Why the stimulus is failing.
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The stimulus package was probably the lesser of evils but I believe that the President was trying to do something to better our situation. It is kind of like tossing a box of band-aids on an amputated leg. The stimulus could have worked if the money was used to actually create the employment that it was designed to do.
Here is why it won't work:
The county I live in received 1.9 million dollars for it's weatherization program. I went to apply for a job there. I talked with the man for almost an hour. He informed me that they were only hiring one person. He told me that he bought 3 new trucks and many new tools. A few of the new tools were stacked in his office.
He told me that they needed new equipment because the old stuff was just worn out from using it for so many years. I understood the need for the trucks and the tools but didn't quite see how those things and adding one employeee added up to 1.9 million dollars.
I gave it some thought and maybe the entire budget for the department was 1.9 million dollars. I am sure that they won't get 1.9 million dollars for next year's budget, therefore the employee they hired and likely a few more will be laid off next year. They will have lots of new stuff but no money do do the work.
How many small government entities got money and went on a spending spree with the stimulus money? How many thought,"Screw creating jobs...we need new stuff!" How many itty bitty government entities got their hands on the money and gave out contracts to buddies instead of taking bids. Their buddies in return give them a few perks....like major, major discounts on services or goods.
We can't save this country with the "Business as Usual" approach! The Federal Government throws money at these-what I call- "Double Headed Snakes", and the money is consumed in favors of greed and corruption. "Nobody does anything about it because almost everybody is doing it", is what I've heard many times.
Now....I just read the other day that Ohio is spending 57 million dollars of their stimulus money to study the repairs needed to our highway system. I stared at that number for quite a while. I thought,"Hmmm...57 million bucks could create quite a few $30,000 dollar a year jobs...couldn't it?"
Who are we paying 57 million dollars to do this study? Are the Rolling Stones touring with them? Does our Governor partly own a Highway Research business? He just transferred 600 million dollars of the smoker's taxes to the general fund. I guess they were getting low on $20,000 dollar bottles of vintage wine for legislator parties? That money was supposed to be earmarked to help smokers quit and curb teen smoking.
We are in a SHIT load of trouble folks and the only way out is to enforce accountability. We keep letting politicians and big business swap our way of life to retain or enhance theirs! It will remain hopeless for us until we demand that every cent be accounted for and published in the local papers. If we don't stop them now....our grandchildren will be living in rag tents and working 16 hour days for a meal.
The company I use to work for closed down because of lack of available work. Our customers simply stopped ordering work and some of our customers shut down or moved out of the country. One of my duties as the maintenance man was to replace worn flags. The last flag I replaced was in front of the shop. It was torn badly from high winds that came overnight.
I took the old flag down and saw how the wind had ripped it across the stripes and all the way into the field of stars. I folded the flag and put it in the shop on a shelf. A Korean Veteran would pick up the torn flags from time to time. He would dispose of them properly.
A picture of that old torn flag comes to my mind as I write this hub. Our country is worn and has been ripped apart by the winds of greed. God help us. God bless America...please.
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Comments
Yeah, all they would need to do a study of the roads is take a public poll on the radio stations. And maybe offer an entry into a drawing for a $500 gas card. People would be contributing to that like crazy. WHO PLANS THESE THINGS?!!! Then they could send the rest of the money to Florida to help with all the education cuts they just made.
Another example of government-business insanity and corruption:
One of my sons is a realtor. After months of work, he worked out a short sale for a client that would have netted $123,000 to the lender. In fact, there were four offers at that level. Today, the lender rejected those offers and sent the house to foreclosure auction tomorrow where that lender will be seeking $93,000. When my son pressed the representative for an explanation of this utterly illogical behavior, the rep said he did it because he "felt like it". This is the stuff Obama needs to know about and will never be told by the people around him. The only explanation I can come up with is that somebody is slipping money under the table to the rep or the lender to reject these short sales so the briber can get the house at $93K and then seek out those offers at $123K. Some would call that good business; I call it criminal. If it's not illegal, it should be. Why isn't that behavior regulated? I guess because our leaders have decided that our foreign aid program, where we sent billions of dollars of goods to countries that never got to the people past the bureaucrats, was such a winner that we need to emulate it here at home.
This is an incredible hub. You've made the point better than I've ever heard, Tom. It is inconceivable, what is going on right before our very eyes, and with no way to do anything about it. It's more than painful to think about.
The president is trying to dig us out of this hole. Unfortunately he cannot control the greed of the whole country. The atmosphere of grab-what-you-can was the hallmark of the previous administration and it is still around. I agree there has to be a better way than spending money but no one has come up with it yet. I know in Maryland a lot of teachers had their jobs saved because of the stimuluspackage.
Thumbs up and I have a skinny, long thumb, so it makes an impact. I am so so so sorry to read about the greed of those receiving stimulus money. I keep wondering to whom you should forward this profound and sad Hub. By the way, the bandaid metaphor will stick with me for a long time :).
Very well said. You are so correct!
dori
Good hub,
The purchasing of the tools did help some other person keep his job at the factory where they are made, so it may be helping some there.
But I do not believe in barrowing money to bail us out. The problem came from over barrowed, so how can over barrowing get us out of this problem.
Keep on Hubbing!
I wholeheartedly agree, "business as usual" is killing our country. Pretty soon we're going to be right back where we started - If the "people" would ever wake up from American Idol and realize what's going on - there would be hell to pay. But they won't - they've gotten to used to it happening to "someone else".
I could write all nite and agree with you - but will leave it at:
Helluva fine job!
There was a time I considered starting a megacorporation, so I could buff out all these people and become monopolistic, owning 51% of the stock in my company. Could've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for my meddling conscience. See, it's so easy to become monopolistic... line the right peoples' pockets with gold, and your business' sanctity is guaranteed. I am a big free market buff. A freedom buff period. But sometimes, a line needs to be drawn. I was thinking that if I showed the world how easy it is for the corrupt to succeed in life, they'd do something about it. But I decided not to be the anti-christ, even if it would've been the courteous thing to take the burden off someone else's shoulders. Nonetheless... my incomprehensible rambling aside, I look forward to chaos. Then we can get something done, when the big boys don't know what to expect. I don't care how rich or blue-blooded someone is... everyone runs like a little girl when chased by an angry mob.
So true, Tom. I hope somebody wakes up soon, takes offense, and puts an end to the corruption. Excellent example you shared there. Pisses a guy off!
Many thanks to all for commenting. I believe that if we all did a little research of our local and state governments, we would be astonished at what we find. Money holds hands with money and we are left out in the cold. We have to stop the abuse and incompetence in the system....we have to. Thanks again so much!
Wonderful hub Tom and also very scary. You have in very few words outlined why continuing to throw money down a gaping and endless pothole will never work to actually fill that pothole. And the mess this country is in is much larger than a pothole!
Publishing the expenditures in the newspaper and elsewhere (Internet) just might help to keep people honest. Also getting competitive bids and publishing those results (and reasons, if not choosing the least expensive) would also keep people on their toes, as to the honesty factor.
This promised "transparency" in government............where is it????????
Yes......some teachers and police officers got to keep their jobs and that is good. But the idea of this MONUMENTAL stimulus package was to free up money for lending, and to create more jobs.
If I was a teacher and had to give a score to the stimulus package, it would (unfortunately) have to be a "F".........failing grade.
As to giving it more time to work.........do we have a choice? Let's not keep throwing more good money after bad! The country cannot afford it and ultimately survive.
Future generations are the ones who get to pay these monumental IOU's to foreign entities who will be the landlords over our own country the way this is going.
Amen!
@peggy- we may not even get to look at that ripped flag when that happens.
You made some great points Peggy....where is the money really going? The bottomless pot hole is breaking us all.
You are correct in your analysis and it makes me sad to think we live in a great nation that can't do the simplest of things. I'm afraid it is a condemnation of how we have come to do business over the past few hundred years. Ineptitude has taken the place of innovation and doing what is best for everyone, not just a few.
I work in the unemployment office and I see every day examples of people suffering because their job of 20, 30 and even 40 years has gone away - the company closed its doors and won't open them ever again.
We have people living on the streets because they can't get a place with a roof over their heads. People wait outside Walmart to take boxes to live in. They wait outside fast-food restaurants for gobble up a few left-over fries and uneaten bites of burgers. It's a sad day in America!
Chef Jeff...Thanks for your comment. It is a sad day in America and I think it will get far worse. Not necessarily because the president will fail but because the government has failed to hold the traitors accountable for obvious self incriminating reasons.
I hope and pray that things will improve but when a horse has three broken legs....it aint gonna get back up.
Thanks again.
Gypsy Willow says:
5 months ago
We are in a cart load of very stinky manure and I don't see a way out . Money being spent unwisely is not the answer. We are paying for a lot of past mistakes like buying everything made in China. Chickens coming home to roost. Good, sad hub.