The weatherization boondoggle, redux
I’ve covered the Green Jobs boondoggle many times here over the past year (see, for example, 4/13/09 “Spain’s green jobs boondoggle;” 12/15/09, “Here comes Cash for Caulkers (again!); Update: Obama: “Insulation is sexy”; 1/7/10 “Green Jobs” = SEIU/Union Jobs;” 1/8/10, “Here comes another multi-billion-dollar Green Jobs boondoggle,” 3/2/10, “A wind power cautionary tale”). Here’s yet more evidence of the federal weatherization scam, via the Associated Press:
After a year of crippling delays, President Barack Obama’s $5 billion program to install weather-tight windows and doors has retrofitted a fraction of homes and created far fewer construction jobs than expected.
In Indiana, state-trained workers flubbed insulation jobs. In Alaska, Wyoming and the District of Columbia, the program has yet to produce a single job or retrofit one home. And in California, a state with nearly 37 million residents, the program at last count had created 84 jobs…
…”This is the beginning of the next industrial revolution with the explosion of clean energy investments,” said assistant U.S. Energy Secretary Cathy Zoi. “These are good jobs that are here to stay.”
But after a year, the stimulus program has retrofitted 30,250 homes — about 5 percent of the overall goal — and fallen well short of the 87,000 jobs that the department planned, according to the latest available figures.
As the Obama administration promotes a second home energy-savings program — a $6 billion rebate plan — some experts are asking whether that will pay off for homeowners or for the planet.
Shhhh. Don’t speak too loudly about the actual consequences of Democrat spending bonanzas.
Remember: Henry “Chief Inquisitor” Waxman is listening…
***
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Obama’s Land of the LOST
May 25, 2012 01:42 PM by Michelle Malkin
0 CommentsJaczko the Jerk: Harry Reid’s sexist crony gets the boot
May 23, 2012 05:15 AM by Michelle Malkin
31 CommentsWhite House lied, jobs died
May 11, 2012 09:49 AM by Michelle Malkin
102 CommentsDrilling moratorium probe update: Green stonewallers caught red-handed
May 10, 2012 04:37 PM by Michelle Malkin
44 CommentsHillary Clinton convinces China to allow dissident and family to accompany her back to the US join ‘Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves’
May 5, 2012 11:17 AM by Doug Powers
34 Comments
Tens of thousands to fly to Rio to discuss how to limit greenhouse gas emissions
May 3, 2012 07:03 PM by Doug Powers
51 Comments
Obama energy solutions: Chicken crap is the new algae
April 30, 2012 01:13 PM by Michelle Malkin
145 Comments
EPA’s “Crucify them” guy throws himself under the bus
April 30, 2012 12:41 PM by Michelle Malkin
60 Comments
Categories: Enviro-nitwits,fiscal stimulus
Villainous Company
» Must Read Post of the Day. Possibly, the YearSister Toldjah
» Barack Obama: Can we call him a Socialist now?
With our government today, it’s the intent and desire that counts, not the results.
Obowmao: Gee, I really thought this would take off after I had Joe Biden pass out all those orange Home Depot aprons!
oh wow–what about all those energy efficient windows I just put in my house? Where my tax ‘credits’ at?!
It’s the same with this Prague agreement. I have an M-16 pointed at you; you have an M-16 pointed at me. In the interest of peace, I’ll take out 5 rounds and you take out 5 rounds. We still are pointing these weapons at each other, but it’s the intent that counts. “Peace in our lifetime.” I guess we’re supposed to be happy about that too. History will point out how useless the “One” was.
In Houston, $3.7 million dollars was spent on God only knows what, to retrofit 47 houses. That is $78,723 per house. We could have simply BOUGHT THEM A NEW HOUSE for the cost of this program. Texas Watchdog did an expose’ and discovered that there are absolutely no controls on how the money is spent.
http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2010/01/–hed-47-homes-retrofitted-37-mill-spent-under-texas/1264958630.story
Liars lie, and the windup Obamabots have it down to “lie about everything”.
Shhhh -
Democrat slush fund expenditure account…keep your receipts boyz!
Fifteen years ago, overseas and in the Peace Corps, I licked my chops at what $5000 could do to change someone’s life who really needed it. Here, we have people robbing our grandchildren to retrofit a few homes the owners of whom could fork out their own money to do. Even if robbing our grandchildren is “necessary,” the money could EVEN THEN be far more effectively “redistributed” to more worthy causes. This is ultimately pure evil disguised as jobs creation.
Correction, those totals are Texas wide.
There are still too many republicans buying into the global warming farce or not denouncing it as nonsense.
Mitt Romney was being interviewed by Juan Williams on CNBC the other day. The subject was Mitt’s new book. And while Williams did a decent job of keeping the interview fair, Romney’s comments about global warming and greenhouse gases are cause for great concern. The subject being discussed was cap n tax, which Romney opposes because it unfairly sacrifices US businesses while other countries do nothing.
The problem here is that he gives credence to the false premise that human CO2 emissions are the problem that needs to be addressed. And it’s just a matter of how fairly the economic burden is distributed around the world.
See the problem here with Romney?
We need politicians that are not afraid to call global warming the non-sense and fraud that it is.
No to McCain
No to Romney
No to anyone else that has no spine.
That’s one of the problems with Obama’s programs. One of many as we know. But this is what Obama wants. Government controlling a lot of spending so it can dictate what gets done, where it gets done, by whom and for whom. The cost is irrelevant. The inefficiency is irrelevant.
Look at cash for clunkers.
Look at the 2010 Census debacle detailed by Ms. Malkin.
In fact, look at just about any other “program” put in place by democrats.
In short and dem program can be summed up this way…..
“Way too much money spent on something we don’t need.”
Hey…. but it buy them votes.
That eliminates just about everyone. I agree with you, hardly anyone with the chance in front of a camera speaks truthfully about the issue, with the courage to call it what it is – A HOAX.
I agree! NO to any & all politician that subscribes to or perpetuates the “Global Warming” lie. That includes Romney, Newty, McLame, and any other Republican that can’t stand up for truth and accuracy.
The Head of the Department of Energy is a true Manchurian Candidate and somewhat unbalanced I might add. This is the same guy who wanted everyone to paint their roofs white since that color remains cooler in direct sunlight. Guess we’d have to paint our roofs black in the winter.
Implement the fair tax and we can eliminate the IRS. Since the Departments of Education and Energy never fulfilled their original goals set forth by Carter, they can be eliminated too.
Guess that would cause the unemployment numbers to go up too fast though.
Apparently every day is April fools day at in DC.
Too many republicans can’t resist joining the democrat power bandwagon. They hope that, being republican, they can avoid the disgust people have right now, for the democrats and get re-elected over their democrat opponents; even though both support the same nonsense. In other words, they critisize the democrat powergrab, and, in the privacy of their offices, cheer them on.
I can not fathom just what this boondoggle is-a sop to the unions and the greenies? The San Francisco Board of Stupidvisors/Supervisors, whatever, has come up with Meatless Mondays as a sop to the Food Police and greenies.Is this the new Progressives game plan- 2 for 1 stupid? No Stupid shall stand alone?
And let us ALL hope and pray there are no assassinations or attempts before the elections: that always causes an emotional backlash that greatly helps the Weenies, fuels the gun grabbers and increases illegitimate police powers. When they make their final push we will know it is time for other action, now is not the time.
Democrats need to explain how stealing and spending my (and your)money leads to a more healthy economy. We all know that will never happen because it’s not “about the economy stupid”, it’s about seizing power via economic coup d’etat.
The federal government is at the core of every problem we have had since FDR – buying and selling political influence. This criminality when perpetrated by politicos has been historically winked at – but no more. The American government, and indeed all world governments, are an anvil around the necks of the people, and we cannot tread water any more. At least the Chavez’ of the world are forthright in their criminal designs. Maybe that’s because they don’t view themselves as elite salon intellectuals captivated by their own fantasies.
And now it looks like we are about to fall into another government-induced economic crash with news of the latest in the Greek-European debacle. Clearly the conventional “democratic process” is no vehicle for the people to protect themselves from uncontrolled tyranny.
Anyone who expresses a belief in the hoax of global warming needs to be soundly defeated!! And they need to hear from us as to the reason why they are toast! If Romney has said anything to agree with any part of the global warming HOAX, he needs to hear from us! Anyone else who is for amnesty, cap and tax, any of the other disastrous programs put forth by the progressives needs to be told they will not be supported by us!! Period. And, I am really tired of hearing the same RINO names over and over as possible presidential candidates. They put out a list and ask you to vote on who you like. The list is: Juan McCain, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Ginrich…same ole, same ole. Even FOX does it. Those are choices??? At least they could add “none of the above”! This is 2008 all over again. WE MUST CHOOSE OUR OWN CANDIDATES, NOT LET THE MEDIA DO IT FOR US!
Yeah, like suddenly deciding to do each others’ laundry for “free” to create jobs.
It is not enough to create jobs, no matter how “green” & uselessly stupid. The people who are to do the install have to have equally stupid customers. That is much more difficult to create, especially with unemployment and concern for the future being as it is.
More rantings….
The most addictive subsatnce known to man is not alcohol, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or nicotine. It is the public dole – the earned wealth of others confiscated and redistributed by corrupt centralized governments. Self-reliance fades under the relentless pressure of forced entitlements – like the pusher handing out “free” samples to kids. All nations of the world are suffering from the symptoms of it now.
This is an addiction that may be impossible to overcome. God help us all.
Speaking of “make jobs” programs that are failing big, here is a report from “My Way” on how the census is doing and how the government plans to just make up the numbers.
And that isn’t even the biggest problem. There is an issue of “missing laptops” containing all the info anyone needs to steal identities on a large scale. All of that information just sitting there to be stolen or sold. Nah, couldn’t happen. Like Yahoo Serious famously said in “The Young Einstein”, “If you can’t trust the government, who CAN you trust?”
When it is -20 at 9:00 p.m. on calm evening, solar and wind are not going to keep my home lighted and warm.
Also, how many acres of land are needed for a wind or solar farm that will be the equivalent of a 100 megawatt conventional or nuclear power plant that can produse power 24×7?
The stupidity is stunning!
Aviator: You are so wrong about Mitt Romney. Why?
1. His wife is hot.
2. He’s a stud muffin.
3. He has fantastic hair.
What more do you want in a political leader?
Oh, I thought she said “the next intestinal revolution”. I was kind of looking forward to that. I’ve been severely constipated since November 2008.
probably the same place all that caulking I did is…lol….ooops I didn’t create or save a job now did I…and I certainly didn’t employ an illegal alien either…
Flyover: You are so cynical. Don’t you know that they are working on 10 quadrillion giga-watt Super Hadron Madroni Box storage cells that will keep an unlimited supply of power on hand?
The technology is within our grasp… any time now…. coming right up… almost ready… der go da Lorna Doone… okie dokie….
I’ll get back to you.
Garbage in, garbage out. Big intrusive government is garbage. What does anybody really expect??? Vote out every trucking incumbent and start over. This is our Country, not theirs.
This country is like a big elephant that the environmentalists/EPA has tied a very thin string to its leg.
It’s about time the elephant jerks its leg a bit and starts stomping on these groups who are causing human suffering and hardships in order to protect their mythical environmental victims like small fish in the San Joaquin valley of California or some planktin off a coral reef so off shore drilling is off limits.
Enough of this political correctness in the name of the environment. They are as big a sham as the Global Warming idiots.
No, every day is April Fools day on good tax paying Americans while every day is Christmas for the crooks in DC.
I remember going to a business in Ohio in the 1980′s during a coal strike, which caused the coal fired plants to reduce their output. In the building I was in every other light bulb had been removed to save electricity.
When asked what were doing in my state to conserve my answer was, “Nothing. When we need more power we just pull the rods out a little bit more on the nuclear reactor outside of town.”
That’s my kind of “nuke ‘em till they glow.”
Let’s see, $5 billion divided by 84 is – only $59 million per job. Yeah, yeah, there are more than 84 jobs, but how many exactly? And why is the FEDERAL gov involved in caulking people’s houses?
It would have been better to have taken all the stimulus money and divide it up and distribute it to the American public. All gov spending had become a continuous project to separate workers from their money.
Obamawhow, soaks up money faster than they can print it. Did you notice the discussion of Social Security, “This year it will take in less than it spends.” Quite a statement considering the Federal Government has been taking money out of the SS system since 1968 and writing paper IOU’s. Maybe Obamawhow can soak up some of them IOU’s.
The gubmint can’t run anything that isn’t overbudget and under performing. In St louis, the people just voted a 1/2 cent sales tax increase to give to our bus and light rail system, and the day after, the ceo was asked will this money mean the system will break even. The answer was no bus/light rail system will ever break even. Today, I am still being called by a person in northern Florida who I mailed a check to from Kansas City 8 days ago. And they want us to pay more for the post office. I can’t track it, as I could if I had sent it by FedEx/UPS, so I have to go to the bank and cancel the check, and send it again through UPS.
That, and maybe Pelosi has an excess of Botox. At least if they caulked with Botox, the paint would never crack.
Everyday the pressure builds as these anti-American, one-world socialists destroy our country and our children’s future. Our government has been hijacked by a deceitful regime which lies and distorts at every turn while it works feverishly to undermine the American way of life. Nothing could illustrate the deceit more starkly than the healthcare debate. Obama and his Dem. lackeys perpetrated this fraud based on criminally deceptive “accounting” tricks, which the Congressional Budget Office was obliged by law to turn a blind eye to.
Meanwhile, Obama disses Israel, plays patty-cake with the Russian bear, gets humiliated by the ChiComs, watches the Russians supply arms to Hugo Chavez, and pledges to the world that the U.S. will not use its most powerful weapons in response to an attack.
People on the Right are getting upset…very upset. Conservatives are — by nature — much slower to act out their political frustrations than libs who love to rush into the streets with bandannas pulled over their noses and mouths against the tear gas that they intend to provoke with their mob violence.
Conservatives are by nature more peaceful, but they are not dead. This building pressure will one day push someone over the edge. Someone will not merely send a threat but will lash out in real violence. And how will we all react?
Obama and state-controlled media will be fuming that the violence was incited by Limbaugh, by Fox News, by the internet, yada yada, yada yada. And they will be calling for repressive measures to silence their opponents.
I will be the streets the day after some misguided conservative goes over the edge and commits some violent act and I will be screaming, This is your fault, Obama, your fault MSM. It is you who have hijacked our government with a continuous stream of lies and deceptions as you worked your Alinsky schemes. YOU are responsible. You are the ones feeding the fire that makes the pot boil over. Now you reap the whirlwind.
In my state they did a rebate system for new energy efficient furnaces. Over 11K of the people who participated in this program recently got a letter saying the State of Ct Office of Policy Mgmt had someone steal their SSN and other personal info.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-opm-thefts-0323.artmar23,0,3259769.story
Ooops.
In Texas, they offered stimulus rebates for people to replace air conditioners and water heaters and windows and such with more efficient ones, The rebate signup started yesterday and within 5 hours every penny of the money had been spent.
Another zero for The Zero.
Obama: You expect to still have a home in 2011, comrade? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! We’ve had our eye on you, Mr. Flyoverman. Your spot at Re-education Camp # 10 has already been slotted.
If Obama’s $5 billion weatherization program created 84 jobs in one year, then it will only take $5 trillion and another 1000+ years to reach their original goal of 87,000 jobs. Maybe that’s by design. All hail to the Thousand Year Reich of Obama!
Too much caulk talk balk
It’s axiomatic that spending other folk’s money results in money spent unwisely.