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Stimulus Plan Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 14, 2011 1 Comment

Last July I reported on the absurdity of federal Stimulus Plan money going to building miles of new sidewalks in Warren, Rhode Island, in areas where few people walked.Last November, I reported on the fact that the unnecessary new sidewalks were built improperly.Now I can report that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 24, 2011 6 Comments

Thanks to Instapundit. for reminding me that it was just two years ago that Rick Santelli fired off the Rant Heard 'Round The World:It gets better with time, and applies equally to the public sector unions which expect taxpayers to subsidize pensions and benefits which...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 06, 2010 5 Comments

In the rush to find "shovel ready" projects at which to throw stimulus money, the feds funded a sidewalk project in Warren, Rhode Island, one town over from where I live.I featured this project in my post in early July, Miles of Sidewalks, and Empty...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 13, 2010 16 Comments

Barack H. Obama, September 2010, as reported by The New York Times (h/t HotAir) on October 12, 2010 (emphasis mine):During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2010 29 Comments

Obama's line, in his Labor Day speech in Milwaukee before union leaders and a union crowd, that "[t]hey talk about me like a dog," is getting all the attention.But you really need to read the entire speech.  It is classic Obama, living in a time...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 04, 2010 13 Comments

The announcement that General Motors would sell shares in an initial public offering was greeted as vindication for the federal government bailout of GM.  The IPO would be a way to pay back taxpayers and even to generate a profit for the government.But it is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 01, 2010 1 Comment

The much ballyhooed mini-Stimulus passed in August to help avoid teacher layoffs already was in trouble because many school districts were sitting on the money rather than hiring teachers.Now the Republican Governor of Rhode Island, Donald Carcieri, has gone one step further, using the funds to...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 25, 2010 7 Comments

The credibility of the Congressional Budget Office suffered a grievous blow during the health care debate when the CBO was forced by Harry Reid to "score" Obamacare using preposterous and plainly contrived assumptions in order to keep the cost estimates below a trillion dollars.Now, the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 18, 2010 11 Comments

NY Times:As schools handed out pink slips to teachers this spring, states made a beeline to Washington to plead for money for their ravaged education budgets. But now that the federal government has come through with $10 billion, some of the nation’s biggest school districts...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 05, 2010 22 Comments

Nothing would surprise me anymore.Some are expecting an "August Surprise" in which Democrats would propose that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac write off hundreds of billions in mortgage debt owed by people who are under water (i.e., they owe more than the house is worth).Call...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 04, 2010 7 Comments

John McCain and John Cornyn Tom Coburn have just released a devastating report on the 100 most wasteful stimulus projects, titled Summertime Blues.Being someone who has taken an unnatural interest in Stimulus-funded sidewalks, I searched the report, and sure enough found this: 10. Town...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 25, 2010 6 Comments

Thanks to a reader from Rhode Island for sending photos of another multi-million dollar sidewalk project in our humble unit-of-measurement state.You will recall my now-classic post about the miles of sidewalks leading from Warren, Rhode Island, to the Massachusetts state line, Miles of Sidewalks, and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2010 0 Comments

Those are not my words. Those are the words of Democratic Rhode Island General Treasurer, and candidate for Governor, Frank Caprio. As reported by The Providence Journal:Within a year, the taxpayer cost of providing public employee pensions will increase again — and substantially —...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2010 0 Comments

It really is frustrating to hear Obama administration officials tout 3 million jobs saved or created.How many of those jobs did several miles of sidewalks in Warren, Rhode Island, save or create?Now that the project is over, the jobs are gone. But you still count...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 06, 2010 6 Comments

Warren, Rhode Island, has new sidewalks from the center of town down Rte 103 to the Massachusetts border, almost two miles away.  Thanks to the Stimulus Plan.I have driven that road hundreds of times, and also have cycled the route many times.I never noticed any particular...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 05, 2010 15 Comments

Paul Krugman reserved July 4 for what must be a deliberate deception, Punishing the Jobless, on the issue of extending unemployment benefits, which recently failed to pass the Senate.Krugman blames Republicans, whom he terms "heartless":By the heartless, I mean Republicans who have made the cynical...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 25, 2010 10 Comments

Yesterday I posted about a speech by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in which Whitehouse accused Republicans of having no compassion for the unemployed. The speech was classic Whitehouse, painting anyone who opposed his view as morally inferior and heartless.And it is a theme hit not only...

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