I was on Recovery.gov today reading about what stimulus money is being spent on in the state of Ohio.
First, let me say being totally transparent in the way government spends money is very noble. Every citizen has a right to know where their tax dollars are going. If only Recovery.gov gave that sort of information.
Here is a sample:
14.257 Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program $65,653,996 17.260 WIA Dislocated Workers $58,511,252 66.468 Drinking Water SRF $58,460,000 17.259 WIA Youth Activities $56,158,510 16.803 Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Formula Program – http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/recoveryact.html $38,048,939 14.253 CDBG Entitlement Grants $29,952,254
After looking through all of the set asides, I found the generality shocking and almost intentional. It is as if the object was to give the impression of transparency by having a bunch of programs and money allotted to them without really being transparent.
My second thought after looking up some of these programs is: what is so stimulating about these programs? When I say stimulating I mean creating value greater than the dollar spent. Some might call this the Keynesian multiplier. From my judgment it looks as though this stimulus amounts to an expansion of government programs which are notorious for their misuse of funds (over budget, delays in completion, etc). When the money is spent, all or most jobs created will be gone and we’ll be left with higher operating costs due to the increase in government largess (more highways and bridges mean more maintenance, more buildings mean more maintenance, air conditioning, and janitorial costs). In the long run, we are actually not providing ourselves any benefit and may be hurting ourselves in the end. The intent is good, but the result is predictable and inexcusable.
The stimulus plan should have done something truly stimulating like a capital gains tax holiday which would encourage private investment and job creation. Another suggestion would be to lower the corporate tax rate, one of the highest in the world. Instead, we get more regulations ( ie CAFE standards), increased taxes (ie mileage taxes, cap and trade, healthcare benefits), nationalization of large companies (ie GM, Chrysler, AIG), and quadrupling our national debt. All within six months of being in office.
Some describe this administration as being “historic.” Unfortunately, in my view, it is for all the wrong reasons.
