Where Did the Stimulus Go?

A very interesting piece on the whole stymulus situation...

Where Did the Stimulus Go?

During the recent recession, the U.S. Congress passed two large economic stimulus programs. President Bush’s February 2008 program totaled $152 billion. President Obama’s bill, enacted a year later, was considerably larger at $862 billion. Neither worked. After more than three years since the crisis flared up, unemployment is still very high and economic growth is weak...

In the 2008 stimulus, the U.S. Treasury began issuing one-time payments to households in the spring. This temporary boost in income was designed to jump-start personal consumption of goods and services and thereby increase production and jobs at the firms that produce those goods and services. It didn’t work...

This should not have surprised anyone. Long ago, the Nobel Prize–winning economists Milton Friedman and Franco Modigliani explained that individuals do not increase consumption much when their income increases temporarily. Instead, they save most of the funds or use the money to pay back some of their outstanding debts...

Despite the large size of the 2009 act, the change in federal-government purchases it has generated has been remarkably small. Thus far, such purchases have increased by $20 billion, or only 3 percent of the $862 billion spent. Of that $20 billion, only $4 billion has been devoted to infrastructure projects. Compared to GDP, the expenditures are even smaller. Federal infrastructure spending due to the 2009 act was only .04 percent of GDP in the most recent quarter. The stimulus money went elsewhere...

Federal grants, which began to flow in the first quarter of 2009, dampened the initial revenue decline and then caused total revenues to grow. By the third quarter of 2010, state- and local-government revenue,s including the act grants, were 10 percent higher than they had been in the fourth quarter of 2008.

And what of state- and local-government purchases? Well, they declined with the initial reduction in revenues—and despite the addition of those $170 billion in ARRA grants, remained at this lower level throughout...

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To sum up: the federal government borrowed funds that it mainly sent to households and to state and local governments. Only an immaterial amount was used for federal purchases of goods and services. The borrowed funds were mainly used by households and state and local governments to reduce their own borrowing. In effect, the increased net borrowing at the federal level was matched by reduced net borrowing by households and state and local governments.

So there was little if any net stimulus. The irony is that basic economic theory and practical experience predicted this would happen. If policymakers had only remembered what Milton Friedman, Franco Modigliani, and Ned Gramlich had said, we might have avoided these two extremely costly policy failures.

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The borrowed funds were mainly used by households and state and local governments to reduce their own borrowing. In effect, the increased net borrowing at the federal level was matched by reduced net borrowing by households and state and local governments.

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Reduced net borrowing by households is not necessarily a bad thing. Think of a person with a certain amount of debt, who plans to pay off at least $X of that debt before he spends his income on anything discretionary. Well, a stimulus from the government will get him closer to paying off that debt, and therefore closer to being able to spend his money on something else.

I agree that the result from state/local governments was very bad...but I fail to see how that's an argument against the stimulus. As the article acknowledges,

So there was little if any net stimulus.

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Exactly. It's not so much that the stimulus "didn't work," as the article claims earlier...it's just that there wasn't any net stimulus to speak of. The federal government did the right thing in trying to stave off depression by pumping money into the economy. But the states and local governments adopted drastic austerity measures (either by choice or by necessity) that counteracted it.

Kandahar said:

Reduced net borrowing by households is not necessarily a bad thing. Think of a person with a certain amount of debt, who plans to pay off at least $X of that debt before he spends his income on anything discretionary. Well, a stimulus from the government will get him closer to paying off that debt, and therefore closer to being able to spend his money on something else.

I agree that the result from state/local governments was very bad...but I fail to see how that's an argument against the stimulus. As the article acknowledges,



Exactly. It's not so much that the stimulus "didn't work," as the article claims earlier...it's just that there wasn't any net stimulus to speak of. The federal government did the right thing in trying to stave off depression by pumping money into the economy. But the states and local governments adopted drastic austerity measures (either by choice or by necessity) that counteracted it.

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They spent the money on things like, the study og cocaine habits in monkies and trips to China to study dinosaur eggs and a study of Alaskan grandparents.

There's plenty of argument against the stimulus.

It was only named "the stimulus" so that we American people would fall for the idea of the government bailing out banks, former wealthy corporations, and the idiots on Wall Street.

We did get to dodge a sure depression bullet that would have happened if the too big to fail institutions would have gone down. Other than that, it benefited the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. That happens a lot.

Mickey Shane said:

It was only named "the stimulus" so that we American people would fall for the idea of the government bailing out banks, former wealthy corporations, and the idiots on Wall Street.

We did get to dodge a sure depression bullet that would have happened if the too big to fail institutions would have gone down. Other than that, it benefited the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. That happens a lot.

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You're talking about TARP, not the porkulus package.

apdst said:

They spent the money on things like, the study og cocaine habits in monkies and trips to China to study dinosaur eggs and a study of Alaskan grandparents.

There's plenty of argument against the stimulus.

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No, they spent money on various universities, some of whom allocated money to research departments, some of which elected to research things you don't personally understand the benefit of.

The fruit fly research is my personal favorite. Over and over and over the fruit fly thing was brought up by conservatives, because it sounds dumb, right? Mating fruit flies for research? What the hell?
Fruit flies are fast breeders, have a very steady life cycle, and are fairly homogenous. They're awesome for research.

Deuce said:

No, they spent money on various universities, some of whom allocated money to research departments, some of which elected to research things you don't personally understand the benefit of.

The fruit fly research is my personal favorite. Over and over and over the fruit fly thing was brought up by conservatives, because it sounds dumb, right? Mating fruit flies for research? What the hell?
Fruit flies are fast breeders, have a very steady life cycle, and are fairly homogenous. They're awesome for research.

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You're not making a very good argument against the contention that the stealfromus money wasn't flushed down the toilet.

Deuce said:

No, they spent money on various universities, some of whom allocated money to research departments, some of which elected to research things you don't personally understand the benefit of.

The fruit fly research is my personal favorite. Over and over and over the fruit fly thing was brought up by conservatives, because it sounds dumb, right? Mating fruit flies for research? What the hell?
Fruit flies are fast breeders, have a very steady life cycle, and are fairly homogenous. They're awesome for research.

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I thought PORKULUS was a "Jobs Bill".........an "economic stimulus".....

........while we can all sleep easier knowing Fruit Fly Research is underway........I dont think it justifies stealing from our Grandchildren's grandchildren.
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Badmutha said:

........while we can all sleep easier knowing Fruit Fly Research is underway........I dont think it justifies stealing from our Grandchildren's grandchildren.

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Some of the benefits of fruit fly research

ThinkProgress » Memo To Palin: Fruit Fly Research Has Led To Advances In Understanding Autism

A review and impact assessment of ACIAR

Office of Science Education - Animals In Research - Amazing Facts - Tiny Fruit Flies Yield Huge Benefits

The Fly's Advantages

Drosophila melanogaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fruit Fly Research Set To Revolutionize Study Of Birth Defects

Fruit fly research flies in the face of political criticism; UNC researchers explain the value of drosophila - Psychiatry & Mental Health Videos - The Doctor's Channel

Basic research leads to innovations that bring a better life to our grandchildren's grandchildren.

satandog said:

Some of the benefits of fruit fly research

ThinkProgress » Memo To Palin: Fruit Fly Research Has Led To Advances In Understanding Autism

A review and impact assessment of ACIAR

Office of Science Education - Animals In Research - Amazing Facts - Tiny Fruit Flies Yield Huge Benefits

The Fly's Advantages

Drosophila melanogaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fruit Fly Research Set To Revolutionize Study Of Birth Defects

Fruit fly research flies in the face of political criticism; UNC researchers explain the value of drosophila - Psychiatry & Mental Health Videos - The Doctor's Channel

Basic research leads to innovations that bring a better life to our grandchildren's grandchildren.

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Yes thats wonderful........except PORKULUS was touted as a "Jobs Bills".......as an "Economic Stimulus".......not the "Inovations for a better life for our Bankrupt Grandchildren" Bill.........

After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up | Susan Ferrechio | Politics | Washington Examiner

- $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

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.....perhaps our Bankrupt grandchildren will appreciate the benefits of Fruit Fly Research or the importance of locating radioactive rabbit droppings......

.......from the soup lines......
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Badmutha said:

perhaps our Bankrupt grandchildren will appreciate the benefits of Fruit Fly Research or the importance of locating radioactive rabbit droppings......

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I was responding directly to your issue with fruit fly research and provided facts that support the benefit of this research. Including research studying birth defects and autism.

As to your copy and paste list of stimulus projects I did a little research on them just starting at the top of the list. If you read this you may find that there is more to the story than a list of bullet points.

• $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.

Radioactive Rabbit Droppings Help Spur Nuclear Cleanup

The goal was to pinpoint soils contaminated with harmful radioactive materials that had been spread far a field within the complex by animals and the wind.
The tainted soils are to be removed in an effort to stop the waste from leaching into the local water supply, where it could cause cancer in humans.

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• $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

Stimulus money will help build E. Valley baseball complex

The tribe applied for the $30 million through a $1 billion stimulus-bond program that is part of the federal recovery plan.
"It's not free money," said Anthony Farese, the community's treasurer. "It isn't a grant."

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• $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.

Critics slam Microsoft bridge as waste of stimulus money - CNN

"It's going create just under 400 jobs for 18 months constructing the bridge," says Redmond Mayor John Marchione. "It's also connecting our technical sector with our retail and commercial sectors so people can cross the freeway to shop and help traffic flow."

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• $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.

Rural bridges targeted - JSOnline

The cash flowed to the chosen projects based largely on timing.
The 37 bridges that got funding have met all the requirements needed to start the flow of cash from federal coffers.
More than 1,200 other bridges deemed deficient have not met those funding requirements. And the goal of the program is to create construction jobs quickly.

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• $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.

John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport: About the Airport/History

A study by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Aviation calculated the annual economic benefits to the region, stemming from the airport, and result in over 1200 jobs, an annual payroll of $23 million and an annual economic output over $217 million.

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• $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

PolitiFact | McConnell claims stimulus includes $219,000 to study the sex lives of female college freshmen

The two-year survey will track health-related behaviors such as tobacco use, alcohol use, exercise and physical activity, sleep and sexual behavior as well as psychosomatic and mental health symptoms. The findings will be used "to inform parents, educators, medical and public health professionals, and to guide the development of more effective health promotion and disease prevention programs."

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• $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.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...ountid=AC0107071613143204025&s_upgradeable=no

That U.S. Forest Service facility in Ansonia might not seem too economically stimulating, but it does have an important job in studying invasive pests that can kill millions of trees if they aren't stopped.

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Also - many of the items that are in the list you pasted are not even in the stimulus, as indicated here. Though you may discount the source.

10 Recovery Act Myths | The White House

Recovery.gov - Tracking the Money

Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic Recovery Spending

satandog said:

• $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

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They don't need to spend $219,000 for that. If they hire me, I'll study the subject for free. :mrgreen:

satandog said:

I was responding directly to your issue with fruit fly research and provided facts that support the benefit of this research. Including research studying birth defects and autism.

As to your copy and paste list of stimulus projects I did a little research on them just starting at the top of the list. If you read this you may find that there is more to the story than a list of bullet points.

• $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.

Radioactive Rabbit Droppings Help Spur Nuclear Cleanup



• $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

Stimulus money will help build E. Valley baseball complex



• $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.

Critics slam Microsoft bridge as waste of stimulus money - CNN



• $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.

Rural bridges targeted - JSOnline



• $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.

John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport: About the Airport/History



• $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

PolitiFact | McConnell claims stimulus includes $219,000 to study the sex lives of female college freshmen



• $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.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...ountid=AC0107071613143204025&s_upgradeable=no



Also - many of the items that are in the list you pasted are not even in the stimulus, as indicated here. Though you may discount the source.

10 Recovery Act Myths | The White House

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So which source wasnt ultimately the Whitehouse?

Lay out any justification you wish, if you feel its worthy of stealing from our Grandchildren's grandchildren......so be it.

Just remember.......the very people who have written said justifications.........are the very same people that promised you this..........




....and delivered.......


Unemployment Rate since Obama's "Stimulus/Jobs Bill"


The Largest Spending Bill/Failure in World History........
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Kandahar said:

They don't need to spend $219,000 for that. If they hire me, I'll study the subject for free. :mrgreen:

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need an assistant?

Badmutha said:

So which source wasnt ultimately the Whitehouse?

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None of those sources, except the last one, are the White House. Did you look at any of them? They explain exactly who is asking for the money and for what. There are direct quotes from people involved in these projects.

Real people asked for the stimulus money and real people are getting it. Money that is being spent to buy things and pay salaries. Well at least the 257 billion going to contracts, grants, and loans.

Lay out any justification you wish, if you feel its worthy of stealing from our Grandchildren's grandchildren......so be it.

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Current economic activity drives future economic activity.

You have to spend money to make money. Sad but true.

Just remember.......the very people who have written said justifications.........are the very same people that promised you this..........

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I do not feel that a missed forecast equates to

The Largest Spending Bill/Failure in World History........

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The CBO published a report on the impact of the stimulus.

Congressional Budget Office - Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output From July 2010 Through September 2010

Page 3 of the pdf has a table indicating their estimated impact by calendar quarters and years for a number of metrics.

If you don't like this source I am not sure what to tell you.

"Where did the stimulus go?"

"A new study released by two leading economist claims to prove that the Bush enacted "bailout" of Wall Street, along with the Obama Stimulus package have prevented the United States from entering into a second Great Depression.

Alan S. Blinder, a Princeton professor and former vice chairman of the Fed, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics say that without the bailout, known as the TARP program, and the Stimulus package, the gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year.
Their study also finds that there would be 8.5 million fewer jobs, in addition to the 8 million jobs already lost, and we would be suffering from deflation rather than the mild inflation we are currently experiencing."


Continue reading on Examiner.com: Economic Study: Bailout and Stimulus prevented 2nd depression - Dallas County Political Buzz | Examiner.com Economic Study: Bailout and Stimulus prevented 2nd depression - Dallas County Political Buzz | Examiner.com

satandog said:

None of those sources, except the last one, are the White House. Did you look at any of them? They explain exactly who is asking for the money and for what. There are direct quotes from people involved in these projects.

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So the people receiving billions of We The People's money.........assured us that their cause is just......

Real people asked for the stimulus money and real people are getting it. Money that is being spent to buy things and pay salaries. Well at least the 257 billion going to contracts, grants, and loans.

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Spent to buy thing for and pay the bloated salaries of........ the public sector. Granted we want the parasite to be well cared for.........but shouldnt the host organism be our first concern?

Current economic activity drives future economic activity.

You have to spend money to make money. Sad but true.

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And if MASSIVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING actually stimulated an economy.........if it actually created prosperity and wealth.........

...........we should all be millionaires and the USSR should have been the beacon of prosperity in the world.

I do not feel that a missed forecast equates to

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I do not feel the American Public would have supported a "Stimulus" program that contended it would raise the unemployment rate to around 10%.....and keep it there. So Obama and Democrats lied......arent you used to it.

The CBO published a report on the impact of the stimulus.

Congressional Budget Office - Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output From July 2010 Through September 2010

Page 3 of the pdf has a table indicating their estimated impact by calendar quarters and years for a number of metrics.

If you don't like this source I am not sure what to tell you.

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The same goes for ObamaCare........The CBO makes its estimates based on the information provided to them. In the case of PORKULUS.....

.........if Government spends (Y).........it will create (X) number of jobs.......computer models never lie.
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Spent to buy thing for and pay the bloated salaries of........ the public sector. Granted we want the parasite to be well cared for.........but shouldnt the host organism be our first concern?

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Here are some private sector employees funded by the stimulus.

'Stimulus got me my job' - 'It's keeping me employed' (1) - CNNMoney.com

And if MASSIVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING actually stimulated an economy.........if it actually created prosperity and wealth.........

...........we should all be millionaires and the USSR should have been the beacon of prosperity in the world.

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Here is a chart of US GDP from 1960 to 2009, up 2,592%. Our current GDP is 14 trillion. Almost 3 times second place Japan, at 5 trillion, and third place China, slightly less than 5 trillion.

World Bank, World Development Indicators - Google public data

For all of our issues this is still a great country and full of opportunity.

Badmutha said:

So which source wasnt ultimately the Whitehouse?

Lay out any justification you wish, if you feel its worthy of stealing from our Grandchildren's grandchildren......so be it.

Just remember.......the very people who have written said justifications.........are the very same people that promised you this..........

....and delivered.......


Unemployment Rate since Obama's "Stimulus/Jobs Bill"

The Largest Spending Bill/Failure in World History........

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Do you know what a projection is? Hint: it's not a promise.

satandog said:

Here are some private sector employees funded by the stimulus.

'Stimulus got me my job' - 'It's keeping me employed' (1) - CNNMoney.com

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As the ONE worker in the article states......"It's still stimulus funded and it's keeping me employed"

.........so what happens to the millions of "jobs" created by PORKULUS the very moment stimulus funding runs out? Was it a Jobs Bill or a Postponed Unemployment bill?

Here is a chart of US GDP from 1960 to 2009, up 2,592%. Our current GDP is 14 trillion. Almost 3 times second place Japan, at 5 trillion, and third place China, slightly less than 5 trillion.

World Bank, World Development Indicators - Google public data

For all of our issues this is still a great country and full of opportunity.

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Imagine how great this country would be without a government spending us into bankruptcy....oblivion....and beyond.
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It went like... up in smoke mahn. Totally wasted mahn.


Chong: Like hey mahn... look, the dude in the avatar that funded our stash... he's the same color as us mahn. Musta been smokin the same skunk as us mahn. He looks pissed though mahn... musta had a rough high man.

Cheech: Hey man, what's that propeller thing on his head man? Is it to keep his head cool or what man? Maybe to keep the smoke from goin in his eyes man. Cool **** man, I need one of those too man. Might save me from buy'in so much Visine man.

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It went to Friends of Barack didn't it?

Kandahar said:

Reduced net borrowing by households is not necessarily a bad thing. Think of a person with a certain amount of debt, who plans to pay off at least $X of that debt before he spends his income on anything discretionary. Well, a stimulus from the government will get him closer to paying off that debt, and therefore closer to being able to spend his money on something else.

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Isn't that effectively saying the debt was transferred from the individual who incurred it in the first place to al the rest of us when the Government borrowed money to give it to this person to pay their personal debt? In my business we stamp invoices with the note: "Credit Card payment accepted at time of purchase only." In other words if you buy from us with a Purchase Order - then you have to pay us, not transfer that obligation to the credit card company after the fact.

I don't know about you, but I do not borrow to pay another's debt

This post caught my eye. Here are my extensive comments:

Badmutha said:

- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.

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No doubt someone is to be employed to fly the helicopter, so that's at least one job.

Badmutha said:

- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

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Which no doubt employed a few people to build...

Badmutha said:

- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.

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Which again, clearly employed a few people.

Badmutha said:

- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.

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Ditto.

Badmutha said:

- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.

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Does it not occur to people that perhaps there are plans to increase traffic there? Again, surely we didn't just throw the money on the ground and a runway popped right up...

Badmutha said:

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

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This probably involved interviews and distributing surveys...which means most of the money probably went to employ people.

Badmutha said:

- $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.

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Long term employment for at least a few people.

Badmutha said:

- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.

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Did the tunnel just build itself? Surely not...

Badmutha said:

- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.

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If this is the project I'm thinking of, I know the contractor who got this job. He was able to keep 15 people employed who he otherwise would have had to let go because of this contract. And though the lake bed is dry, there's a steep drop-off near the road. That's what the guardrail was built for.

Badmutha said:

- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.

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It didn't renovate itself. And now it's in use. Given the cost of shipping long distances via semi trailer, we need to be rehabilitating our rail system.

Badmutha said:

- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.

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Out of 862 billion dollars, that's a pretty small level of error...

Badmutha said:

- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.

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Which must surely employ at least a few people...

Badmutha said:

- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.

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Did they weatherize themselves, or did a few people get paid to do it?

Badmutha said:

- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.

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Is this reporter unaware of the facts of life? If you want fish, you'll need fish sperm. And again, I imagine that it needs employed people to run it.

Badmutha said:

- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.

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Employed at least one vet and a few assistants.

Badmutha said:

- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.

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Given that the alternative would be having this dumbass reporter claiming that the stimulus money wasn't being used for anything, this seems like a fair thing. And again, surely people were paid to make, ship, and place those signs...

Badmutha said:

- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.

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Now this one, I disagree with. A lot more people need to kill themselves. I have a long list of suggestions about who if you're interested...

Badmutha said:

- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.

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I happen to know that this study was conducted by robots who are made and serviced by other robots...

Badmutha said:

- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.

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Robots, again...

Badmutha said:

- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.

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Does the reporter think this was accomplished by robots also (gay decorator robots, perhaps)?

Badmutha said:

- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.

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Potentially saving significant health care costs that would otherwise come out of the taxpayer pocket...and again, surely it took paying some people to accomplish the study.

Badmutha said:

- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri

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Again, people paid to do this. And, it should moderately increase traffic to the National Forest over the long term, which means a need for more park rangers and maintenance workers. When you build infrastructure, jobs are also created.

Badmutha said:

- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.

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But strangely, it will be a museum that employs absolutely no one at all...

Badmutha said:

- $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.

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Would you want to live in a world where there were no stories or music? Seriously? And people have to be paid to make them. Even baskets have a use, and people pay for them, and have to be paid to make them.

Badmutha said:

- $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.

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The more "viral" ways we can find to get people thinking about energy efficiency, the better.

Badmutha said:

- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles

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Staffed by robots and built by same...hopefully by now the point is obvious.

Now, since these are government funded, they automatically come under fire from conservatives. However, when private enterprise produces plastic pumpkins for getting halloween candy (because sacks weren't working well enough), imitation bull scrota for hanging off the back of your pickup truck, tuxedos in 17 different colors and styles for Ken and Barbie dolls, aerosol cheese spray in a holiday can, or, say, mortgage backed securities, those same conservatives make the points I just made: it employs people.