I’ve previously posted on the tiny amount of job creation that has been attributed to the massive “stimulus bill.“ Now it turns out that even the 34,000 jobs that the government claimed were “saved or created” by stimulus spending is itself an inflated figure. An AP report states that the reported number of jobs “created [...]
Posts Tagged ‘stimulus’
An Even Smaller Mouse
Posted in America, Politics, The Economy, tagged America, economy, Politics, stimulus, stimulus bill, stimulus spending, Unemployment on October 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus
Posted in America, Ohio, Politics, The Economy, tagged Congress, economy, Latin, Ohio, President Obama, Recovery.gov, stimulus, stimulus bill, stimulus package, stimulus spending, Unemployment on October 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Recently the federal ‘government issued the first “report card” on jobs creation by the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in February. The data that was released is limited to contracts, and more comprehensive information that includes grants and loans is supposed to be released at the [...]
Healthcare Reform A No-Brainer? (Cont.)
Posted in Healthcare Reform, Politics, tagged Congress, Health Care Reform, Healthcare Reform, Politics, President Obama, stimulus on September 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
UJ recently asked whether reforming the American health care system shouldn’t be considered a “no-brainer” — that is, something that is so obvious anyone should support it. I thought of that posting when I saw the most recent Rasmussen poll, which shows that support for health care reform continues to ebb. On June 27 and [...]
The Perils Of Overreaching
Posted in Politics, tagged Congress, Health Care Reform, Politics, President Obama, stimulus on July 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Richard recommended this David Brooks column, which aptly captures what I think a lot of Americans are feeling. Why must we lurch from one politcal extreme to another and never seem to make any real progress? With every new Administration and new Congress there is a window of opportunity where Americans will listen to what [...]
Haste Makes Waste
Posted in Healthcare Reform, Politics, The Economy, tagged Budget Deficit, budgets, Congress, Health care, Health Care Reform, stimulus on July 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the massive cost of the health care proposals that are being considered by Congress deals a crushing blow to one of the most cited selling points for health care reform: that it ultimately will save the taxpayers money. Adding hundreds of billions of dollars of additional health care spending [...]
Lies, Damn Lies, and Unemployment Statistics
Posted in Politics, The Economy, tagged economy, Politics, stimulus, Unemployment on July 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This article does a pretty good job of laying out the hidden issues lurking in the unemployment statistics, such as “underemployment” due to part-time work, unpaid leaves, declining average workweeks, people who are probably incorrectly assumed to have found jobs, and people who may have just given up looking for a job, among others. The [...]
Tracking Stimulus Spending
Posted in Politics, The Economy, tagged economy, Politics, stimulus on July 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s an interesting and, I think, balanced take on the stimulus package, six months later — how much has been spent, how much hasn’t been spent, and why. If there really is serious consideration of a second stimulus package (and I hope there isn’t) this kind of article should be required reading for lawmakers.
The Moon, Eclipsed
Posted in Politics, Science, tagged public works, Science, space exploration, stimulus on July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The future of the United States manned space program is uncertain, as this article reports, and current economic conditions aren’t helping matters. I am a big booster of space exploration, and I think it would be tragic if the United States lost its leadership role in that area. It was a bad decision to cut back [...]
The Blame Game
Posted in Politics, The Economy, tagged economy, Politics, stimulus, Unemployment on June 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
With the economy performing poorly, unemployment up to 9.4 percent, and the federal budget deficit ballooning, look for politicians of both parties to focus on the blame game. This article asks whether it is time to saddle President Obama and the current administration with responsibility for these conditions. I think it is unfair to contend [...]
Fishy Spending
Posted in Politics, The Economy, tagged fish food, Politics, stimulus on June 14, 2009 | 2 Comments »
This article reports that $50 million in stimulus funds will be used to help fish farmers buy fish food. Well, why not? Once you start to spend federal money on just about anything, so that you can argue that you have “created or preserved” a bunch of jobs, why would you draw the line at [...]
Optimism and Unmeasurables
Posted in Politics, The Economy, tagged stimulus, Unemployment on June 9, 2009 | 2 Comments »
People are starting to note that the economic forecasts on employment data that were used to help sell the stimulus package were overly optimistic, and Administration officials are starting to admit as much. (It would be hard to argue to the contrary in view of the increasing unemployment rates.) And, others are skeptical about the [...]
Jobs and Progress?
Posted in Politics, The Economy, tagged Mark Steyn, stimulus, Unemployment on May 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I think Mark Steyn is always worth reading — whether I agree with him or not. He offers acerbic wit and a welcome perspective as part of his opinions. This piece on an advertisement for jobs created by the stimulus bill is a good example of his work.
Painfully Lame
Posted in Politics, tagged Politics, stimulus on May 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here’s a stunner: the promises about unprecedented transparency, accessibility, and accountability in the spending of stimulus dollars aren’t being kept. The homepage of the main website that is supposed to provide the transparency, http://www.recovery.gov, is painfully lame and looks like a beginner’s Powerpoint presentation. The linked information about how stimulus funds are being spent is [...]
The Stimulus Hits Home
Posted in Politics, tagged budgets, New Albany, stimulus on May 11, 2009 | 2 Comments »
We’ve received word that the Village of New Albany has received $686,000 from the federal stimulus package for road projects. According to this article, part of the money will completely pay for one planned project that involves installation of a traffic signal; the other is available for another project that involves repaving several miles of [...]
