ANALYSIS: States Hit Hardest by Recession Get Least Stimulus Money (unemployment rate, highway)

[bentlebee]

The stimulus bill "includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis," President Obama promised when he signed the bill into law on Feb. 17. "As a whole, this plan will help poor and working Americans."

But FOXNews.com has analyzed data tracking how the stimulus money is being given out across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and it has found a perverse pattern: the states hardest hit by the recession received the least money. States with higher bankruptcy, foreclosure and unemployment rates got less money. And higher income states received more.
ANALYSIS: States Hit Hardest by Recession Get Least Stimulus Money - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

[delusianne]

"Breaking down the data by type of spending shows that money for infrastructure was much more likely than social spending to go to high-income states with low bankruptcy and foreclosure rates. Federal spending on construction and repairs to federal buildings as well as repairs to highways and public transit projects drives much of this perverse relationship between economic distress and infrastructure stimulus spending."

[DrJoey]

LMAO.

The plots in that "article" LOL

Honestly this is the first time I think I've blatantly laughed at foxnews reporting in my life in public and it is so deserved. I've meet 8 yr olds with a better comprehension of data analysis then what is passed off as journalism in this article.

This is honestly embarrassing.

[delusianne]

interesting site - not recovery.gov --

Recovery.org - For Taxpayers | Estimated Effect on Jobs (http://www.recovery.org/estimated_effect_on_jobs.aspx - broken link)

[delusianne]

This is dated April 2009:

One question is whether federal stimulus funds are
heading to those states best positioned to put the
money to good use right away.That is, have the funds
been allocated in a way that maximizes their potential
impact on national economic growth? This
Economic Letter addresses this question by comparing
the degree of economic need in different states with
each state’s expected share of ARRA funds. Such
an analysis is important in evaluating the likelihood
that stimulus money will be spent effectively.While
it is too early to tell whether the overall stimulus
package will have its intended effects, this review
suggests that, by and large, the distribution of federal
stimulus funds is indeed tilted toward those states most
likely to spend the funds quickly and effectively.
***
How are stimulus funds allocated to states?
The way in which ARRA funds will be distributed
to states differs for each component of the stimulus
package.

....read on; this was published early in the stimulus program but is well-detailed as to fundamentals.

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/ec.../el2009-14.pdf

[DrJoey]

Seriously? Thats the most embarrassing data analysis I've ever seen