"Biden hails stimulus benefits, says 500,000 jobs created; Seeks to counter critics on scale, implementation" by Ben Feller and Brett J. Blackledge, Associated Press | September 4, 2009
WASHINGTON - Defending a costly plan to revitalize the economy, Vice President Joe Biden said yesterday that the Obama administration’s sweeping stimulus effort “is in fact working.’’
*****************
Biden’s glowing assessment overlooked many of the program’s problems, including delays in releasing money, questionable spending priorities, and project picks that are under investigation.
Biden, Obama’s chief stimulus cheerleader, pointed to more than 2,200 highway projects funded by the program but did not mention the growing frustration among contractors that the money is only trickling out and thus far hasn’t delivered the needed boost in jobs.
Maybe you can WAIT FIFTY YEARS (see last article in this post).
He said there were 192 airports targeted with stimulus money but made no reference to the investigation launched after a federal watchdog raised concerns about how the projects were selected. Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III said his office discovered that the Obama administration used stimulus money to pay for 50 airport projects that didn’t meet the grant criteria and approved projects at four airports with a history of mismanaging federal grants.
Related: Look What Made the State Stimulus Wish List
Biden praised the more than 2,400 military construction projects funded with stimulus money but ignored the millions of dollars in savings the Defense Department lost because it hasn’t competitively bid many of the jobs.
"the Pentagon is using $300 million of the $7.4 billion it received from the economic stimulus package to accelerate existing programs for developing alternative fuels and saving energy"
Is that, REALLY STIMULUS, readers? WHERE are the JOBS?
You know, when you start looking at what was spent and done, it sure seems like a GLOBALIST PLAN to me! Once they depopulate the place, it all makes sense, doesn't it? The ethanol, the enviro-s***, and the rest.
The Defense Department frequently awards no-bid work to small contractors for repairs at military bases under the stimulus, costing taxpayers millions more than when businesses compete for the work, an Associated Press analysis of 570 such contracts found.
So you STIMULATED WAR LOOTING, 'eh, America?
(See article immediately below this one for more)
**************************
Now let's here from Joe-Blow, huh?
“The recovery act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy and changing the conversation in this country,’’ Biden said. “Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession.’’
Biden delivered an upbeat report card, citing estimates by private analysts that the $787 billion plan has created or saved 500,000 to 750,000 jobs since it started 200 days ago tomorrow. But many millions remain out of work and the nation’s unemployment rate threatens to top 10 percent....
The stimulus package is a mix of tax cuts, increased spending on Medicaid, and huge investments in infrastructure, education, energy projects, and more. The White House is eager to promote signs of progress as the economy lumbers out of recession.
This WH is JUST LIKE the LAST ONE!!
Many economists warn that the unemployment rate will keep rising until at least next summer, and it is that measure - the loss or creation of jobs - by which many Americans decide whether economic life is getting better.
DAMN RIGHT it is because IF THERE ARE NO JOBS there IS NO RECOVERY!!
Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers will report an updated projection next Thursday of the number of jobs created or saved because of the stimulus plan.
Pfffft!
Biden said he expects it will back up his predictions of 150,000 jobs in the first 100 days and 600,000 created or saved over the second 100 days of the act.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised!
Biden warned that the recovery will be uneven. But he said so far, the law is “doing more, faster, more efficiently, and more effectively than most expected.’’
The White House, though, has also admitted that its initial economic forecasts to sell the stimulus were too rosy. Many Republican leaders say the stimulus is not working nearly as well as the White House promotes, and at a huge cost of debt to the nation....
--more--"
Related: Stimulus Was Stolen
Boston Globe Censors Stolen Stimulus
"Stimulus work sends cash flowing out of US" by Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Correspondent | September 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - After winning $2.3 million in federal stimulus money for a sewer project, officials in Auburn, Maine, wrangled another prize from Washington: permission to forgo American-made manhole covers for a design made only at a Canadian foundry.
Is that what you really planned for YOUR TAX DOLLARS, America?
Did you REALLY WANT to BORROW for that?
As local governments race to spend stimulus money, many are seeking exemptions from the law’s “Buy American’’ restrictions, which were intended to prevent taxpayer money from ending up in foreign pockets.
Well, what do you know, another government "failure."
The administration has granted waivers for goods as varied as steel for public housing projects, high-speed Internet equipment, and Auburn’s manhole covers, which have heavy-duty hinges to help withstand the town’s heavy truck traffic.
The Obama administration could not provide a list or amount of waivers granted - which potentially could total billions of dollars - and Vice President Joe Biden’s office, which has responsibility for overseeing the stimulus, did not respond to requests for comment.
That's our NEW, TRANSPARENT administration!
Local officials and trade groups said that the drive to finish stimulus projects quickly, and the paucity of some American-made products, made the waivers inevitable.
And FOR THAT you can THANK the GLOBALISTS who SET THIS ALL UP! Now I don't think this was a "failure" at all -- it is just ONE MORE PIECE of the GLOBAL GOVERNMENT PROJECT!
But labor unions and manufacturers, which lobbied for the restrictions, said waivers should be a last resort and represent lost opportunities to reap the most benefit from the $787 billion stimulus package by directing money to struggling US workers....
Pretty obvious we don't matter, isn't it?
The exemption for manhole covers in Auburn - one of the first such waivers when the Environmental Protection Agency determined in May that there was no equivalent US version - triggered an especially angry reaction from American makers of manholes, grates, and other “municipal castings,’’ which generally cost about $170 each.
“Foundries in the US are very capable of producing any manhole cover you’d need of any type, and we’re all hurting for business right now,’’ said A. Joe Mann, director of construction sales for special projects at Neenah Foundry Co. in Wisconsin, which has laid off about 400 workers at two plants. It reported a $13.3 million loss last quarter.
But JOE BIDEN says the stimulus has been SUCCESSFUL beyond any one's dreams! That they have saved three-quarters of a million jobs -- even as we LOST MILLIONS MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I fail to see how STIMULUS MONEY going to CANADA helped SAVE AMERICAN JOBS, but....
Mann said that Neenah was not contacted by the EPA to check whether the company could make the manholes before the agency issued the waiver. A spokeswoman for the EPA referred questions to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Of course, newspapers are better than blogs because they hold the politicians feet to the fire.
Normand Lamie, superintendent of Auburn’s sewer district, said that without the waiver, a shovel-ready infrastructure project that created about 75 construction jobs could have been delayed, and the city would have been unable to buy the type of covers it wanted.
Public servants who don't give a shit about you and then lie to you about it. This guy needs a bath in Boston harbor, with full tar and feathers!
In response to a slew of requests like Auburn’s, the EPA issued a blanket exemption for foreign-made components last month....
And there you go, 'murkn!
Today, the Obama administration will continue its public relations blitz to highlight the benefits of the stimulus plan.... with a major Biden speech in Washington and appearances around the country by four Cabinet secretaries.
MEET the NEW BOSS -- SAME as the OLD BOSS!!
Most of the infrastructure money in the stimulus package has not been spent....
Un-flipping-believable.
Critics of the restrictions, however, said the waivers reflect the reality that the United States no longer makes many basic goods, and that in a global economy many products are assembled in several countries, rendering the rules unenforceable.
Are you HAPPY with GLOBALISM, 'murkn?
Yeah, I KNEW YOU WERE NOT and THIS IS WHY!!!!!!!!!!!
You NEVER LIKED any of this s*** that was RAMMED DOWN YOUR UNWILLING THROAT!!!!!!!!
The provisions were among the most contentious parts of the stimulus bill during the congressional debate in January, backed by labor and most Democrats, but opposed by big business, Senate Republicans, and Canada....
Which TELLS YOU that 'politics" is ALL SHIT FOOLEYS!!!
Before the rules were put in place, Canada exported about $6 billion worth of sewer and water treatment equipment to the United States annually. Canadian business officials said US distributors are now afraid to stock Canadian products that they may never be able to sell to cities.
Now I see what the problem is, Gloucester.
“We’re seeing a chilling effect throughout the supply chain,’’ said Jay Myers, the president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper complained to President Obama about the issue last month.
But Linda Andros, legislative counsel for the United Steelworkers, called Canada’s complaints comical, pointing out that Canadian towns and provinces have long restricted their purchases to domestic goods, and that the Canadian government had recently declined to join an agreement to open its municipal contracts to foreign manufacturers....
So how come it is OKAY for THEM but NOT US, 'murka?
--more--"
Hey, you got FIFTY YEARS for the stimulus to pan out, right?
"Medical grants a boon for Mass.; Only Calif. received more NIH funding" by Carolyn Y. Johnson and Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | September 4, 2009
Massachusetts biomedical researchers are seeing a windfall from federal stimulus money, with the state receiving more in grants from the National Institutes of Health than all others but California.
With $178 million in extra federal funds already directed toward Massachusetts, research projects that had been dormant are being revived and others are accelerating. By midweek, 660 new grants had been sprinkled across the state’s hospitals and university laboratories as part of the Obama administration’s campaign to kick-start a sputtering economy. More money is coming in daily, and researchers say they have begun hiring junior scientists and technicians and buying new equipment.
This isn't going to do it!
Massachusetts lags behind more populated states in overall stimulus funding, but scientists here are receiving a disproportionate share of the $10 billion the NIH plans to distribute....
I'm not proud or happy of looting you, fellow American taxpayer and citizen. I'd just as soon send it all back to you.
Like bridge and road projects that add to the employment ranks now but also establish transportation corridors with a longer-term economic effect, funding for scientific research is aimed not only at job creation, but at planting the seeds of innovation that will improve human health and put more people to work in the years ahead, when research may yield commercial applications and products.
Yeah, it's called PUBLIC SUBSIDY, PRIVATE GAIN! TAXPAYERS PAY for the FUNDING and RESEARCH, and THEN when the innovation is profitable (or not in the case of biotechs) it is TURNED OVER to FAVORED INTERESTS in the PRIVATE SECTOR! Nice going, suckers!!!!
For example, some time this month, a truck will pull up to a loading dock at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and deliver human lung tissue samples packed in dry ice. It’s part of work involving three pulmonary disease research grants from the NIH totaling about $1 million....
Pfft!
Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine:
“The whole idea is to generate data and apply for bigger grants,’’ said Choi. That could lead to new ways of dealing with COPD.
Explains itself, doesn't it?
But betting on innovation is risky, and it can take years for benefits to trickle into the economy. A recent article in the journal Science pointed out that the biotechnology industry was based on scientific advances from the 1950s, while the Internet revolution of the 1990s was the realization of investments made in the 1970s and 1980s.
Do YOU HAVE FIFTY YEARS to wait for this to pay off, 'murkn?
Un-frikkin'-real!
This is just MORE WASTED DOUGH to PET PROJECTS and WELL-CONNECTED INTERESTS!
“We perfectly well understand that this is, as the name suggests, a recovery and reinvestment act - the recovery is what happens right now and investments are the investments in research and development, where you expect a benefit ultimately down the road,’’ White House science adviser John P. Holdren said earlier this summer. “It’s not particularly bothersome that there’s a big lag there; we understand it takes time for research to impact the economy positively.’’
Yeah, but 50 YEARS?!!!!
Related: The Climate Engineers
Oh, did I mention Holdren is nuts?
Still, the immediate effect of the stimulus is beginning to play out in local labs, and scientists are finding themselves facing a new, entirely welcome kind of pressure.
“The challenge is, the money comes in and you’re under the gun,’’ said Dr. Richard Bringhurst, senior vice president of medicine and research management at Massachusetts General Hospital. “To hire new staff, to get the work under way . . . it can be hard to recruit them quickly, there’s a timing challenge that’s imposed disproportionately with these short-term grants.’’
Typical NIH grants are for three to five years, but the stimulus money is for shorter periods....
So how long you gotta wait for the pay off, 'murka?
Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't criticize. Boston benefited.
"City adds $720,000 in stimulus; Federal funds total $172.6m" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | August 25, 2009
.... A six-month tally of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, believed to be the first report of its kind by a major city in the country, shows Boston has received $172.6 million in federal funds, which has helped launch 41 construction and work-training projects. The city has also used that money to leverage another $162.2 million in matching state and private grants, for a total investment of $334.8 million citywide.
“You see a lot of public opinion on the recovery act, whether it’s working, but we’re six months in, and we know we’ve saved jobs,’’ said Jake Sullivan, coordinator of the city’s stimulus funds. “We know we have programs starting, because of the recovery act.’’
As the nation’s economy plunged, the city was able to use federal funding to save 100 police officer jobs and 231 positions within the Boston Public Schools, including 180 teacher posts.
No offense, but....
"That's not stimulus. Stimulus means starting a company that will CONTINUE to sell products and provide jobs after that stimulus money runs out. Like the road patching operations being funded with stimulus money, once the initial project is over, those people are out of work again, the stimulus money is gone, and there are no operating businesses making products for sale." -- Wake the Flock Up
And just because government claims it don't think I'm believing it anymore. Shouldn't have lied about Iraq and shouldn't be lying every day. That's what happens, folks -- the TRUST is GONE!!!
The stimulus package directly funded 850 youth jobs in the city’s summer jobs program - close to 10,000 were created in all - and the city has leftover funding for the winter and next summer. Job training was offered to 232 adults.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino plans to announce today that the Boston Redevelopment Authority will receive $720,000 in federal funding for three contaminated sites. The city will use the money to remove contaminated soil from the former Levedo Motors site at Mallard and Talbot avenues, where a transit-oriented mixed-use building of rental units and commercial space is planned by the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation.
See: How Big is Your BRA, Boston?
Also, the money will help in the cleanup of the AB&W building at 157 Washington St., where the Codman Square group plans another mixed-use building; and money will be used to clean up the site at 32 Jackson Square, to be redeveloped by Urban Edge as affordable housing and commercial retail space.
Boston has also used stimulus funding to start construction jobs, including the renovation of public housing buildings across the city. At least $30 million has been directed toward public housing, notably the Washington Beech complex in Roslindale. Sullivan said the stimulus funding has also helped launch long-term projects that were only at the conceptual stage....
The city’s tally of stimulus funding, expected to be released today, comes as public officials have worked to defend the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
IF it was SUCH a SUCCESS they WOULD NOT HAVE to DEFEND IT!
The RESULTS would be SELF-EVIDENT!
Yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray and John Walsh, chairman of the state Democratic Party, held a conference call with reporters to tout the act’s success in Massachusetts. But the state Republican Party released a statement saying the stimulus funding has failed to help Massachusetts, that the state has lost jobs, and that the state’s unemployment rate continues to increase.
Sullivan said the act has helped projects in Boston....
And how can you question that?
