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I could understand the outrage. But correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't it the Governor of that state and their office who is ultimately responsible for where the funds are disbursts once the White House release these funds to their states?
Not necessarily. US Dept of Transportation was granted 48 billion for transportation projects, and while they worked closely with state departments of transportation, the ultimate decision on where to spend the money came with a heavy hand from the government. Why? So that pork projects weren't funded by and for the well-connected.
Also, most funds handed directly to the states came with conditions, such as hiring for police, teachers, or covering budget gaps. Therefore, it would seem that any pork projects that were funded were either sanctioned by the federal government or someone was terribly asleep at the wheel.
Not sure...I thought it was a legitimate question.
Damn those dishonest governors. I guess they aren't elected, either are they? The whole thing was one huge hog (pork) from the beginning and wasn't to be used on anything but shovel ready jobs. Surely that pertains to construction and not already established businesses like bars and cafes.
I thought it very funny to see the governor of Mass. getting the heat because he wanted to do something that would help the fans of the Patriots 8 times per year. At least the people would have got something out of that although the owner of the parking lots would have benefited most.
You are so right about what happens to the funds after they are handed to the states but why has Joe Biden allowed these things to happen to that money? I think the answer has to do with politics and nothing else.
Aren't we talking about the National Foundation of the Arts who got $25,000 for puppet theaters for children? That's not a major amount of money to get your panties in a bunch over. I'll bet even children of neo-cons enjoy and attend stuff like that. It did create jobs in the arts, by the way.
Is there a chance that the NEA that Glenn Beck goes on about be involved in any of that crap? If so it is very obvious why someone might see just a little bit of corruption involved.
Mossomo: I understand your concern but the stimulus was set up so that non-profits and government agencies would be in the first wave to get stimulus money because they'd take less vetting than private sector projects. The next wave of stimulus money hasn't been spent yet and will target a different sector. The jobs in manufacturing are suppose to kick in in January. We shall all see if that happens as projected, or not. It's a little too early to label the stimulus a failure.
But Our President said the first money would go to shovel ready projects which sounded like projects that were already planned for road building, bridge building, building improvements on government buildings and like that. He said it so many times that I nearly gagged every time he said shovel ready since I could see people who would be working with or without that money getting all the wages.
Then it turned out that those weren't the projects he was talking about. I wonder why it is that the crisis was in 2009 and all the spending was to take place in the election year of 2010. I smell a rat here, someplace.
How do the taxpayers benefit from money spent on a martini bar unless they happen to frequent the bar? Just asking.
I don't know anything about the martini bar other than it was in some cities' revitalization area. So I'll withhold judgment for more details. But if you want to know one thing I think was a waste of stimulus money it was the $389,357 spent for people to keep journals of their malt liquor and marijuana use. What state official approved that? And why do they want the information? With over 50,000 projects approved, a few flaky things are bound to slip through, I guess.
But Our President said the first money would go to shovel ready projects which sounded like projects that were already planned for road building, bridge building, building improvements on government buildings and like that. He said it so many times that I nearly gagged every time he said shovel ready since I could see people who would be working with or without that money getting all the wages.
You should have come to Michigan if you wanted to see road and bridge construction last summer. We had so much going on in my area that it was like driving in a crazy maze trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B with all the detours.
I don't know anything about the martini bar other than it was in some cities' revitalization area. So I'll withhold judgment for more details. But if you want to know one thing I think was a waste of stimulus money it was the $389,357 spent for people to keep journals of their malt liquor and marijuana use. What state official approved that? And why do they want the information? With over 50,000 projects approved, a few flaky things are bound to slip through, I guess.
At least a few will slip through. I think that few has been way too many but I never did like that piece of pork that Dems called Stimulus because it just wasn't aimed at recovery but it sure was aimed at and did a great job of supplying more pork for the winning of votes, if some enterprising person failed to study what was going on.
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