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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (529816)	11/17/2009 1:13:58 PM
From: longnshort	3 Recommendations Respond to of 1574060

"The stimulus bill that Obama and the Dems passed through was 80% investment and 20% waste. Now you can spend all your time parsing the 20% and concluding it was a boondoggle, but when our Congress can get something 80% right, then that is success. Democracies rarely deliver anything greater than 50% right due to all the compromises." you are a blind ignorant partisan hack Exclusive: Jobs 'Saved or Created' in Congressional Districts That Don't Exist Human Error Blamed for Crediting New Stimulus Jobs to Nonexistent Places By JONATHAN KARL Nov. 16, 2009 Here's a stimulus success story: In Arizona's 15th congressional district, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. At least that's what the Web site set up by the Obama administration to track the $787 billion stimulus says. Share Discrepancies on government web site call into question stimulus spending. There's one problem, though: There is no 15th congressional district in Arizona; the state has only eight districts. And ABC News has found many more entries for projects like this in places that are incorrectly identified. Late Monday, officials with the Recovery Board created to track the stimulus spending, said the mistakes in crediting nonexistent congressional districts were caused by human error. "We report what the recipients submit to us," said Ed Pound, Communications Director for the Board. Pound told ABC News the board receives declarations from the recipients - state governments, federal agencies and universities - of stimulus money about what program is being funded. "Some recipients clearly don't know what congressional district they live in, so they appear to be just throwing in any number. We expected all along that recipients would make mistakes on their congressional districts, on jobs numbers, on award amounts, and so on. Human beings make mistakes," Pound said. The issue has raised hackles on Capitol Hill. Rep. David Obey, D-Wisc, who chairs the powerful House appropriations Committee, issued a paper statement demanding that the recovery.gov Web site be updated. "The inaccuracies on recovery.gov that have come to light are outrageous and the Administration owes itself, the Congress, and every American a commitment to work night and day to correct the ludicrous mistakes." Related Exclusive: Stimulus Job Count: Fuzzy Math? Exclusive: Obama Administration Strips 60K Phantom Jobs From Stimulus Report Recovery.gov: Where Are Stimulus Dollars Going? ABC News was able to locate several examples on the government's Web site outlining hundreds of millions of dollars spent and jobs created in Congressional districts that have been misidentified. For example, recovery.gov says $34 million in stimulus money has been spent in Arizona's 86th congressional district in a project for the Navajo Housing authority, which is actually located in the 1st congressional district. Click Here to Track the $787 Billion Stimulus Plan The reporting problems are not limited to Arizona, ABC News found. In Oklahoma, recovery.gov lists more than $19 million in spending -- and 15 jobs created -- in yet more congressional districts that don't exist. In Iowa, it shows $10.6 million spent – and 39 jobs created -- in nonexistent districts. In Connecticut's 42nd district (which also does not exist), the Web site claims 25 jobs created with zero stimulus dollars. The list of spending and job creation in fictional congressional districts extends to U.S. territories as well. $68.3 million spent and 72.2 million spent in the 1st congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands. $8.4 million spent and 40.3 jobs created in the 99th congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands. $1.5 million spent and .3 jobs created in the 69th district and $35 million for 142 jobs in the 99th district of the Northern Mariana Islands. $47.7 million spent and 291 jobs created in Puerto Rico's 99th congressional district.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (529816)	11/17/2009 1:22:58 PM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1574060

Bush spent even more on stimulus than Obama did. Bush did it through two tax cuts that make Obama's stimulus look like small change. This is utter nonsense. According to OMB, the constant dollar 20% tax revenue increase from '04 to '06 was the largest since '67. According to CBO, tax revenue for '06 was ABOVE what was projected in '03. There is simply no support, at all, for your claim. The stimulus bill that Obama and the Dems passed through was 80% investment and 20% waste. To a big-government liberal, which you are, "spending" is "investment". There is no sense arguing this point. At this point in time, not one cent of that money could be considered well-spent. To me, that's a waste. My kids and grandkids will be paying $100M/day in interest into perpetuity. That is a waste.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (529816)	11/17/2009 6:11:30 PM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574060

You are very wrong. Bush spent even more on stimulus than Obama did. Bush did it through two tax cuts that make Obama's stimulus look like small change. Bush spent what in government terms can reasonably be rounded to $0 on the tax cuts. Only the actual effort to craft and implment, and communicate the new rates and other tax changes would be spending. The tax reduction is not spending. For example, stimulus money that is spent on renewable energy projects or loans to the renewable energy industry, or money spent on broadband penetration or schools, or money spent to fix crumbling infrastructure...all of these are not wasted dollars, because ultimately, they pay for themselves through economic efficiencies or through new growth industries. All of them could in theory "pay for themselves". In reality they often don't. Also to really pay for themselves, they would not only have to return the same amount of money, but return more to cover the dead weight loss of government spending/taxation, and the time value of money. The stimulus bill that Obama and the Dems passed through was 80% investment and 20% waste. No it wasn't.