Stimulus Tracker

Pretty sure this is a repost, but I think last time, I was too scared to look for fear of having an aneurysm. Thoughts: (I'm joking here:) According to the map, Pickens, Gilmer, and Fannin county GA, where I live/work...and where the white folks is at, haven't gotten squat. ZOMG!!1!! THEE OBAMA HATES WHITE PEOPLE!!! (half-joking:) This is a non-rich, rural area, that could legitimately benefit from some infrastructure improvements. I thought that was part of the point of this whole berkeleying "stimulus" thing.

Not joking here: While I was already pissed about this whole thing, I'm berkeleying furious now. If you don't work for the Government, or in Construction/Roadwork, you don't get dick. I could only look at one county, which is adjacent to mine, before a vein on my forehead started to swell. Humor me. Check out Bartow County GA (adjacent to my county - NW GA.)

This is also a non-rich rural area. They're slated for THIRTY_FIVE_MILLION_berkeleying_DOLLARS of our money. The biggest chunk of this money...get ready for it...will be spent to put TURNING LANES in the median of a bum-berkeley road in a bum-berkeley area, to the tune of 20 million berkeleying dollars. What's more - having browsed a few other counties in north ga, the same contractor, "CW Matthews" appears to be getting all of the north ga road contracts.

What's more - for each of these projects, there's a brown-data number, presumably based on the money spent on the project, of "job impact." As far as I know, CW Matthews is not a ginormous outfit. They have a branch in Ellijay. I don't know anyone who works for them. I've never seen their trucks on the road. Yet, in there slated "stimulus" projects for 5 north georgia counties, they're supposedly going to "create" 100 jobs.

Here's my question: Do you believe that 20 MILLION of your tax dollars, spent to put turning lanes in a 5 - 10 mile stretch of road that you'll never drive on is money well spent? If so, do you believe that this, and a couple other projects will create 100 PERMANENT jobs for people employed by "CW Matthews?" Or do you believe this falls under "Unsustainable." As a business owner/contractor, would you be more likely to hire 100 people (huge jump in overhead, headache, would likely require expansion of facilities, purchase of more equipment/vehicles, etc.) to get the job done quickly, or would you keep your current staff, and take your time, knowing that you've got a big motherberkeleyer of a check waiting at the end of the rainbow?

I'll be calling "CW Matthews" next week to see how many people they employ, and whether or not they're hiring.

Here's the "stimulus map:"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33498869/ns/us_news-the_stimulus_tracker#/all/all/us/all/

Here's the map for Bartow County - feel free to browse the adjacent counties and check my math:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33498869/ns/us_news-the_stimulus_tracker#/all/all/ga/13015/

Worry more about the non-compete/fixed price bids than the competitive ones..

http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/Pages/NonCompetitiveNonFixedContracts.aspx?RenderData=ALL&PageNumber=1

As for CW matthews.. cw matthews

They are hiring, it's right on their webpage. Maybe you can help complete the job at Hartsfield Airport in the ATL.

iggy said: As for CW matthews.. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cwmatthews.com%2F They are hiring, it's right on their webpage. Maybe you can help complete the job at Hartsfield Airport in the ATL.

"Leaving facebook?" I don't get it. Wow, LMGTFY totally pwns you. (kidding) I looked at their website this morning. They have applications. I didn't see anything about available positions. I'm required by law to hand out applications. Doesn't mean I'm hiring.

What about the rest? You heart thee obama right? Do you think any of this E36 M3 is sustainable? Feel comfortable shelling out 20 Million to...say for instance...put new sidewalks in front of my shop here in bum berkeley? Or more importantly, put turning lanes on a bum berkeley road in west bum berkeley?

and for some reason you thought that any of this stimulus spending was going to make some rational sense...?

Looks like where I live is doing OK from this. Second highest county in MD getting $656M.

$600M will go to SAIC - Fort Detrick which according to what has been in the local papers will mean ~200 construction jobs and ~150 long term jobs.

There are a lot of road construction, etc listed also. For most of the ones that have company names attached they are local companies that I recognize.

Hal wrote: Looks like where I live is doing OK from this. Second highest county in MD getting $656M. $600M will go to SAIC - Fort Detrick which according to what has been in the local papers will mean ~200 construction jobs and ~150 long term jobs. There are a lot of road construction, etc listed also. For most of the ones that have company names attached they are local companies that I recognize.

So again, if I work for the government, or a construction company, lucky me. If I don't, I'm boned...oh wait! There is that extra $13! Aw berkeley. Nevermind. I don't get that either. berkeleying fantastic.

I looked at the big projects in Hartford county, and the big hitters need to be done. Fix I-91 damnit.. FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Well, FWIW it got me a job. I'm working for a local architect helping to measure up and draw plans to renovate 10 (maybe more) vacant and foreclosed homes that have been purchased for this purpose by local housing agencies using stimulus funds. Call it a waste if you want, but it's $300 off the unemployment rolls every week, and I think the government is getting more for its money paying me to do my actual job, rather than paying me to sit around the house and stay out of school.

In reply to Josh:

What is funny to me, is all the signs that say something along the lines of "this project the result of the stimulus money given to the state" next to projects that were started several years ago..... WTF are they retroactively saying that projects are being paid for by money that was not there when the projects were actually started/planned?

Even Funnier (unless you are a MD taxpayer) is that Owe' Malley the govenor based balancing the budget on the state bailout money that Obama threw his way. This coming on the heels of a 20% sales tax increase the year before, which drove sales to the internet and out of state duh.......and the result is a serious lack of revenue and a projected 3 billion dollar deficit even before the stimulus money goes away............

I really hate living in the peoples republic of maryland anymore.

Chris Rummel

This topic was on the news tonight (Nov. 16th). If you go to the website that the government itself set up to track where the stimulus money is spent (according to the news accounts) quite a bit of it is being spent in places that don't exist. That is, according to the government, the money is spent in some Congressional districts that don't exist. In the American Virgin Islands, they said that $XXXXXX dollars and 3.3 jobs were saved/created. I'd hate to be that 0.3 job.....do they pay him/her in 1/3 dollars?

Remember that the stimulus money gets given to the states by the federal government. The states decide where it going to go. In some cases, it's probably being used to partially fund projects that were already planned or underway.

So if you're pissed about how the money's being spent, look at your state.

And I showed the CW Matthews website to my wife, who just finished managing the rebuilding of the Eagle/Vail airport. She said waaaaaaoooooow. Not a fly-by-night operation, and if they can rebuild a 9000' runway in 33 days she's really impressed

I agree poop, it's not only a waste of money, not only a huge power grab by the feds, but a giant squashing of the constitution.

But that's just me... maybe.

Keith wrote: Remember that the stimulus money gets given to the states by the federal government. The states decide where it going to go. In some cases, it's probably being used to partially fund projects that were already planned or underway. So if you're pissed about how the money's being spent, look at your state. And I showed the CW Matthews website to my wife, who just finished managing the rebuilding of the Eagle/Vail airport. She said waaaaaaoooooow. Not a fly-by-night operation, and if they can rebuild a 9000' runway in 33 days she's really impressed

Rebuild? no problem... just don't use it to take off or land on.

poopshovel wrote: Here's the "stimulus map:" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33498869/ns/us_news-the_stimulus_tracker#/all/all/us/all/

First off, I'm not a supporter of this stimulus crap, nor of a lot of the Obama administration. But I think that you shouldn't get upset just because it's not your street. There are millions of roads in the US, don't be upset just because it's not your road. You never drive on it, so how do you know it's not a heavily trafficked road, or the average rate of incidents related to turning vehicles, and so on and so on.

If you look at the Stimulus MAP and compare it to the map below you'll notice that they are actually pretty similar. The map below is a population density map. I still think the stimulus is a terrible idea, but it would appear that it's not going all "evil hate on whities" as some are making it out to be.

Population Density Map

But I think that you shouldn't get upset just because it's not your street.

That was the "half-joking" part. My county, in spite of being "non-wealthy" does okay for ourselves. I'd honestly rather not have to see one of those "your stimulus money at work!" signs in my county, as it would throw me into an uncontrollable fit of rage. I vote against local tax increases for sidewalk, road, etc., improvements whenever they're on the ballot, as I see waste in our local government that could be cut to pay for these improvements.

Example: We had a "SPLOST" (Special Purpose Local Optional Sales Tax) bill on the last ballot, asking if you'd support a sales tax increase to fund $17,000 worth of sidewalk improvements. I voted "no" because EVERY time I go to the tag office, there are two women working, and two women huddled in the corner talking about the great deal they found on a pair of shoes this weekend. 2 employees at 10 bucks an hour (without taking insurance, 401k, taxes, etc. into account) = $40k a year. There's your $17k in sidewalk improvements, and then some.

Yes, I'm pissed that our governor took the money in the first place. Yes, I understand that thee obama didn't wave a magic wand and make this happen on his own.

No, I will never understand how putting turning lanes on some bum-berkeley road, using exponentially more tax dollars than I will ever pay over the course of my life is "good for the economy" or the least bit sustainable in terms of lowering unemployment.

“There are two fools in this world…one is the millionaire who thinks hoarding money will result in real power and the other is the reformer who thinks taking money from one class and giving it to another will do any good.” - Henry Ford

If the objective was to stimulate the economy, we’d just send everyone checks based on their reported income…this would be the fast, efficient, & fair way of getting the job done. We didn’t employ this method because it wouldn’t support the reformers true objective of being able to determine everyone’s fate.

poopshovel wrote: If you don't work for the Government, or in Construction/Roadwork, you don't get dick.

You only just figured that out? And at that, you can pretty well take Government out of it, as almost all the jobs are subcontracted out to construction companies and roadway companies.

Some of us have been trying to get money for things like restocking the bay with oysters and such. But, those things aren't as "shovel ready" as blowing up wrecked dams or removing abandoned bridges and such. So the money goes to them instead.

Don't forget, insulate your house yourself, get no tax credit. Make your own storm windows, no tax credit for you! Self sufficiency or diy is not ever rewarded. Only when you hire someone else and spend a lot more money then you need to will you get any tax credit.

RX Reven' wrote: If the objective was to stimulate the economy, we’d just send everyone checks based on their reported income…

They already tried that... it didn't seem to have any effect either.

In regards to "creating jobs": The site lists "Job Impact" so I suspect it does not mean new jobs, just how many salaries are working on the projects, either new or current.

Anyone notice the what they slipped into the recent extension of the new home tax credit? A tax credit for a second home!? What, are we short on rental properties? What exactly are they trying to encourage? A run up in prices resulting from real estate "prospecting". Well of course, I am sure that is exactly what the the Real Estate lobby is trying to do.

Kind of funny that they are both trying to makes home more affordable and make them more expensive at the same time.

In regards to "creating jobs": The site lists "Job Impact" so I suspect it does not mean new jobs, just how many salaries are working on the projects, either new or current.

I just think it's funny that when thee Obama comes out and says "Hey look! I've 'saved or created' this many jobs!" - this is apparently the "data" he's referring to. Again, I need to break out the calculator and see if said "data" is simply based on how much money is thrown at the project. i.e. $XX,000 = one new or "saved" job.

aircooled wrote: Anyone notice the what they slipped into the recent extension of the new home tax credit? A tax credit for a second home!? What, are we short on rental properties? What exactly are they trying to encourage?

They want those who still have some money to put it into real estate so when our deficit spending spree comes home to roost sending inflation, and its faithful side kick, interest rates into double digit territory (cough – Carter Era – cough), property values will plummet precipitously. The losers will be existing property owners and the winners will be prospectively property owners.

When I think about where President Obama is taking our country, I’m reminded of a scene in an old Woody Allen film where he’s at a cocktail party and a woman asks him what he does for a living. He replies “I’m a financial advisor” to which she asks “what exactly is that” and he sez “well, basically, I help people with their money until there’s nothing left”.