Recently, members of the media have been raising alarms about exaggerated or false numbers of jobs created or "saved" by the Obama administration from the stimulus package earlier this year, citing the website www.recovery.gov, a site that is administered and fed by the Obama administration, as the source of the false information. Vice President Joe Biden has stated multiple times that these "errors" are simple mistakes made by 70 entities because of the rapid influx of 130,000 reports to the system, and that the administration is going through the site with a fine-tooth comb to correct these errors.
I spent 12 hours looking through the website and discovered that it is possible to view each state's total award amount, which Congressional Districts get awards, and how much money each district is awarded. It is not simply 1 or 2 or 5 or 20 states that have these errors, it's every single state. Every state in the U.S. has somewere between 5 million and 500 million dollars that have been either paid or earmarked for districts that do not exist. Almost 2.5 billion dollars, spread across the country, is allocated to nonexistent districts.
The video is a powerpoint slide show I created while I was researching this information. The yellow highlighted portions on each slide are districts that do not exist. The maps come from www.nationalatlas.gov and all the information came directly from www.recovery.gov .
Comments
If stimulus money is being wasted, it's being wasted by your precious business sector, not by government agencies. Stimulus money went to the private sector. I guess Obama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. I can imagine how you people would scream if stimulus money had actually been used to create public works programs. That wouldn't have satisfied you either. My concern is that our legislature has been co-opted by the Chamber of Commerce.
Hilary - really?
One example is a community action organization in northern massachusetts that was credited for creating I think 50 jobs, when in fact no jobs were created and they simply gave a pay raise to their current employees. Under the act, you're allowed to count pay raises(in multipler) to count as job creation. Which is impossible to argue as anything but misleading.
Also reports are coming out that errors have been encouraged by agencies reporting job creation(including non-profit, government, and private)or that errors by those agenices have been completely ignored. Stimilus money was used to create public works program, billions worth. "I can imagine how you people would scream if stimulus money had actually been used to create public works programs."
Hilary - You have never worked with a government agency before, have you? I don't personally care where the stimulus money is spent because I think no matter where it goes, it will not accomplish what the government says it will accomplish. However, to suggest that a business (which depends on a profit margin to survive) would be quicker to "waste" 2.5 billion dollars than the government (which has blown through almost 1 trillion this year and is predicted to go through probably 2 trillion more next year) is kind of far-fetched, don't you think?
UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Well, not actually. Obama has done nothing but pull the wool over the country's eyes since he started campaigning. I can't understand how there are still people out there who support him and his communist ideology. We need to get rid of him and quick before this country is flushed down the tubes.
Gee, Hilary, this is now the fault of the Chamber of Commerce? Is it possible for "you people" to ever say anything that President Obama doesn't say first? The only surprise in your "damned" comments is that you neglected to somehow blame George W. Bush for this fraud.
As far as our legislature being co-opted, you are right - it has been. By pandering fools.
Pandering fool - I couldn't have said it better!
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