Democrats + Our Money = Goofiness

Cost of Stimulus Legislation: $825 billion

$335 million to help prevent STD's (give rubbers to poor people for free) was part of it but got pulled when it got held up to the light of day (average Americans found out). Pelosi defended it saying contraception is good for the economy. Well, maybe in 'Frisco where they are used as frequently as Kleenex and Tylenol but the rest of America is a little more reserved. I guess for Pelosi, subsidized condoms would be 'pork' in more way than one.

President Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save 3 million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend roughly $275,000 per job. Average household income in the U.S. is $42,000 a year - between 1/6th and 1/7th of that amount. While reading the 647 page bill, I noticed there are some very large sums for buaeucratic 'Inspector generals' and their staff:

Department of Agriculture—Office of Inspector General’’, $22,500,000.

Department of Commerce—Office of Inspector General’’, $10,000,000.

Department of Defense—Office of the Inspector General’’, $15,000,000.

Department of Education—Departmental Management—Office of the Inspector General’’, $14,000,000.

Department of Energy—Office of Inspector General’’, $15,000,000.

Department of Health and Human Services—Office of the Secretary—Office of Inspector General’’, $19,000,000.

Department of Homeland Security—Office of Inspector General’’, $2,000,000.

Department of Housing and Urban Development—Management and Administration—Office of Inspector General’’, $15,000,000.

Department of the Interior—Office of Inspector General’’, $15,000,000.

Department of Justice—Office of Inspector General’’, $2,000,000.

Department of Labor—Departmental Management—Office of Inspector General’’ $6,000,000.

Department of Transportation—Office of Inspector General’’, $20,000,000.

You get a real sense of Democratic priorities here when Transportation gets 10 times more than either the Department of Justice or Homeland Security, nevermind the original idea for $335 MILLION for rubbers! The party of Clinton still live on, only the deck chairs appear to have been rearranged.

Seriously though, what we have is a government jobs bill that grows the government bureaucracy. Not one that builds roads or bridges primarily (the typical Democratic staple) but one that fills desks with people pushing paper and generating red tape. I mean, if the average American family earns $42 K, why do we need to spend $275 K per person? For the 6 to 7 bureaucrats per normal citizen who will administer it?

There is also $75,000,000 - that's Seventy-Five M-I-L-L-I-O-N dollars to help people quit smoking. If I go to opensecrets.org, will I find that hypnotists were major contributors to the DNC or what? Who stuck that one in there? Now quitting smoking would be a good thing for plenty of people but should the government spend that kind of money on it? Is the prescribed method known to be highly effective? Is this really government's role?

Entire Bill Here.

TTFN,

Jim