Un-happy Pork-iversary
Aw. The trillion-dollar Porkulus turned one today. Let’s all raise a bacon-wrapped toast to generational theft.
Here’s a handy timeline of the wreckovery:
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/floor/A%20Stimulus%20Timeline.pdf
The White House is in full defense mode spinning the stimulus salvation.
Leave your favorite examples of porkulus failure/waste in comments or e-mail.
See what others have said
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Categories: fiscal stimulus
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Why could the American people not have been given their own money back to spend or save as they pleased? Oh, I forgot….. It’s not their money….
Send Obummer and every dirty, rotten, low-down, no-good, scum-sucking, Congressional dirtbag who supported that a black birthday cake with a black candle. Include a card that says, “Our children and grandchildren want to wish you a cursed day for putting them in debt up to their eyeballs!”
That’s the funny thing: I can’t think of any personally-observed examples of “stimulus” spending.
That’s probably because I don’t live in a phantom Congressional district, or in any of state numbers 51 through 57.
My favorite is the spending going to non-existent Congressional districts.
How does one go about running for those House seats that don’t exist?
THe Stimulus Bill is like Granny Clampett’s sure-fire cure for the common cold: take this foul concoction, drink lots of fluids, get plenty of rest and your cold will be gone in a week to ten days!
It’s a miracle!
Virginia is a state that is one of the original 50 and it had money listed to go to districts we don’t have. I want to represent one of those districts.
Since the bulk of the porkulus slush fund went to prop up failing states economies, my vote goes to the state of california, which can spend the entire world’s money supply doing great nanny state tasks. They are so crazy, audi does commercials about them.
Our property tax bill was very low last year. Mrs. calamity ran into a woman who lives in our town and mentioned the low tax to her. The woman said that she got a low bill also and called the tax collector to inquire. She was told that it was stimulus money.
This does not mean I like the stimulus but I will not be giving the money back.
Did the stimulus help?
The Government didn’t give you that money. Your children and grandchildren did.
I like how porkulus is now being defended for having saved almost nothing but government jobs but it was sold as targeting 95% private sector jobs.
They needed to pass it NOW back then but Obama is now stressing that 2/3s of the spending hasn’t happened yet.
What is really wearing on me is the combination of whining and condescension. He just can’t put a period between his calls for bipartisanship and his cheap gratuitous insults at Republicans. This is child in a man’s body.
Why didn’t Obama mention the billions of “green jobs” money that was exported to China? How many of the 2 million jobs Obama claims HE created were created in China?
Send it COD…
What if every man, woman, and child had been given a million dollars each. That’s 306 Million, I believe or around there.
That’s $306,000,000.00 vs $860,000,000,000.00
And the economy would have been stimulated. We all would be consuming remember our economy is 70% driven by consumer buying. If you allow that people might quit their jobs if you gave each a million, then make the amount smaller than a million each, and it would have still cost us less, and really stimulated the US economy, oh and our creditor China’s economy by extension. So they would be happy with us in China too, instead of lecturing us about Capitalism.
Obowmao: The stimulus saved the economy!
I call bs! Ain’t happening! Ain’t going to happen, until you and your commie pinko buddies in DC get the hell out of the way!
I would prefer to focus on those politicians who voted against the Act, and who now celebrate it and hand out giant checks in photo ops.
The hypocrisy and duplicity is way over the top. It serves to reveal the true nature of politicians.
Yeah, the Act was poorly constructed, but the reach around is no consolation for the pain recieved on the back end.
My comment on this site from February 9 of last year is worth repeating to celebrate the one year anniversary of Porkulus:
There’s still time for me to cash in…..
Uh, Michelle, it’s Ash Wednesday. No pork for me, thanks.
No, there are 306 million people in the coutry, that would be 306 trillion to give each a million.
I believe, assuming 306 million people were given 1,000,000.00 (1 million) dollars each, the total would be
306,000,000,000,000.00 (306 Trillion).
That’s not a debt I want to pay (or my children or their children or their children or their children….)
Pork(ulus) is not kosher!
However, give 360 million people $1,000.00 each and the bill is only $306,000,000,000.00 (306 Billion).
BUT, only a fraction of that number are actual Tax Payers, so payback will be enormous even before adding the interest.
If you must spend money, buy the fishing pole, not the fish!
Errah I saw Biden speaking on the benefits of Porkulus. They need to lower the dosage of his meds. He’s really really out there! “2M jobs created”, “seeing real tangible results from the stimulus”! That’s some strong stuff he’s on. All the while lame stram media bobbing their heads with his assertions. Can someone on Fox do some real reporting on what an abject failure porkulus is??!!
Laree has the right idea. But instead of all citizens, I suggest only tax-paying (not people who pay no taxes but still get a tax refund) citizens recieve money. I figure I’d get a check for about $12,000.
For all of those living off of my taxes who say this isn’t fair, here’s my response:
I pay for your kids education, you don’t.
I pay for your food stamps, you don’t.
I pay for your welfare, you don’t.
I pay for your legal defense, you don’t.
I pay for your roadways and highways, you don’t.
I pay for science and technology research, you don’t.
I pay for your national defense, you don’t.
I pay for your health care, you don’t.
I pay for your Social Security, you don’t.
I could go on and on, but you get the message. It’s about time I got paid a dividend on my crappy investment.
Let’s not forget the famous..Klunker Cars program which left all those dealerships holding the bag to pay for all those klunkers. Our ethical government in action. It’s the Chicago way! Your tax dollars at work. THANKS OBAMA!
The debt cannot be paid. The only conceivable end to this is hyper-inflation, sometime in the coming decade. Hyperinflation will be a huge transfer of wealth from the creditor class to the debtor classes (i.e. Obama supporters). Hyperinflation is also a one way ticket to dictatorship — maybe a responsible one, maybe one not so nice. But dictatorship nevertheless. And war, let’s not forget that.
The PIGs (Portugal, Ireland and Greece) are close to collapse with a debt structure not too dissimilar from ours-Spain and Italy are not all that healthy. California and some other states are taking highway gas tax money to pay public employees salaries and letting their roads deteriorate. China is now dumping US Treasuries.
Saul Alinsky taught them well. No, treason is not too harsh a word.
So buy your ammunition while you can.
Errah How many CFC Toyotas were actually sold under this Obamanation Program. These folks went from saving the dying planet from those bad ole SUVs to buying a deathmobile for themselves and their families. LOL The Law of unintended consequences paid off quickly on this one just like AGW Man Bear Pig we’re burning up in DC and eating dead polar bears on our Ed Begley solar grills! Move over George Foreman!!!
I went to church today since it’s Ash Wednesday. Then I had a filling meal for the day.
I get home, see the news about this anniversary, read about it… but I don’t consider it an anniversary. I consider it a day of rememberance.
I want to know if any of the fringe media outlets will read off the names of Americans who have lost their jobs under Obamanomics, just as they saw fit to do when the 3,000th serviceman had been killed in Iraq. Will they read the names of business destroyed? Will they read the names of car dealerships forced out of business?
Will they?
A correlation doesn’t prove cause and effect, TOS. If it did, Ice Cream would be pegged as the No. 1 cause for drownings.
AN, I got a sig sauer .380 for Christmas. We could only find 2 boxes of ammo for it.
This morning’s news indicated that 6% of Americans think it’s working…
LOL
Care to offer any other explanations then?
There is this long standing, well documented thing called the Business Cycle.
Glock .40 for me and ammo is expensive, still buying it when I can get it though.
We were oinked by the Doinks.
The failure of the stimulus proves that throwing money at a problem doesn’t fix anything and it wastes the money.
SHoward,
Then how fortuitous for the Obama administration that the business cyle coincided so nicely with the stimulus.
Michelle,
Everyone in Michgan is wondering when any of those wonderful jobs will arrive here.
The projected unemployment rate for Mich. is expected to run around 15.6% through most of 2010 and 2011.
Many counties are experiencing unemployment rates greater than 20%
Not to many people left here to pay taxes now.
David
***
Well, Punks–how’s that Hopey / Changey thing working out for you?
***
At my house the C**P SANDWICH PORKULUS still tastes like C**P. And Comrade Obama (PBUH) and his congressional minions are “buttering up” another one for us taxpayers to enjoy! Just “heppen out” the poor (and soon much poorer) folks.
***
REGIME CHANGE in the 2010 and 2012 elections–while we still have a country left to save. Vote these corrupt clowns out of office and into “funemployment”.
***
John Bibb
***
sheesh
lest we forget the Democrats (Biden) demanding we take.the.money!
Going to Mass later tonight. I hope they’re using low-sulfur ashes.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA !!!
PinocchiObama says the stimulus saved us. BEST LIAR IN CHIEF…..EVER!!!
WORST PRESIDENT…..EVER !!!
Not fortuitous. It’s unsurprising that the economy would stabilize and attempt to grow. What would be surprising is if it’s managing to do so under the burden of this administration’s policies. As with FDR, Obama’s (in concert with a Democrat Congress) policies have turned a downturn into a major recession. Sooner or later, as long as Congress is unable to unite enough to mount further attacks, the economy will recover to one degree or another because it’s huge and the strongest in the world.
By the way, your charts contain estimated data (read guesses) for the most recent periods, and are highly suspect for other reasons, mainly that they are “adjusted”. Kind of like the AGW hockey stick is “adjusted” to give the politically correct chart. Note also that the GDP chart includes government activity. When that is eliminated, there is zero growth in the private economy. Meanwhile, unemployment continues to grow, as evidenced by new unemployment claims each month. The recently touted positive change in the unemployment rate came as a result of a revision in how they interpret the statistics, not as a result of any gains in employment.
Further, this “stimulus” can’t do anything for the economy, because in order to spend the money, they have to extract it from the economy in the first place one way or the other – either through taxes, borrowing, or debasing the currency. So the money is taken from businesses and individuals so that government can spend it on its chosen few, like state and federal governments and unions, to the detriment of the general economy. The one thing that the government has done to actually stimulate the economy is to print money and give it away – but that must sooner or later lead to hyperinflation if the economy continues to be suppressed otherwise, unless at some point the Fed reverses course and really tightens the money screws, and that is going to bring on another recession that’s going to make this one look tame.
And lastly, let’s not forget what started this mess in the first place – the CRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac – creations of Carter and FDR.
All of a sudden, my wife, a teacher with 20 plus years of teaching and certified in 4 areas of teaching has LOST her job. They told her that the stimulus money ran out…see ya’ll in bankruptcy court.
Check here
Anyone wanting to live on the government dole should be made to move to Detroit. People who live in Michigan should not be allowed to leave and pollute other areas with their socialist crap. I worry for Colorado, actually encouraging Californians to move there. Don’t the people of Colorado realize what they are doing???
Hey! TOS, Check here too…
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/graph_of_the_day_for_february_16.html
Kept state workers on the payroll. Wow. That’s just Great.
So we were able to fork over our money…..actually, money we borrowed….. to “state workers”. Probably the lease productive job sector on the planet.
It’s remarkable that she doesn’t see what’s wrong with her statement.
Sorry for the loss of a teacher. We need them, but we don’t need the teacher’s union.
Decrease the deficit by lowering wages to Federal employees. That is the only way. They should join the rest of the society they SERVE in shared misery.
Or he could read the terrific analysis by Burton Folsom, Jr, in the Nov ’09 American Spectator, look on heritage.org, or just listen to Rush. Any or all of them would make him sound far less stupid and ignorant than he does.
The Democrats have royally screwed their union supporters. $60 billion in Porkulus money was spent to keep hundreds of thousands of teachers from being layed off. Since Porkulus didn’t stimulate the economy, those jobs will only be “saved” for a short time. New tax revenues from economic growth for long term employment were needed, not a short term fix.
Massive layoffs of teachers and state workers, all union workers, are looming.
txvet2: Not likely to happen, he couldn’t “swoop & poop” there like he can here…
Well TOS, I was going to respond, but txvet2 and nail49 have covered it better than I was going to.
I will point one thing out, which may have caused the apparition of effectiveness: If you pump enough cash into almost anything, you’ll get a bump. Whether that bump lasts any length of time or not depends on how bad the problem was and whether or not the infusion winds up causing greater harm than good.
BTW, I want to point out that I AM NOT in favor of stimulus programs at all. If I could directly vote instead of relying on my un-reliable senators and congress-things I would vote against all manner of government cheese.
SHoward: Glad you used cheese instead of a 4-letter word that might have gotten you banned…
On February 17th, 2010 at 2:41 pm, mytake said:
Why would I want to do that? 10 of the 12 congressional districts surrounding me are Republican, including the one I live in.
I can sit by the swimming pool and look through the palm trees at snow covered mountains (80 degrees today).
I can get up in the the morning, eat breakfast at home, and then enjoy lunch in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Albuquerque….Denver.
Stimulus waste: Martini Bar right up the road from me in St. Joseph, Mo was awarded 25K as part of a $100,000 infusion into revitalizing the downtown.
The mayor defended the ‘grant’ by saying if the government was dumb enough to give away money that doesn’t belong to it, he certainly would accept it.
The owner of the bar has since told the city that he no longer wants the money.
Good for him!
I would like to
When did it become OK to rob all citizens and put them in hock to stimulate those that haven’t quite measured up. Tough love, you betcha.
MM’s challenge to name your favorite stimulus failure/waste – I’d say the last election in 2008 and inauguration in 2009….the millions thrown away for a result that was already predetermined is terminally ugly. Course, it’s a drop in the bucket of what’s transpired since but it did give a good indication of where we were going, plastic/foam pillars and all.
Er…um… congratz on coming out.., I guess.
100% of Your Tax Dollars At Work Providing:
* Government Jobs and retirement benefits
* Union Jobs and retirement benefits
* Paybacks to Lobbyists
How’s that Hope&Change going for ya?
My prayer is Obama will be a one term president. After which he will retire to his beach house in the socialist/communist country of his choice. I understand Cuba has some really nice beaches for the elite.
I saw the sign! You know, the ones along the road that said “This project is funded by the American Recovery and Investment Act”! Something to that effect anyway.
I’m sooo glad they made darn sure that we knew it was government who is trying to take of us. After all, those nice dems are just looking out for us common folk because they have no faith in the living to take care of themselves.
Watch out for fake Tea Parties/Third Parties that exist only to split patriotic votes and tip elections to the Demonrat Marxists.
Nevada Democrats register a “Tea Party” Candidate for the US Senate to help Harry Reid.