Hey, how’s that porkulus working out?

By Michelle Malkin  •  May 12, 2009 08:46 AM

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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Posted in: fiscal stimulus

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Comments


  1. #101
    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:37 pm, Ragspierre said:

    Do we want these people who send checks for millions of dollars to people dead for 40 years making our health-care choices?

  2. #102
    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm, chapoutier said:

    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…

    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.

  3. #103
    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:53 pm, emjem24 said:

    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.

  4. #104
    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm, cnredd said:

    They will now be called “Stimulating the Climate because They’re Not Releasing Carbon Dioxide” bonuses…

    cnredd
    Political Wrinkles
    http://www.politicalwrinkles.com

  5. #105
    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:57 pm, bradley said:

    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.

  6. #106
    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:59 pm, bradley said:

    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

  7. #107
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:06 pm, WarEagle82 said:

    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.

    On May 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm, chapoutier said:

    Let me take this for you verrrry slowly.

  8. #108
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:13 pm, chapoutier said:

    You prove me right again, WarEagle.

    You claim this is only a subjective point about how the money is spent.

    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.

  9. #109
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:19 pm, WarEagle82 said:

    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…

  10. #110
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:21 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

    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…

    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

  11. #111
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm, JusDreamin said:

    Ragspierre said:
    CAN you really be THAT STUPID?

    Yes, he can. Fascinating, isn’t it?

  12. #112
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pm, WarEagle82 said:

    That is of course a rhetorical question when it comes to Chappy, LGM and Lil Swiss Miss…

    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm, JusDreamin said:

    Ragspierre said:
    CAN you really be THAT STUPID?

    Yes, he can. Fascinating, isn’t it?

  13. #113
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:47 pm, Ragspierre said:

    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.

  14. #114
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:48 pm, WarEagle82 said:

    Then you haven’t been following him for very long. This is vintage Chappy…

  15. #115
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:48 pm, dan708 said:

    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

  16. #116
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:56 pm, txvet2 said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:47 pm, Ragspierre said:

    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.

  17. #117
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:56 pm, prendad said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 1:12 pm, lgm said:
    Like Wanda Sykes said: it takes a while for the country to recover from 8 years of mismanagement and pointless deficits.

    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.

  18. #118
    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm, Tazed and Confused said:

    So transparent. Obie’s sole purpose is to bring the US economy to its knees so that the sheeple will beg for a malevolent benevolent dictator…

  19. #119
    On May 12th, 2009 at 5:01 pm, JusDreamin said:

    To be clear, I was answering Rags question for lgm (I didnt think lgm was up to the challenge of answering himself…).

  20. #120
    On May 12th, 2009 at 5:07 pm, WarEagle82 said:

    Well Wanda Sykes certainly does add an element of “gravitas” that has been sorely lacking from the Obama-Biden team.

  21. #121
    On May 12th, 2009 at 5:40 pm, Member-VRWC said:

    The jobs estimates are shady.

    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.

  22. #122
    On May 12th, 2009 at 5:58 pm, Southpaw said:

    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.

  23. #123
    On May 12th, 2009 at 5:59 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

    But hey, cheer up: The stimulus package is helping Americans buy…scooters!

    Whats cool about that, is if Medicare wont pay for my scooter …. then I get one for FREE!!!!!

  24. #124
    On May 12th, 2009 at 6:15 pm, DBNinKY said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm, lgm said:

    The rate of new jobless claims is down….

    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.

    “…the stock market is up… . The TED spread is down.”

    Only because the feds have flushed banks w/ tax payer cash; what happens once that is gone?

    If you have to write a check to a dead person for this, go ahead.

    Ah, the student collective at work!

  25. #125
    On May 12th, 2009 at 6:23 pm, lgm said:

    WarEagle82 said (#78):

    If Bush’s $500 Billion deficits were bad (and they were) how can Obama’s $1500 Billion (that’s 1.5 Trillion to LGM) deficits be “good?”

    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).

  26. #126
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:00 pm, Southpaw said:

    “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”

  27. #127
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:12 pm, Ragspierre said:

    Obama is running a (hopefully) temporary deficit to avoid a disastrous recession.

    Two statements of shear idiocy in one short sentence….

  28. #128
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:39 pm, tbear44 said:

    Obama is running a (hopefully) temporary deficit to avoid a disastrous recession.

    Thanks, I needed a good chuckle today.

  29. #129
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:42 pm, Ragspierre said:
  30. #130
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:44 pm, Ragspierre said:

    tbear;

    The question is…does one laugh or cry.

    Or maybe laugh to the point of tears…

  31. #131
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:50 pm, lgm said:

    tbear44 said (#128):

    Obama is running a (hopefully) temporary deficit to avoid a disastrous recession.

    Thanks, I needed a good chuckle today.

    I’m glad you got the joke. Have a good evening.

  32. #132
    On May 12th, 2009 at 7:57 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm, Tazed and Confused said:

    So transparent. Obie’s sole purpose is to bring the US economy to its knees so that the sheeple will beg for a malevolent benevolent dictator…

    Indeed.
    We have the worst possible scenario: an ineligible, Marxist, Jihadist

    But my journey is part of a larger journey – one shared by all who’ve ever sought to apply the values of their faith to our society. It’s a journey that takes us back to our nation’s founding, when none other than a UCC church inspired the Boston Tea Party and helped bring an Empire to its knees.

    Barack Hussein Obama
    A Politics of Conscience
    Hartford, CT | June 23, 2007

    Jihad: From Jakarta To The Whitehouse

  33. #133
    On May 12th, 2009 at 8:09 pm, Member-VRWC said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 2:10 pm, chapoutier said:

    While taking no stance on the goodness or badness of either deficit, you cannot look at it in pure numbers. If you told your wife that you spent $500 on a bottle of wine, or that you spent $1,500 to fix the faulty hot water heater in your house, when do you think she would most likely be upset?

    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.

  34. #134
    On May 12th, 2009 at 8:29 pm, Ragspierre said:

    The water heater is not the only thing that’s faulty in this statement.

    So is your analogy.

    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.

  35. #135
    On May 12th, 2009 at 8:37 pm, prendad said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 6:23 pm, lgm said:
    “I never insult the idiots who argue against me”.

    I never insult the liberals who bubble-up on this site and infect it with vague, inadequate and self–dramatizing statements.

  36. #136
    On May 12th, 2009 at 8:49 pm, rightwingrocker said:

    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.

    OK …

    So what’s the good explanation?

    I can’t believe these people expect Americans to accept that.

    RWR
    http://www.rightwingrocker.com

  37. #137
    On May 12th, 2009 at 9:27 pm, zorro said:

    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…

    I have a vivid imagination, but not even I could imagine an honest reporter working for the mainstream media.

  38. #138
    On May 12th, 2009 at 9:28 pm, Divapalooza said:

    How about those gas prices too!!!!!!!

  39. #139
    On May 12th, 2009 at 10:20 pm, WarEagle82 said:

    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.

    On May 12th, 2009 at 6:23 pm, lgm said:

    WarEagle82 said (#78):

    If Bush’s $500 Billion deficits were bad (and they were) how can Obama’s $1500 Billion (that’s 1.5 Trillion to LGM) deficits be “good?”

    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).

  40. #140
    On May 12th, 2009 at 10:28 pm, jangar said:

    chapoutier said: …

    …anything to prop up the Idiot-in-Chief

    emjem24 said: …

    …truth

    lgm said: …

    …nothing that required brain cells.

  41. #141
    On May 13th, 2009 at 8:56 am, chapoutier said:

    …anything to prop up the Idiot-in-Chief

    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.

  42. #142
    On May 13th, 2009 at 9:30 am, prendad said:

    On May 12th, 2009 at 6:23 pm, lgm said:
    “I never insult the idiots who argue against me”.

    On May 13th, 2009 at 8:56 am, chapoutier said:
    And rags, wrt to WarEagle, he is an idiot and I make no apologies for calling him such.

    I never insult the liberals who bubble-up on this site and infect it with vague, inadequate and self–dramatizing statements.

  43. #143
    On May 13th, 2009 at 9:46 am, frontierguy said:

    Most of Bush’s deficits were for SOCIAL PROGRAMS!

    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!!

  44. #144
    On May 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pm, corona said:

    Think the troll can understand this?

  45. #145
    On May 13th, 2009 at 2:31 pm, chapoutier said:

    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?

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