Hey, how’s that porkulus working out?
It’s going to dead people:
Millions of Americans on Social Security are receiving $250 checks as part of the president’s stimulus plan — including an Anne Arundel woman who died more than 40 years ago.
The woman’s son, 83-year-old James Hagner, said he got the surprise when he checked his mailbox late last week.
“It shocked me and I laughed all at the same time,” Hagner said. “I don’t even expect to get one for myself, and I get one for my mother from 43 years ago?”
His mother, Rose, died on Memorial Day in 1967.
Social Security representatives said there is a good explanation. Of the about 52 million checks that have been mailed out, about 10,000 of those have been sent to people who are deceased.
It’s not going to the neediest areas:
The billions in transportation stimulus dollars that President Barack Obama promoted as a way to create jobs shortchange counties that need the work the most, an Associated Press analysis has found.
The AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide is the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. It reveals that states are planning to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than in communities with the highest. The Transportation Department said it will attempt to replicate the AP’s analysis as it continues pressing states to dole out money fairly.
One result among many: Elk County, Pa., isn’t receiving any road money despite its 13.8 percent unemployment rate. Yet the military and college community of Riley County, Kan., with 3.4 percent unemployment, will benefit from about $56 million to build a highway, improve an intersection and restore a historic farmhouse.
The jobs estimates are shady.
And states can’t afford the administrative costs of it.
But hey, cheer up: The stimulus package is helping Americans buy…scooters!
Imagine if the reporters now blowing the whistle about the generational theft act’s shortcomings had been as vigilant about policing the White House claims before it was rammed down our throats…
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Trackbacks
- “Stimulus” Money Well Spent « Scott’s Slant on Politics
- “Stimulus” money well spent | PoliticalDerby.com
- Unintended Deficit « Finding Ponies in Piles of Poop
- The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion for that matter) « Jim Blazsik
- How’s That Stimulus Going? « Tai-Chi Policy
- Stimulus Money Mistakes from Government AGAIN? Clown College Recruits May Be Wiser Choice to Be Trusted with Taxpayers’ Money « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- U.S. Economy: Reality and Repercussions | NEOAVATARA
- Tuesday, May 12, 2009: Daily Handpicked Headlines :: Daily Uprising :: Join the Conservative Counter-Revolution!
- Maggie's Farm
- Good News: Porkulus Money Going to Dead People : The American Pundit
- Update on how “well” the porkulus is working for America | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- OBAMA’S BUDGET 101 « FactReal
- Just Sitting Around Blogging | Conservative Political Report
- Your Stimulus Dollars At Work « Jane Q. Republican
- The Stimulus of Corruption | Behind Blue Lines
- Social Security/Medicare Out of Money? Bush told us that in 2005 « Rantings of mine
- What I’m Reading: Last Week’s Overlooked News « Fastidious
- The Obamas’ Personal Debt vs. Obama’s Demand That Americans Cut Back « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- Who knew Amtrak was so Exciting? | The Great Illuminator
- America is headed down the crapper where is our hero? | eransworld
- Why is Consumer Confidence in the Tank? | The Patriot's Mind
- Michelle Malkin » Spawn of the Spendulus
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Categories: fiscal stimulus
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What you see over and over from Obama, Nancy, Harry and company is a total inability to see the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Example, Harry Reid was so obsessed with losing in Iraq, the consequences of defeat totally escaped him. The Left from Obama to Wanda Sykes is rushing headlong to implement all of their pent up petty agendas.
They cannot see the consequences of their individual plans. They have no clue what the unintended consequences of their policies being implemented concurrently.
Our fellow posters from the left as so busy looking backward to justify the lunacy going on at the moment they do not see th path the Runaway Train Obama has created is on.
Which is why I altered your proposition to reflect the reality of the Bush vs. Obama deficits. Objectively.
Tax cuts under Bush, as we know well, were across-the-board cuts that resulted in more revenue, and, hence, no increase in the deficit.
THE ONE’s multifarious tax increases, along with other moves to push capital OUT of our economy, will result in lower revenues going to the government. Along with lower standards of living for all Americans, joblessness, and wealth formation.
Objectively.
Did you find wide-spread support here for GOP spending excesses? Of course you did not. The opposite was true, and you know it.
Objectively.
Deficit spending can be acceptable under a limited set of circumstances.
None of them are met by THE ONE’s initiatives, as is well known and documented by various non-partisan organs who have considered them.
Objectively.
Rags,
I am not going to get into an argument about the respective values of Bush’s spending versus Obama’s.
My only point was that you cannot accuse someone of being hypocritical with repsect to a position on spending unless you consider the person’s subjective (and possibly wrong) opinion of the value of what is being purchased. Simple dollar amounts do not tell the entire story.
Sorry you wasted so much effort responding to a point no one was making.
Yeah, sure.
I consider my time well-spent.
It is objectively manifestly hypocritical for Dimocrats to assail the Bush administration for excessive spending…
and then support the spending of multiples of the Bush deficits when they come to power.
There is no subjective modifier you can apply to that.
Mmmmmm…. mediocrity smells good, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t matter who the party is, if you’re a mediocre leader in economic terms (Obummer and Bush) then you will get the same results:
Needed money and resources directed at the wrong places.
No, no… it’s okay mediocrity in all aspects of America is awesome. Just tell that to the public schools and the teachers who teach their students “easy math” and the revised, PC edition of American history.
America’s in big trouble and we’re just circling the drain. If you don’t think that Europe isn’t laughing their a$$es off at Obummer (like they did Bush) you need to start paying attention.
Then, again, taxing the PRODUCERS is okay so we can pay back CHINA in the short term. Unfortunately, when those very same PRODUCERS either leave the country or stop investing in the economy, that’s makes for very bad long-term economic consequences.
I know, I know…. it’s okay to hate rich people now. Dirty, greedy bastards.
I opposed the Bush deficits and I oppose the Obama deficit. The point is that Obama blames the Bush deficits for all manner of evil and then outdoes Bush by a factor of 3 in his first few months!
Of course, you ignore the fact that those hated Bush tax cuts eventually ignited economic growth that resulted in greater federal revenues.
Then you make it sound as if the GWOT was responsible for the majority of the Bush deficits. It wasn’t but don’t left facts and numbers confuse your mantra. The cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars are somewhere between 750 billion and 850 billion over the last 7 1/2 years or approximately 115 billion a year. The dollar cost of the war pales in comparison to Obama’s 800 billion, one year “stimulus package” that will only serve to stimulate inflation…
Do you still swoon when you here Obama’s name on TV?
Do we want these people who send checks for millions of dollars to people dead for 40 years making our health-care choices?
Let me take this for you verrrry slowly.
Actually, forget it. You are a moron that can’t understand a simple point. And prove it by making the exact same erroneous argument as before.
Chaps:
When do numbers START to matter? How ’bout when we can no longer pay back the debt to China and others who buy our treasuries? Or how ’bout when the country goes bankrupt? Not just from the current deficit but the 34 TRILLION (with a T) for unfunded/unstainable programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Numbers do matter (except to Lgm). Are you not the least bit anxious? Or is it smooth sailing because Obummer is in office? It wasn’t smooth sailing when Bush was in office when there were thousands of service members sweating whether or not they’d be RIF’d.
How does a country declare bankruptcy? Is there an international bankruptcy court for countries? Or do we just start all over and repeat all the same mistakes?
Seriously, can we just be real here for one minute? I mean, we, as a country, need to own up to our financial mistakes and stop giving away money like it’s candy.
They will now be called “Stimulating the Climate because They’re Not Releasing Carbon Dioxide” bonuses…
cnredd
Political Wrinkles
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com
Well, since I owe the IRS some money, the “stimulus” will be taken by the government towards the balance. In other words, the government stimulates itself.
I should’ve told the IRS that Tim “Smartestmaninthewholewideworld” Geithner is a personal friend of mine, and since he’s head of the IRS and didn’t pay HIS taxes, to send me the check anyway. Makes perfect sense.
The dead people getting stimulus checks are still-registered Chicago voters, from the Land of Obama. ACORN dug em up, and now they get to split the checks. LOL
I get your “point” as if your idiot, meaningless point matters. You are one of those who has been educated above your intelligence. You, like Obama’s minions, think you know everything and are so much smarter than the people who actually make the country work. Your kind are the very same smug idiots who took the nation into Viet Nam and led to millions of deaths throughout the region.
You miss the larger and ONLY MEANINGFUL POINT as usual. You claim this is only a subjective point about how the money is spent. If it were YOUR money you would be correct. If it were Obama’s money your point would be correct.
But, is not your money and it is not his money and Obama and Congress are using the force of government to coercively take money that is NOT THEIRS and bestow it upon people that didn’t earn it and have no legal, ethical or moral claim to the money for their own political and personal benefit. Somehow that objective aspect of this doesn’t bother you either.
And I am sure you make all of your posts verrry slowly as your intellectual acumen certainly won’t permit any other behavior.
You prove me right again, WarEagle.
Read what I am actually saying agin, idiot. Which is that one can consider $50 of spending on one thing to be wasteful and $150 of spending on something else to be a good investment. The weight of the evidence may be against you. Everyone else in the world may think you are wrong. But (presuming your belief as to the relative values of the expenditures in relation to their costs is sincere) it DOES NOT MAKE YOU A HYPOCRITE.
Stop claiming I am making some argument I am not. If you don’t think my point is terribly relevant to the broader discussion, please ignore it. I freaking welcome your silence. But don’t throw up these strawmen.
How many facts can you overlook in claiming something that is basically irrelevant to the actual point? If I were really interested I would ask but frankly I don’t care how stupid and hypocritical you are. You would support and defend Obama if he helped doctors to murder new born babies. Oh, wait, you already did…
I wonder if your utter lack of conscience makes life easier or more difficult for you. Certainly it makes congnitive dissonance easier for you…
Imagine a world where the President of the United States is not above the law.
Imagine a world where Barack Hussein Obama would have to follow the same verification procedures that other employees in the U.S. have to follow.
Real letter:
———————————————
From: [Employer]
To: [Prospective New Employee who has just accepted offer of employment]
Subject: Welcome New Hire
Dear [Prospective New Employee],
Before starting work, for purposes of federal immigration law, you are required to provide documentary evidence of your identity and eligibility for employment in the United States. This is done by completing an Employment Eligibility Form (Form I-9).
Follow the steps below to complete the Form I-9 prior to your first day of work.
1) Click the secure link provided below to complete the Form I-9.
You are required to indicate the official forms of identification that you will bring with you on your first day of work in order to complete the employee section of the Form I-9.
2) On your first day of work, bring:
a. Confirmation page that you are instructed to print while completing the Form I-9 online.
b. Official form(s) of identification that you indicated when completing the online Form I-9. The identification documentation will be examined and the authenticity will be confirmed by your employer.
Click Here to Complete the Form I-9
[Employer] Human Resources
Yes, he can. Fascinating, isn’t it?
That is of course a rhetorical question when it comes to Chappy, LGM and Lil Swiss Miss…
War;
I have to say that Chaps is a different critter than the run-of-the-mill trolls one finds here.
Today’s exchanges seem a little out of character for him. I haven’t seen him descend into name-calling before.
He and I have had several pretty civil and deliberate exchanges, and I generally feel he is a pretty honest interlocutor.
Then you haven’t been following him for very long. This is vintage Chappy…
What’s really a laugh is that the Dems promised to rid Washington of W Bush’s “culture of incompetence”. I suppose Bush sent a check to a 40-years-dead person, too? LOL
Then you’ve missed some of his exchanges. He descends very quickly into name-calling when he’s out of his depth, or when you question one of his nuttier posts, or in my particular case, when he thinks you’re picking on him.
Soooo, Wanda Sykes is Obama’s new Economic Advisor. I’m surprised that she could take time off from her conservative slime-fest hate-spewing guest appearances. But, then again, Whoopi Goldberg can always just swoop in with her foul mouth and fill that slot effortlessly.
So transparent. Obie’s sole purpose is to bring the US economy to its knees so that the sheeple will beg for a
malevolentbenevolent dictator…To be clear, I was answering Rags question for lgm (I didnt think lgm was up to the challenge of answering himself…).
Well Wanda Sykes certainly does add an element of “gravitas” that has been sorely lacking from the Obama-Biden team.
Yes. They are. So just for my enlightenment, how does Obama propose the number of jobs “saved” be measured?
If I still have my job in 2 years, no one will ever convince me that it was because a dead person got a government check or some make work project happened in BFE. I’m going to insist it was because I’m doing a good job and my employer values my work. Obama and company can go pi$$ up a rope with any other explanation.
Scoreboard update:
Jobs saved last week – 24,000
Jobs not saved last week – 540,000
Pass the Dijon Joe, this Porkulus sandwhich tastes like crap.
Whats cool about that, is if Medicare wont pay for my scooter …. then I get one for FREE!!!!!
On May 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm, lgm said:
No – the amount of increase merely slowed…but for how long? Every economist worth his/her salt says unemployment is lagging and sure to increase steeply over the next six-ten months, with no guarantees of job growth in the foreseen future due to the retiring Bush tax cuts.
Only because the feds have flushed banks w/ tax payer cash; what happens once that is gone?
Ah, the student collective at work!
WarEagle82 said (#78):
My post talked about the Bush pointless deficits. Bush ran permanent deficits to fund tax cuts for the rich and invasions of countries that didn’t need invading (Iraq). Obama is running a (hopefully) temporary deficit to avoid a disastrous recession. chapoutier was making a related point.
One way I distinguish myself from conservative bloggers here is that I never insult the idiots who argue against me (a line adapted from Margaret Thatcher).
“Alinsky recruited a young high school student named Hillary Rodham. They met through a radical church group.”
“Barack Obama is also an Alinskyite, trained by Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation,”
Community Organizer
“True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within. Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties….”
“One Alinsky benefactor was Wall Street investment banker Eugene Meyer, who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. Meyer and his wife Agnes co-owned The Washington Post. They used their newspaper to promote Alinsky….Her series, called ‘The Orderly Revolution’, made Alinsky famous”
Two statements of shear idiocy in one short sentence….
Thanks, I needed a good chuckle today.
http://townhall.com/cartoons/2009/05/12/6b3b373d-e5a4-4b86-b1c4-0488871493e9
Excellent cartoon
tbear;
The question is…does one laugh or cry.
Or maybe laugh to the point of tears…
tbear44 said (#128):
I’m glad you got the joke. Have a good evening.
On May 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm, Tazed and Confused said:
Indeed.
We have the worst possible scenario: an ineligible, Marxist, Jihadist
The water heater is not the only thing that’s faulty in this statement.
So is your analogy.
All that is required to fix a faulty water heater is a few tools and to properly follow an already known set of steps. In competent hands, and there are many thousands of people in this country who are competent in this area (probably even Joe the Plumber), it is guaranteed that the faulty water heater will be fixed.
Not so with the trillions that Obama and company are throwing around. First of all there is no prescribed methodology to fix what he claims he is trying to fix (not that he’s actually trying, BTW). Second, we’ve been told there is one, and only one, person who is capable of pulling off this fix (and he was actually stupid enough to cheat on his taxes and then lie about it, so if he is as stupid about this as he is about taxes, where oh where else can we look for a saviour)? And third, the steps that Obama is taking (nationalizing major segments of the economy) has never worked effectively anywhere it’s been tried.
So let’s substitute your faulty water heater example with paying $1,500 to someone who emailed you from Nigeria to ask for help in solving a banking problem — with a big reward to come later, of course.
My wife loves wine and hates gambling (she works hard for her money), so I know what doghouse I’d be in if I spent the $1,500.
This was my point in #86.
I know a wanky analogy when I see one, and Chaps knows how to put one together. I don’t know if he does any trial work, but this a key element in jury argument. My analogy was, I thought, a much more apt and biting one. Buying a shotgun to blow your competition away is a good parallel to what THE ONE is doing with money that belongs to other people.
I never insult the liberals who bubble-up on this site and infect it with vague, inadequate and self–dramatizing statements.
OK …
So what’s the good explanation?
I can’t believe these people expect Americans to accept that.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
I have a vivid imagination, but not even I could imagine an honest reporter working for the mainstream media.
How about those gas prices too!!!!!!!
Get over it. Bush’s tax cut actually increased revenues. And the GWOT has cost about 115 billion a year. Most of Bush’s deficits were for SOCIAL PROGRAMS! You guys just cannot deal with FACTS. This is how you REALLY distinguish yourself from conservatives here.
…anything to prop up the Idiot-in-Chief
…truth
…nothing that required brain cells.
Honestly, I don’t know how many different ways I can say the same thing. I was making no judgments, good or bad about Bush’s deficits or Obama’s deficits. I WAS NOT PROPPING UP OBAMA. I WAS DEFENDING A POSTER AGAINST AN ACCUSATION OF HYPOCRISY.
If you did not like the specific items I used in my analogy fine, make them whatever the hell you want. My only point was different people have different opinions on what is worth spending money on. I thought that would be an obvious point to anyone with a scintilla of intelligence.
And rags, wrt to WarEagle, he is an idiot and I make no apologies for calling him such. He, unlike you and many others, has never shown an ounce of respect or decency, or intelligence for that matter. I therefore have no problem breaking my mold with him.
I never insult the liberals who bubble-up on this site and infect it with vague, inadequate and self–dramatizing statements.
Seems those were pushed by the democrats in Congress too. I remember how they screamed like banshees when Bush gave the tax rebate checks out, was not the original plan to give them to people who pay taxes. Dems pushed for the people who don’t pay taxes to get tax rebate checks too. The first time I noticed the Repubs no longer had testosterone for not putting a stop to that.
Interesting thread, it is so thrilling for liberals who constantly come in here and call us hypocrites for not railing against govt. spending until now, delusional people. I wonder really what is in that Obama koolaid, must be psychodelic!!
Think the troll can understand this?
Ohhhh….you wanna play the incredibly silly “Stock index equals success or failure” game.
Why don’t you go look at where all the major indeces were on January 20 and tell me where they are now.
Lemme help you out:
NASDAQ on January 20: 1440
NASDAQ now: 1667
%change 15.76% increase
S&P January 20: 805
S&P now: 885
% change 9.94% increase
Dow January 20: 7949
Dow now: 8279
% change: 4.15%
So by your incredibly stupid standard, I suppose you think the Obama admin has been overall pretty successful?