Thursday, February 5, 2009

Obama: Pass it now, or we may never recover

I will admit that the United States needs some sort of stimulus to help the economy. But maybe a stimulus that is capitalistic, not socialistic.

President Barack Obama says, no he threatens the Senate to pass his pork bill. What is a reality is that this "stimulus" has little if anything to do with stimulizing the economy.

The US House of Representatives passed their version of the "stimulus" and now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to pass his version of the "stimulus" to "improve" the economy.

Now, there is some things in this bill that will help the economy, but this is only a small part of the bill. The rest is pork. In fact, the city of Chicago is getting millions from this bill, if it's passed. Why? Is it because Obama is from Chicago and it's a thank you to Mayor Richard Daley?

This bill may put the US economy into a depression. But no worries, Obama will just blame it and everything that goes wrong on George W. Bush. The media will agree. Obama's "quick fix" is just like eating a doughnut. It tastes good when you eat it, but if you don't exercise, you will pay for it later. If you catch my drift.

--Chicago Tribune--
Daley refuses to release stimulus project list
Posted by Dan Mihalopoulos at 6:40 p.m.

Mayor Richard Daley said today Chicago has compiled a wish list of "shovel-ready projects" to spend federal economic stimulus funds on should Congress approve a plan.

Unlike hundreds of other cities, however, Daley said Chicago won't make its list public.

"Yes, we do, we have our list, we've been talking to people. We did not put that out publicly because once you start putting it out publicly, you know, the newspapers, the media is going to be ripping it apart," Daley said.

"It's very controversial. Yes, we have ready projects from the Board of Education to the City Colleges to the Park District to the CTA and the city of Chicago. Oh yes. Us and New York decided not to do that. We thought we could go directly into the federal bureaucracies and the different departments," the mayor added.

Later, Daley was asked why he wasn't being more transparent.

"Read some of your newspapers. Heh heh," he replied.



I did find a list of possible projects in Obama's stimulus package. This may not be the entire list because the Senate may add some more pork to the deal.

(source: http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/datasets/obamas-stimulus-plan-the-breakdown/versions/1 )


Category Project Amount ($)
Energy Electricity Grid 11000000000
Energy Renewable Energy Loans for Projects 8000000000
Energy Renovate and repair federal buildings 6700000000
Energy Grants for state and local governments 6900000000
Energy Energy retrofits for low-income housing 2500000000
Energy Energy efficiency and renewable energy research 2000000000
Energy Loans for vehicle battery manufacturers 2000000000
Energy Energy efficiency grants and loans for schools, governments and utilities 1500000000
Energy Weatherizing homes 6200000000
Energy Rebates for smart appliances 300000000
Energy Replacing federal vehicles with alternative fuel cars 600000000
Energy Grant program for electric vehicle technology 200000000
Energy Projects for cleaning fossil energy 2400000000
Energy Department of Defense research 350000000
Energy Assistance to state and local governments for alternative fuel busses 400000000
Energy Projects for energy efficient manufacturing processes 400000000
Energy Grants and loans to states and cities for diesel emissions reduction 300000000
Science and Technology Wireless and broadband grants 6000000000
Science and Technology National Science Foundation 3000000000
Science and Technology National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research 2000000000
Science and Technology University Research Facilities 1500000000
Science and Technology Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 462000000
Science and Technology Department of Energy 1900000000
Science and Technology NASA 600000000
Science and Technology Biomedical Advanced Research and Development, Pandemic Flu and Cyber security 900000000
Science and Technology National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites and Sensors 600000000
Science and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology 300000000
Science and Technology Agricultural Research Service 209000000
Science and Technology U.S. Geological Survey 200000000
Business Small Business Credit 430000000
Business Rural Business-Cooperative Service 100000000
Business Industrial Technology Services 100000000
Business Economic Development Assistance 250000000
Science and Technology DTV Conversion 650000000
Infrastructure Highway infrastructure 30000000000
Infrastructure New transit construction 1000000000
Infrastructure Transit upgrades and repair 2000000000
Infrastructure Transit assistance to expand facilities 6000000000
Infrastructure Amtrak and Intercity rail grants 1100000000
Infrastructure Airport improvement grants 3000000000
Infrastructure Aviation explosive detection systems 500000000
Infrastructure Coast Guard bridges 150000000
Infrastructure Improving Social Security Administration 400000000
Infrastructure IT improvements for Farm Service Agency 245000000
Infrastructure State Department Technology 276000000
Infrastructure Repairs for Department of Agriculture 44000000
Infrastructure Department of Defense medical facilities 3750000000
Infrastructure Military facility repairs 2100000000
Infrastructure Troop housing 1200000000
Infrastructure Department of Defense child development centers 360000000
Infrastructure Guard and Reserve facilities 400000000
Infrastructure Veterans medical facilities 950000000
Infrastructure Veterans cemetaries 50000000
Infrastructure Border ports of entry 1150000000
Environment Job Corps facilities 300000000
Environment Public land and park construction 3100000000
Environment National treasures 400000000
Environment Corps of engineers water restoration 4500000000
Environment Bureau of reclamation 500000000
Environment Watershed infrastructure 400000000
Environment Repairs to flood control systems 224000000
Environment Clean Water State Revolving Fund 6000000000
Environment Drinking Water State Revolving Fund 2000000000
Environment Rural water and waste disposal loans 1500000000
Environment Hazardous waste cleanup 800000000
Environment Leaking underground storage tanks cleanup 200000000
Environment Nuclear waste cleanup 500000000
Environment Cleanup and close military bases 300000000
Environment NOAA habitat restoration 400000000
Environment Grants to cleanup brownfields 100000000
Environment State and private wildfire precention 550000000
Environment Federal Forest wildfire prevention 300000000
Infrastructure Bureau of Indian Affairs 500000000
Education School construction 20000000000
Education Education technology 1000000000
Education Pell grants 15600000000
Education College Work-Study 490000000
Education Student Aid Administration 50000000
Education IDEA special education 13000000000
Education Grants to help disadvantaged kids 13000000000
Education Statewide data systems 250000000
Education Education for homeless children and youth 66000000
Education Improving teacher quality 300000000
Education Childcare for low-income families 2000000000
Education Head Start 2100000000
Education IDEA Infants and families 600000000
Healthcare Health information technology 20000000000
Healthcare Prevention and wellness fund 3000000000
Healthcare Healthcare effectiveness research 1100000000
Healthcare Community health centers 1500000000
Healthcare Training for primary care providers 600000000
Healthcare Indian health service facilities 550000000
Jobs Training and employment services 4000000000
Jobs Vocational rehabilitation state grants 500000000
Jobs Employment services grants 500000000
Jobs Community service employment for seniors 120000000
Jobs Increasing and expanding unemployment insurance 36000000000
Jobs COBRA for the unemployed 30300000000
Housing Funding for public housing 5000000000
Housing HOME Investments with local communities 1500000000
Housing Native American housing grants 500000000
Housing Funds for communities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes 4200000000
Housing Homeless assistance grants 1500000000
Housing Rural housing insurance fund 500000000
Housing Fund for rural, high-need sustainable building practices 10000000
Housing Lead paint removal from homes 100000000
Housing Rural community facilities 200000000
Social programs Nutrition assistance to modest-income families 20000000000
Social programs Senior nutrition programs 200000000
Social programs Afterschool meals 726000000
Social programs Improving systems related to WIC 100000000
Social programs Payments to disabled and elderly 4200000000
Social programs Community services grants 1000000000
Social programs Community development grants 1000000000
Social programs Emergency food and shelter 200000000
Social programs Low-Income home energy assistance 1000000000
Social programs Child support enforcement 1000000000
Social programs Social security backlog 500000000
Social programs Centers for independent living 200000000
Social programs AmeriCorps 200000000
Social programs Grants to faith- and community-based organizations 100000000
Social programs Department of Labor Worker Protection 80000000
Public Services Medicaid Aid to states 87000000000
Public Services State Education 120000000000
Public Services Temporary Assistance for needy families 2500000000
Public Services State and local law enforcement support 4000000000
Public Services Periodic census and programs 1000000000

Wait! There's more! Lets check what's behind door number two:

$2 billion for child-care subsidies
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$400 million for global-warming research
Another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.


IN THE NEWS
The 2009 Stimulus Bill includes what?
Business Week: Stimulus: How Porky is it?
Boston Globe: Stimulus plan at a glance

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