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Where did those “stimulus” jobs go?
Posted by Bigfoot on November 17th, 2009
According to ABC News, the Obama administration’s stimulus-tracking web site has reported 30 jobs saved in Arizona’s 15 congressional district. Is that the area where Sheriff Joe Arpaio tries to keep law and order? Or one of the Hopi, Navajo or Hualapai reservations? Or maybe a national park such as the Grand Canyon or Petrified Forest? Nope, none of the above, because…
There’s one problem, though: There is no 15th congressional district in Arizona; the state has only eight districts.
Unfortunately, Arizona isn’t the only state where jobs have been created in non-existent congressional districts.
In Oklahoma, recovery.gov lists more than $19 million in spending — and 15 jobs created — in yet more congressional districts that don’t exist.
In Iowa, it shows $10.6 million spent – and 39 jobs created — in nonexistent districts.
That’s over a million dollars per job in Oklahoma, or would be that much, if the spending and jobs had been in a real place. Things get a bit more interesting in Connecticut.
In Connecticut’s 42nd district (which also does not exist), the Web site claims 25 jobs created with zero stimulus dollars.
Hmmm. If “zero stimulus dollars” were spent, how did the “stimulus” create those jobs?
Worse yet, the districts were jobs were allegedly created aren’t even limited to the states.
$68.3 million spent and 72.2 million spent in the 1st congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Considering that the Virgin Islands are not a state, and thus have no representative in the House (other than possibly a delegate who can vote only in commitee), there should be zero congressional districts down there. But instead…
$8.4 million spent and 40.3 jobs created in the 99th congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Ninety Nine?? Not even California has that many.
Imagine for a minute, that the G. W. Bush administration had set up a website to track “No Child Left Behind”, and it started to report test score improvements in non-existent school districts. The howls of derision from the left would have been defeaning. But instead of Dubya, whose spending was bad enough, it is Barry who has sent government funds to a certain place that was once immortalized in a Beatles song.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
These Congressional districts are every bit as legitimate as Obama. We need the Virgin Islands, with 99 Congressmen they could easily kill socialized medicine and cap and trade.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:03 am
They are data entry mistakes. I know “daily kos” is not as reputable as “and rightly so” but at least he fact-checks his posts and provides links to where he gets his info.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/17/151535/02
Sure blog’n is a tough job, but seriously….
November 18th, 2009 at 1:24 am
This money went somewhere. It would be quite simple to hide an illegal disbursement of federal funds in a massive spend like this bill does.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I suspect the real recipients of such governmental largess are in China, on Wall Street, in the pharmaceuticals, SEIU, NEA, etc.
We can howl all we want to about how Duh-1 is wasting our money, but doesn’t the spending (and consequently the oversight) of all this money start in Congress? And you know it’s not just the jackasses, it’s such luminaries as Boehner, too.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Loma, unfortunately, Barry (“57 states”) has those extra 7 states on his side.
Guy, sad but true. Of course, if anyone finds any illegal dispersement, it will be passed off as one more “bureaucratic SNAFU”.
Hal, government mistakes and stupidity certainly have a looooong history. But you’d think that somewhere out there they could find some people who know that only states have congressional districts.
Carlos, good point about our congress-critters, especially since they’re the ones who passed the bill in the first place. Some of the pachyderms ain’t much better than the jackasses.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Unfortunately, Bigfoot, if you stop to consider just the last ten years (and such things as pork), a majority of pachyderms are as guilty of theft from the American people as are the jackasses.
But they don’t see it that way. They get to salve their puny consciences with such things as “But I was elected to bring federal money back home”, or “But we had to pass a budget or shut down”, or my favorite, “We’ve got to do SOMETHING!”
And in the meantime, those of us who actually DO do something (are productive members of our society) are getting screwed daily by the majority of both parties.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Apple, my info comes directly from the ABC News (not exactly a hotbed of rightwing anti-Obama criticism) article linked in the post.
Yes, they are data entry mistakes – to say the least. But you’d think that someone involved in making the recovery.gov website would have discovered these errors, especially the painfully obvious ones (like the congressional district in the Virgin Islands). Looks like it’s the Obama administration that has fallen dismally short on fact-checking.