The Stimulus is Stimulating What Exactly?
The stimulus package was one of the biggest crises driven, pay-to-play politics schemes in the history of this nation. Our country already has an example of what works and what does not during a recession. We can look back at the Great Depression and see that FDR’s actions of more government control/intervention and spending didn’t even begin to work until we began WWII, ramping up production of military equipment for other countries who were overspent. Nothing that FDR did directly stimulated the economy and it took 8-9 years to get there. Reagan, on the other hand, who was elected during another time of tremendous economic turmoil cut taxes, cut the size of government, and curtailed spending until we were out of the inflationary recession. His actions even took time, but not as long as 9 years – more like 1-2. This is what I do not understand? Why do liberals think you can resolve your debt problems by spending more money that you don’t have – where is the common sense?
The same thing is bound to happen in this scenario once deflation runs its course. There will be inflation and there is still the very real possibility that it could be hyperinflation – maybe not as high of a chance but still feasible given the volatility. There are several estimates that the bond market is on the brink of imploding; if that happens it will take everything else down with it! Sorry to be a negative Nancy but take a look at the below video clip – this guy is very intelligent:
Of course the administration wants to sell their little (and by little I mean massive) piece of legislation to the public to make it appear as though it’s working and that they didn’t just pay off their cronies for last year’s campaign contributions, ensuring more votes the next election cycle. So the administration puts out a booklet marking the 100th day anniversary of the dreaded (to us fiscal conservatives) stimulus. He of course touts it as the best thing since sliced bread, so whatever is stated as fact in that booklet should be checked and double checked. Propaganda abounds in the Democrat party, that’s not to say that it doesn’t in the Republican party either, but I have not seen the likes of the indoctrination or the Pravda media campaign for the Dems since I was eligible to vote!
Without question the book lists many projects that are having an impact of one way or another on the economy.
But the first one of the projects featured in “100 Days, 100 Projects” doesn’t seem to withstand the scrutiny of its description.
The project is described by the Obama administration this way:
“Using $27 million of Recovery Act funding, a public housing development in Washington, D.C., the Regency House, has undergone a green retrofit. As part of this upgrade, the building installed solar panels, a ‘green’ roof, a rainwater collection system, energy-efficient lighting as well as water conserving toilets, showerheads, and faucets. The greening of this building will allow the Regency House to save money in energy costs, while lessening their impact on the environment.”
In reality, the work done on the Regency House that was funded by the stimulus package amounted to $59,000 in parts and labor, according to Dena Michaelson, director of public affairs for the Washington DC Housing Authority.
The $27 million is the total amount given by the stimulus act to the Washington DC Housing Authority, the vast majority of which hasn’t been spent.
In addition, though the White House’s “100 Days, 100 Projects” entry for the Regency House work lists “solar panels, a ‘green’ roof, a rainwater collection system, energy-efficient lighting as well as water conserving toilets, showerheads, and faucets” as what was done as “part of the upgrade,” the only parts funded by the stimulus were the solar panels, at a cost of $45,000, and the rainwater collection system, at a cost of $14,000.
The response of the White House to questions about the claim in the book evoked a critique of journalists.
Liz Oxhorn, Recovery Act Press Secretary, said in a statement that the Regency House work is “one of thousands of targeted investments we’re making nationwide to jumpstart new and ongoing energy efficiency renovations to public housing units and we only wish the same amount of time and energy that has gone into dissecting the structure of three sentences had gone into exploring the billions of dollars in new job-creating projects like this one now underway thanks to the Recovery Act.”
Michaelson said that installation of the solar panels necessitated 330 total man hours: 202 man hours for plumbers and helpers, 40 man hours for electricians, 50 man hours for welders, 30 man hours for superintendents, and eight man hours for a crane operator.
The booklet also mentions the “police academy graduates in Ohio” whose graduation ceremony President Obama attended in March, heralding how the stimulus enabled the city of Columbus to hire 25 cadets.
But this week Police Chief Walter Distelzweig told the Columbus Dispatch that unless residents approve a tax increase, those 25 cadets face the real possibility of layoffs.
And what good does the stimulus have on jobs if they are willing to, in the future, tear down other sectors of the economy like energy/coal production, the auto industry, the financials, health care, etc. Or what if they pass amnesty for 12 million illegal aliens in the fall – how much stimulus will we really have if we already have double digit unemployment, but we allow more in? There is something inherentlywrong with the logic of all of this.
