Bait & Switch? Shovel Ready Stimulus Dollars Not Evident in “Shovel” Related Employment Figures
Rush pointed out today that while the hype was about stimulus dollars going to shovel ready jobs, much of the money went instead to budget deficits of states and municipalities, as evidenced in part by an unemployment rate in the construction industry of 22.7%.
Never to be outdone in Rhode Island, we went them one better: we used the money to plug some budget holes AND we jacked overall spending by 12%, very little of which went to “shovel” projects.
There would be little justification, stimulus or fiscal, for most of the stimulus spending anyway. That it was advertised as targeted to one thing and ended up elsewhere adds an unnecessary level of dishonesty and mistrust.
Yeah, I noticed that too. In my town, a position was added to the school system and is being paid with stimulus money. When I asked my school committee about it, they said it’ll be good to have the position and then next year, when it’s no longer federally funded, they’ll re-evaluate the need vs. cost. Yeah, right. Want to bet it’ll still be needed??
Yeah, Patrick. If I had $100 for every government position that was eliminated, I’d be broke!
You’ll quickly lose this left-of-the-far-right reader if you keep citing Rush as a source. Indeed, as advertised, about 4% of the stimulus went to state budget stabilization.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/factsheet/stabilization-fund.html
Saving jobs can be legitimately construed as expansionary. (And remember that the spending was coupled with hundreds of billions in tax cuts.)
BigFatIdiot
Citing Rush isn’t all bad. He is what he is, and everyone knows it. Still, a stopped clock is right twice a day, and sometimes Rush gets it precisely right.
As with the Drudge Report, he attracts sources that would not expect to be heard by the MSM.
If you want to read an “edgy” commentator, try this one:
http://fredoneverything.net/FOE_Frame_Column.htm
BFI, it might help your own credibility if you addressed the facts rather than Rush as the source. In fact, over years of listening I find him to be very accurate on both facts and analysis.
I take it, from your characterization of yourself, that you believe “far right” equates to some sort of fascism?
The correct way to view the political spectrum is not “left-right”, but “Statism-Anarchy”. In the Statist positions of Progressivism, socialism, communism and fascism, the government is superior to the people, and the people dependent on the government. In Anarchy there is no government. The American Constitutional system is about 1/3 away from Anarchy, and 2/3 away from tyranny. The agenda of our federal government today is about 90% tyranny.
There will be a quiz on this tomorrow.