Robert from Digital Dreamz chimes in on Right Soup from time-to-time. Here are his thoughts on the stimulus bill.

The United States of America is a wonderful place for many, many reasons. One great aspect is that a lot of government actions are public domain. All bills passed and pending legislation can be found in the Library of Congress. The site is a little cumbersome, but with a bit of tenacity you can find anything there- including the Economic Stimulus Bill.

This is the 647 page document, straight from the Hill. No spin here, this is the Bill which passed the House and is now before the Senate. All of the news networks are talking about the new stimulus package, some are for it and some are against. But what does the stimulus package actually contain? I’ve dissected it below. There are literally thousands of programs that this bill is starting, but I’m only going to mention a selection of the ones that are funded at over $1 Billion dollars.

The first thing I noted is how swiftly this bill would take effect. Preferences are given for activities that can be started within 120 days of the bill becoming law. The goal is that 50 percent of the funding is going to be spent within that 120 day period. The total bill is going to cost around $820 billion dollars, so the executive branch is trying to spend over $400 billion dollars within 4 months of this bill being approved. That is just an awful lot of money. The secondary time limit being imposed by this bill is that all of the funding being appropriated will be spent by September 30, 2010. To be clear, that means the government is knowingly committing to spending close to a trillion dollars in about a year and a half.

In perspective, the total cost of the war since 2002 is currently less than 600 Billion. So in a little over a year, we will be spending more than we have spent in the last 7 fighting in Iraq.

Page 37 starts getting into actual dollar figures being spent for different programs. Rural Development starts the list, and most of the figures here are small, relatively speaking. For instance, there is $2.7 Billion being spent for rural water and water disposal plans. Page 40 states there will be $22 Billion made available for section 502 loans. These are loans that help low income families afford homes in rural areas. I wouldn’t say this necessarily would IMPROVE the economy, but I can justify this. It’s provisioning money to help out those who flat out can’t afford a home through any other means. No one deserves to be homeless, so this is at least an honorable goal, the economy notwithstanding.

Page 50 gets into funding for Internet-Related plans. I personally love all things digital, and could not live without my high speed internet. I have to ask, however, does investing $1 Billion dollars in wireless development and $1.8 Billion in broadband connectivity really help improve the economy? Let’s assume for a moment it does. Let’s assume this facilitates a household spending an extra 20% per month. An increase like that would definitely help the economy, but the building up the infrastructure just takes way to long.

My parents, for instance, live in rural King George, where the cable has stopped a mile from their house. It was like that 20 years ago when we moved to Virginia, and it hasn’t moved since. Investing that much money for high speed internet will most likely not see a return on investment in Obama’s term. I am willing to be it won’t see an ROI for 2 presidential terms. That being said, it’s less than $3 Billion, so its low cost, relatively speaking. It won’t, however, have a noticeable impact on the economy.

Page 52 shows $3 Billion being invested in a grant for State and Local Law Enforcement. I am definitely scratching my head over this one. Now, don’t get me wrong…I respect the police. I am thankful for what they do, I am thankful I live in a safe neighborhood because of them, but I just fail to see how putting money into law enforcement is going to help the economy, unless of course there have been a large outbreak of bank robberies I wasn’t aware of. Again, $3 Billion is small compared to the total, but these “small” items sure add up.

Page 55 gets into the Department of Defense, so it’s a double-edged sword for me. I am a defense contractor, so DOD money is my life blood, but I even have to object to this. The stimulus package is investing $4.5 Billion to modernize army barracks, and improve the efficiency of DOD facilities. If our soldiers are comfortable in their bunks, will they spend more money? And if a DOD building has energy-star windows, will the cost savings immediately overpower the spending involved? I can’t really see how this improves the economy!

The myriad of small charges continues on for several pages, no major dollar signs until page 62. The Energy Program, however, takes a whopping $18.5 Billion dollars. $2 Billion of that is for researching the creation of advanced batteries. $6.2 is for the Weatherization program, which is aimed to help low income families make their homes more energy efficient.

$3.5 Billion has been made available to Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants and $3.4 Billion to the State Energy Program. An additional $4.5 Billion is being invested to advance the power grid in this nation. Now I am all for research and development, and I can see how it is necessary to have a decent power grid, but I just don’t see a major impact in the economy because of these things. There will probably be some jobs created, but I don’t think the net impact on the economy will come close to equaling the amount earmarked in the bill.

Skipping down to page 75, we see $7.7 Billion earmarked for Improving Federal Buildings. $1 Billion of that is to improve our border facilities, and $6 Billion is for making Federal Buildings more energy efficient. These changes will have NO effect on the economy, so why are they included in the stimulus package? This is turning into the gateway bill that gets lib’s agendas approved, whether or not they relate to the overall goal. Up to this point, there really hasn’t been anything mentioned that will have a profound impact on the economy, and billions have already been spent. This is turning out to be quite wasteful. But let’s continue, maybe it gets better soon….

Skipping way down to page 112, we come to another large amount. $1.7 Billion is being invested into Maintenance Needs For The National Parks. Now here in King George, we are close to several national parks. Westmoreland National Park is nice, there’s a good one towards La Plata in MD, and Orange County has some lovely ones in the mountains. The national parks are really beautiful places, and cheap entertainment. I can get an all-day pass for around 5 dollars. But where is the stimulus impact? How is investing this $1.7 Billion really going to affect the economy? What’s the ROI here?

Page 116 shows $6 Billion being invested in the Clean Water State Revolving Funds, which aims to protect the water quality. I guess this one makes sense. By investing so much money, I’ll have plenty of clean water to drink when I am out spending money. This must have been their reasoning.

Page 123 shows an entry for $1.2 Billion dollars to Create Jobs for the Summer Youth. This one will actually have a major positive effect! If there is one thing that is for certain, it’s that kids waste money. I remember when I was in school my job was gas, car insurance and fun money. I wish today that is all I had to worry about. I can see where this allotment could actually create some jobs. For kids.

Pages 139 and 140 designate another $6.2 Billion to provide for Low Income Energy Assistance and Child Care. Now, at best, this allotment can only indirectly affect the economy. By providing discounts and assistance to low income families, the money that would be spent on paying the power bill is now available to spend elsewhere. Compared to most of the programs, there is at least a positive move with this one. It won’t have a major impact, at best boosting the economy by $3 Billion, but it could be rightly called “stimulative”.

Page 146 gets into the Health Programs, where $3 Billion is being invested in programs to increase immunizations, research chronic diseases and the human genome, search for the cure to Aids, prevent infections, and several other biological projects. While the health of this country is definitely something that could be improved, I just don’t see how the economy is going to benefit. Perhaps it’s like the water plan mentioned above, in that healthy people can spend more money if they’re able to shop.

Page 157 designates $13 billion for Improving Our Education System via grants and school improvement programs. This may seem like a noble cause, but it’s unrelated to job creation.

The massive amount of programs being created in the bill, most of which don’t create jobs or stimulate the economy is starting to amaze me. It’s liberal doctrine, (poorly) dressed up like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Most of these programs should have not been part of the bill, and should be proposed in separate legislation. We aren’t even a third of the way through.

The education section is quite large, so the next item of contention is on page 201. $3.75 Billion is being invested in Military Hospitals. While I believe all of our troops absolutely deserve the best possible health care, I just don’t see a direct corollary with military health and the economy. Having the best hospital in the world will only affect the economy by created jobs for the staff. This program is for the construction of new hospitals, which will not happen overnight….so any impact at all is years off.

Page 208 shows an investment of $30 Billion to Improve The Roads in this country, so I guess we can enjoy a smooth ride to the mall. A tenth of that is being invested into the railroad systems, like the ever-profitless Amtrak. (The DC Metro could sure some improvements! I would think $300 million could be invested on the DC metro alone.) Page 213 shows $6 Billion going to various programs under the Federal Transit Administration, 214 puts another $2 Billion into the Guideway Infrastructure. 217 gives another $5 Billion to public housing. Page 219 puts $2.5 Billion in the hands of landlords and organizations that own Assisted Living properties for the purpose of Energy Efficiency Improvement. Page 222 puts $4 Billion in place for Community Development programs, for groups like ACORN.

Skipping past the rest of the low income homes, we get to a whopper on page 237. $79 Billion being earmarked for the Department of Education. Here are more grants and incentives for completing school and for improving educational programs. Education is certainly very important. I wish I had been wiser when I was younger and finished my degree. The problem here, again, is there is no direct connection to stimulus. If schools are better, they will help kids in the long run, but this doesn’t equate to solving our financial crisis now. In the end, the return on this program is we’ll have a bunch of smart kids in top quality schools, going home to jobless parents scraping by on food stamps.

Tax Provisions, the Democrat’s scraps to the Republicans, begin on page 251. There are over 70 pages of tax laws being enacted, but nothing seriously different than what we are currently used to. The majority of people will receive no measurable impact from this. I believe the total impact will be a tax reduction of over $200 Billion. So if this bill spends over $800 billion and the tax cuts cost the government $200 Billion, then this bill is going to cost the country over a trillion dollars. Just some food for thought.

Page 335 then gets into Extending Unemployment. No firm dollar figures are discussed here, but unemployment benefits are going to be increased, even doubled in some cases. I can see where this has an impact on the economy; I just wish it was a little clearer how much was being invested in this program. If we invest $100 Billion here, but only get a marginal improvement in the economy, then it’s a waste!

The next section gets into Health Care Information Networks, and improving the infrastructure that hospitals use to transfer information, but no dollar figures are put out there. This just seems to be another pipe dream, another idea that someone came up with that sounds real cool, until you think about the privacy impacts. It probably won’t have a noticeable economic impact. Many feel like this part of the bill could cost a ton, and that’s probably why the hard numbers aren’t there.

Page 622 delves into the Broadband Communication programs. This is the designation of how the $3.8 Billion, mentioned earlier, is going to be split up. Just a modern-sounding idea with a negligible impact on the economy.

That’s the stimulus package in a nutshell, although in my opinion it’s anything but stimulative. It’s a hodge-podge collection of programs with different goals, none of which are “improving the economy.” If this is the best the Democrats can come up with, we are all in major trouble.

So, I open this topic up for debate. If you were president, would you fund these programs to improve the economy? Does this stimulus package still give you the warm fuzzies inside, or do you think it’s going to flop?


Source: Robert writes for Digital Dreamz

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