of money from the bill. One might be tempted to chuckle at the list if it wasn’t for the fact that government had to borrow every one of these dollars which our children and grandchildren will have to pay back…with interest.
1. $67,726 Makes Casino Employees More Polite The Oneida Bingo and Casino outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin used a federal grant they received through the stimulus package to send their staff to a customer service seminar. The two day seminar was held at a local technical college to teach the casino staff how to handle confrontations with customers. It was clear to the instructors, however, that the casino staff was already well trained at handling confrontations.
2. Bike Trails To Local Fast Food Restaurant The Federal Highway Administration has allocated $4 million in federal stimulus dollars to build a 2.66 mile bike trail in Massachusetts. The planned corridor will provide a new path connecting the Manhan Bike Trail to the Northampton and Norwottuck Trails. Once the new trail is completed, the Manhan bikers will finally have access to a local fast food restaurant in Northampton.
3. Millions To Democrat Operatives Two firms run by Mark Penn, current Secretary of State Clinton’s former presidential campaign pollster, received a total of $5.97 million in taxpayer funds from the stimulus bill.
4. Smoke Marijuana, Drink Liquor, Get Stimulus Cash The State University of New York at Buffalo received $390,000 in stimulus funds to conduct a study on the relationship between drinking malt liquor and using marijuana. 100 people will be paid $45 a day for three weeks by taxpayers to drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.
5. Imagine Life As A Broom, Free Of Charge The Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra is receiving $25,000 in federal stimulus funds to provide five free concerts in the Sacramento area. The concerts will run from December 3rd through December 7th and will include such programs as Bohuslav Martinu’s “Kitchen Revue,” where audiences can imagine the “life of a pot, a lid, a broom and a dishrag.”
6. Did You Save 30 Seconds On Your Last Trip Through Thedford, Nebraska? $7 million in taxpayer stimulus funds are being used to build a bridge in Thedford, Nebraska. The purpose of the bridge? Helping 168 residents avoid a 30 second wait at a local train crossing.
7. Tobacco Sales In Thailand, Dragon Boat Racing In Asia, And HIV & Sex In Russia The National Institutes of Health (NIH) received $8.2 billion in stimulus funds. Recent reports suggest that the NIH is using a substantial portion of this money for questionable studies in foreign countries. Specifically, the NIH is conducting a $65,472 study on the relationship between HIV and sex in St. Petersburg, Russia; a $700,000 study on how taxes, trade and politics affect tobacco sales in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other nations in Southeast Asia; and a $73,000 study on whether the Asian tradition of dragon boat racing will enhance the lives of cancer survivors.
8. Need Forest Fire Money But Don’t Have A Forest? No Problem. The U.S. Forest Service will spend $2.8 million in “Wildland Fire Management” stimulus funds on Washington, D.C., despite the fact that the city does not have a national forest. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) does not even include Washington, D.C. in its annual wildfire statistics.
9. Only The Government Remodels A House Before It Tears It Down Picher Housing Authority in Oklahoma received $135,494 in stimulus money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) so they could rehabilitate homes and business in the Tar Creek Superfund site which is currently scheduled to be demolished.
10. Before The Stimulus, How Did The Turtle Cross The Road? The Florida Department of Transportation will spend $3.4 million in stimulus funds to build an “eco-passage” for turtles and other animals under U.S. Highway 27 in Jackson Lake, Florida. The project will consist of a series of fences to direct turtles to a 13-foot long tunnel under the highway, helping them avoid the oncoming traffic.
11. New Desks For Government Bureaucrats. Don’t They Already Have Jobs? The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HUD), spent $326,078.12 in stimulus funds on a contract to “purchase and install 98 workstations.” That works out to a total cost of $3,327 per workstation. HRSA will also get 20 “Conference Chairs in Grade A Fabric with Casters” as part of the deal.
12. At Least You Can Skateboard While Your Town Goes Bankrupt The city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which has a $5.2 million school budget deficit and about a $4.8 million municipal deficit and has eliminated about 40 city jobs so far this year, announced that they will spend $550,000 in federal stimulus money to construct a skateboard park at a local school, because it is “shovel-ready.”
Eric Cantor also released an extensive timeline of the democrats $862 billion stimulus plan.
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Featured Story:
Horrible… Obama Tells Foolish Supporters: I’m Not Over-Spending… “I’m Running to Pay Down Our Debt”
Published May 23, 2012 at 11:51 pm - 69 Comments
Aitch748 commented:
This stuff is so OBVIOUSLY waste at best and fraud at worst. And we didn’t want this stuff but will have to pay for it, with interest. Why? There’s got to be a limit to our responsibility for paying for all of this.
jim commented:
A trillion dollars. A TRILLION DOLLARS! And most of it went to the same parasites who’ve have been robbing the country blind for decades.
Hope and change? Arrogance and mendacity.
Ginger commented:
It went to zip codes that does not exist.
Ginger commented:
You think that maybe that dog was smelling cocaine on that money?
crosspatch commented:
I have to wonder when that was filmed. There are trees in full leaf and he is in shirt sleeves. It doesn’t appear to have been filmed this year, at least not in the US. Deciduous trees lose their leaves even in California in the winter.
Major Kong commented:
Good thing Obama averted that depression thingy.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=521423
theBuckWheat commented:
Here are two important numbers:
1) $50,233: The median family income in 2007
2) $71,400: The average salary of government workers.
Here is all we need to know about how the growth in government jobs destroys our wealth and liberty. To pay each new bureaucrat, we will consume the entire income of well more than one entire (mostly 2 paycheck) family.
This is the road to serfdom in more ways than one for apart from this comparison, how many bureaucrats are hired to expand and protect our liberty as compared to restrict it? We are hiring far more paper shufflers than Border Agents. We are hiring far more rule-makers than air traffic controllers.
We are stupid if we don’t cut off the food, air and water this Leviathan needs and sucks from us.
JLancaster commented:
I’ve been trying to move to a non-existent zip code my whole life…everyone said I was crazy, but now!!!…
who’s crazy now
http://www.taxtipsfordemocrats.com
Opus #6 commented:
Hey. What’s hundreds of billions between friend.
I am of course bitter about the overspending. Our children do not deserve to be saddled with our debt.
Jim commented:
This same ad ran late last spring or early summer as the stimulus bill began to sour in the polls.
It’s a recycled ad, but nothing has changed to invalidate the message. Where are the jobs?
There are none, because free markets see stimulus bills as gimmicks. This is why they never work and never will.
Did Ford build a new plant and hire 5000 new employees to support demand from Cash for Clunkers? Nope! Reason, a free market interpreted is as a gimmick creating a short and unsustainable artificial demand for their product.
Jim commented:
Another reason why there are no jobs:
The market knows that the fiscal policies of this administration will ultimately raise taxes on everyone. If things don’t change quickly, people will have less disposable income not more.
Less disposable income means less consumer spending on goods and services.
Alana commented:
I kind of like the turtle one.
Jerry M commented:
This bill was never intended to stimulate anything. It was nothing more than a giant slush fund handed to Obama to line the pockets of his supporters and core Democrat constituencies and to fund his socialist agenda. It was sold as the urgent spending that was needed to stop unemployment from going above 8% and that it would add 3.5 million jobs. Instead there has been a net loss of over 6 million jobs (the ones that were not created plus the ones actually lost). Biden admitted today that the spending was structured so that any job creation that would occur would be during the months ahead probably with the 2010 election in mind. Listening to these two buffoons, Obama and Biden, bold face lie to the American public today about the success of the “stimulus” bill was pathetic and disgusting. The country is not only suffering a real cost with these two clowns in office, it is also suffering the opportunity cost of what might have been had a competent President been elected. We are being set back at least a generation if not more.
Hedgehog commented:
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Don’t forget that about 2/3 of the “Stimulus” money has not actually been spent. As the election approaches, the funds will flow to all the places where the most crucial votes need to be purchased. This crook is running us into debt so that he can consolidate power.
Militant Conservative commented:
we’re screwed till we get them out of power and reduce the size and scope of the fed. Notice I did not say anything about who ran the show?
leg commented:
I’m with Alana on the turtles thing. Dang nice of the government to direct turtles down a single alley. My prediction: Turtle smorgasbord for the predators!