New ways? Why Mr. president you’re touting the same old rehashed infrastructure propaganda that got us into this mess in the first place! If Republicans drove the economy into a ditch as Mr. Soetoro pointed out then his stimulus packages has launch our economy on to an unknown asteroid which we may never see coming this way again.Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Barack Obama will call for long-term investments in the nation’s roads, railways and runways that would cost at least $50 billion.—Washington AP
When the president first announced the $787 Billion dollar stimulus package a year ago, which incidentally has ballooned to about $1Trillion dollars, he say it was for shovel ready good green jobs as well as building roads, bridges and the country’s infrastructure. (see 1:46min video)
Then he called for a second stimulus, called a jobs bill, which he got an additional $26Billion dollars (see previous post)
Now he’s calling for a third stimulus, at least $50billion more for starters, to do what? To start an infrastructure bank and create jobs in the near future (next year). I’m not kidding. This third bite of the apple would be for rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads; constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of railways, enough to go coast-to-coast; and rehabilitating or reconstructing 150 miles of airport runways, while also installing a new air navigation system designed to reduce travel times and delays. Why the same old things that he said the first $1 Trillion dollars was for in the previous video (see 1:36min video)
If you don’t remember, the first stimulus was allocated as follows:
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
• $300 million for grants to combat violence against women
• $2 billion for federal child-care block grants
• $6 billion for university building projects
• $15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
• $4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
• $1 billion for community-development block grants
• $4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
• $650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”
• $145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits
• $83 billion for the earned income credit
• $150 million for the Smithsonian
• $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
• $500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
• $44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
• $350 million for Agriculture Department computers
• $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
• $448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
• $600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
• $450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
• $600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
• $1 billion for the Census Bureau
• $4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• $850 million for Amtrak
• $87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
• $1.7 billion for the National Park System
• $55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
• $7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
• $150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
• $150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”
• $2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
• $2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
• $6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
• $3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
• $3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
• $200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
• $300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
• $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
• $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
• $1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
• $8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
• $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
• $4.5 billion for electricity grid
Somewhere in all of the above Soetoro promised jobs to fix the jobs infrastructure one year ago. It didn’t happen so where is the money and why does Soetoro need over $50 billion dollars more when he already has over $136Billion Dollars held in reserve out of $275 Billion allotted for jobs creation from the original $1 Trillion dollars. (source)
The fact is, the [first] stimulus package has been a remarkable failure when it comes to creating new jobs. The Obama administration claims that the stimulus spending created or saved 640,329 jobs by the last quarter of 2009. Given the $275 billion from the stimulus devoted to programs to create jobs that means every new job costs the American taxpayer $429,000. According to Census Bureau numbers, in 2008 the median wage for full-time jobs was $37,115. With benefits, let’s round this up generously to $50,000. If the stimulus money were being spent as efficiently as private-sector money is, the stimulus should have created nearly 5.5 million jobs.
According to figures at the administration’s own Web site, recovery.gov, of that $275 billion originally allocated for job creation, as of today, only about half has been spent--$139 billion. --Mary Kate Cary (source)
According to figures at the administration’s own Web site, recovery.gov, of that $275 billion originally allocated for job creation, as of today, only about half has been spent--$139 billion. --Mary Kate Cary (source)
All of the lies that are being told by this administration, “If we would just let a Democrat controlled Congress and a Democrat President spend the money of our children and our children’s children we would have good green shovel ready jobs that would repair our infrastructure and fix our economy.” Here, here, here and here.
It didn’t happen, the first stimulus didn’t work and now Soetoro is asking for more money, another Stimulus?
In addition to that, we’re being told that Soetoro’s handpicked top Economic advisor didn’t know what she was doing. Therefore, she’s quitting and going back to the profession one is employed in when one can’t do.
Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers has quit effective September 3, 2010. She is going back to teaching.
According to Lori Montgomery reporter for Washington Post, Romer was instrumental in crafting the $862 billion economic stimulus package that Obama signed shortly after being sworn into office. She co-wrote a paper that predicted the stimulus would prevent unemployment rates from rising above 8 percent (source)
According to Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, Ms. Romer had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be. She still doesn't understand exactly why it was so bad. The response to the collapse was inadequate. And she doesn't have much of an idea about how to fix things. (source)
Her boss thinks he knows that’s why he’s calling for a third stimulus package in the amount of over $50billion dollars when the first two didn’t work. This one won’t either.
