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L.A.: $111M in Stimulus Saved Just 55 Jobs
L.A.: $111M in Stimulus Saved Just 55 Jobs
By William Lajeunesse
Published September 17, 2010 | FoxNews.com
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More than a year after Congress approved $800 billion in stimulus funds, the Los Angeles City Controller has released a 40-page report on how the city spent its share, and the results are not living up to expectations.
"I'm disappointed that we've only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million," said Wendy Greuel, the city's controller. "With our local unemployment rate over 12% we need to do a better job cutting red tape and putting Angelenos back to work."
According to the audit, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works spent $70 million in stimulus funds and created 7 private sector jobs and saved 7 workers from layoffs. Taxpayer cost per job: $1.5 million.
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation created even fewer jobs per dollar, spending $40 million but netting just 9 jobs. Taxpayer cost per job: $4.4 million.
Greuel blamed the dismal numbers on several factors:
1. Bureaucratic red tape: 4 highway projects did not even go out to bid until 7 months after they were authorized.
2. Projects that were supposed to be competitively bid in the private sector went instead went to city workers.
3. Stimulus money was not properly tracked within departments
4. Both departments could not report the jobs created and retained in a timely fashion..
"I would say maybe in a grade, a B- in creating the jobs," Greuel told Fox News. "They have started to spend those dollars but it took seven months to get some of those contracts out. We think in the city that we should move quickly and not in the same usual bureaucratic ways."
URL
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/16/los-angeles-official-disappointed-city-used-stimulus-funds/
Well, not voting is an option and I guess theres a beef for and against not voting. I don't know what cloud my head has been in, but I just heard of people switching parties and voting for the least likely to win that party's nomination, insuring that a weaker candidate will face a stronger candidate..... it's legal, but its dirty pool.
And I am with ya. I dont know who to trust anymore. Do your homework if you plan on casting a ballot.
And I am with ya. I dont know who to trust anymore. Do your homework if you plan on casting a ballot.
Trust me I dont know all the ins and outs especially when it comes to trade deals and imports and exports. In fact, there is so much that I dont know, that it is hard for me to take a stance and say it is true or it isnt. But much of what I do see in and from my own limited stance is the power trips that both parties are on and now you got a new one in the mix that seems to be putting unqualified people in these seats. Or shall I say less than . That is equally if not moreso dangerous in my opinion. I think its kind of funny the way we here on these forums go rooting for documentation to prove our points when in all reality the very documentation is biased at best and all of it has a very limited amount of truth to it before it is spun to one side or the other. Most, just like me know very little of what they speak of and go totally on what they are hearing, or want to hear based on ones perceptions of what the problems are. The main problem is that it is all perception one way or the other and we really have no clue what is actually going or not going on. We are all acting and speaking out of emotion and that is never ever good. As long as politicians can be bought and sold it doesnt matter who we elect, because we are not actually electing anyone even tho we think we are. It is made to look like we are. Our country is up to the highest bidder beit someone out front that looks like they are the guilty party, but more often it is from big money people sitting in the behind the scenes calling the shots. I wonder how much if anything we really have to do with anything. I do know that we citizens are being played against each other and there is a real strategic reason for doing that. If I knew anymore of that which I speak I would be saying it from a podium somewhere and not on some generic forum, and I think that pretty much goes for all of us. So who knows what is real or imagined, but one thing I do know. After the last two years of watching the party of no, refusing to do anything to help govern for we the people, I have absolutely no trust in the Republican party, not much more for dems, and less than zero for the radicals. So when you have to support one of them to have a say in the whole process, whatta ya do? Not vote? That is not an option either. Oh God I sound like I am preaching. I do know if things keep going the way they are going, there is a very good chance we will see a civil war right here in America. These divisions have got to be healed one way or the other.
I agree whole heartedly that it didnt happen overnight that we landed in this problem, and could agree with you more that its gonna take a while to fix. But, its useless for this administration to continue to sit and blame Bush. Although some of his policies were garbage and didnt help this situation, he doesnt get the whole blame.
WE have been operating with crippled trade policies enacted long before even Bush 1. These policies, when enacted benefitted all parties involved. This is no longer the case. We continue to trade with these worn out, ineffective policies that cost us millions upon millions anually. This is where all the lunacy lies. We are expecting a different outcome from doing the same thing.
One of these garbage trade deals with with a South American country. (Cant remember which one) We are obligated to buy "x" amount of barrells of crude oil through them. We also sell that same country crude at a price cheaper than they sell their crude to us. (I'd guess they are selling us our oil) (That information came from 60 minutes, when they interviewed a Saudi oil prince)
It's bad business decisions, then instead of fixing it, we make another bad decison to live with it in order to help a developing country. I've also heard it said that we send Isreal $10 mill a month. (Could be a story, but if its not????) If this is accurate information, imagine what an extra 10 million could do for our economy, our infrastructure...... Another questionable trade deal concerns cotton. AT one time we were exporting cotton and were receiving foreign cotton as an import. We were basically breaking even with that deal. Nobody is in business to break even, and if thats your best hope....you need to develope a new business plan.
The entire system is fouled. Checks and balances are askew. It makes no difference who is in power and it makes no difference who was in power. Any political party that is blame placing is covering for their own short comings.
Until these turds can get together and get down to brass tacks, this crap will continue. Instead of laying blame, do something! If you're not part of the solution, you are effictively part of the problem. You were elected to be part of the solution, and if your not part of the solution you should be promptly voted out of office. Furthermore, any life long benefits that you turds voted for yourselves should be cashed back into the nations general fund.
Change people! We need change in politics and change in your typical politician! Hold all of them accountable and vote accordingly. Everyone do your homework and vote the ineffective politicians out.
WE have been operating with crippled trade policies enacted long before even Bush 1. These policies, when enacted benefitted all parties involved. This is no longer the case. We continue to trade with these worn out, ineffective policies that cost us millions upon millions anually. This is where all the lunacy lies. We are expecting a different outcome from doing the same thing.
One of these garbage trade deals with with a South American country. (Cant remember which one) We are obligated to buy "x" amount of barrells of crude oil through them. We also sell that same country crude at a price cheaper than they sell their crude to us. (I'd guess they are selling us our oil) (That information came from 60 minutes, when they interviewed a Saudi oil prince)
It's bad business decisions, then instead of fixing it, we make another bad decison to live with it in order to help a developing country. I've also heard it said that we send Isreal $10 mill a month. (Could be a story, but if its not????) If this is accurate information, imagine what an extra 10 million could do for our economy, our infrastructure...... Another questionable trade deal concerns cotton. AT one time we were exporting cotton and were receiving foreign cotton as an import. We were basically breaking even with that deal. Nobody is in business to break even, and if thats your best hope....you need to develope a new business plan.
The entire system is fouled. Checks and balances are askew. It makes no difference who is in power and it makes no difference who was in power. Any political party that is blame placing is covering for their own short comings.
Until these turds can get together and get down to brass tacks, this crap will continue. Instead of laying blame, do something! If you're not part of the solution, you are effictively part of the problem. You were elected to be part of the solution, and if your not part of the solution you should be promptly voted out of office. Furthermore, any life long benefits that you turds voted for yourselves should be cashed back into the nations general fund.
Change people! We need change in politics and change in your typical politician! Hold all of them accountable and vote accordingly. Everyone do your homework and vote the ineffective politicians out.
A little dated (from March) but the stimulus was an abysmal expensive failure.
Stimulus Jobs Count: CBO Admits It Ignored the Economy’s Actual Performance
Published on March 23, 2010 by Brian Riedl WebMemo #2843
If a meteorologist was asked what the day's high temperature had been, would it be acceptable to simply repeat his/her earlier forecast? Of course not. The forecast was merely a prediction, which should now be replaced with what actually happened.
Yet that is the approach the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) used when declaring that the stimulus had saved 1.5 million jobs. Rather than actually examine the performance of the post-stimulus economy, it essentially re-released its old forecast that the stimulus would likely create jobs.
CBO Confirms Its Methodology
In a recent speech to the National Association of Business Economics, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf confirmed this by stating:
[W]e don't think one can learn much from watching the evolution of particular components of GDP [gross domestic product] over the last few quarters about the effects of the stimulus … so we fall back on repeating the sort of analysis we did before. And we tried to be very explicit about it that it is essentially repeating the same exercise we did rather than an independent check on it.[1]
When asked if this means that any actual underperformance of the stimulus would fail to show up in the CBO's stimulus jobs count, Elmendorf replied "That's right." This means the 1.5 million jobs saved estimate was pre-determined.
Of course, the stimulus was originally promised to create (not just save) more than 3 million jobs.[2] Instead, the economy has since lost more than 3 million additional net jobs. The abject failure of the stimulus policies recommended by Keynesian economic models should induce some fundamental re-analysis of these models' assumptions. Instead, the CBO is re-releasing the same jobs analysis--with the same economic assumptions--that they had used a year ago.
The "Begging the Question" Fallacy
The CBO's conclusion that the stimulus created jobs is based on an economic model that began with the premise that all stimulus bills create jobs. In other words, the conclusion is already assumed as a premise. Logicians call this the fallacy of begging the question. Mathematicians call it assuming what you are trying to prove.
More specifically, the CBO's model started by automatically assuming that government spending increases GDP by pre-set multipliers, such as:
* Every $1 of government spending that directly purchases goods and services ultimately raises the GDP by $1.75;
* Every $1 of government spending sent to state and local governments for infrastructure ultimately raises GDP by $1.75;
* Every $1 of government spending sent to state and local governments for non-infrastructure spending ultimately raises GDP by $1.25; and
* Every $1 of government spending sent to an individual as a transfer payment ultimately raises GDP by $1.45.[3]
(Note that all CBO figures in this paper represent the midpoint between their high and low estimates.)
Then the CBO plugged the stimulus provisions into the multipliers above, came up with a total increase in GDP of 2.6 percent, and then converted that additional GDP into 1.5 million jobs.
The problem here is obvious. Once the CBO decided to assume that every dollar of government spending increased GDP by the multipliers above, its conclusion that the stimulus saved jobs was pre-ordained. The economy could have lost 30 million jobs, and the model would have said that the economy would otherwise have lost 31.5 million jobs without the stimulus. An asteroid could have hit the United States, wiping out everyone outside of Washington, D.C., and (as long as Washington still spent the stimulus money) the CBO's economic model would have produced the same stimulus jobs data. There is no adjustment made to reflect what actually happened in the economy after the stimulus was enacted.
Computer Model Trumps Economic Reality
The inability to precisely count stimulus jobs is not the CBO's fault. It is extremely difficult to determine how many jobs were created or saved by the stimulus bill because there is no counterfactual showing how the economy would have performed without the stimulus. In addition, detailed economic data can take years to acquire. However, the proper response would be for the CBO to declare they lack the resources to measure the performance of the stimulus--or at the very least incorporate the economy's continued underperformance into their models--rather than try to present their earlier predictions as some sort of actual post-stimulus job count.
The CBO will likely release updated stimulus jobs estimates in the future. Why wait? If the CBO is merely repeating their prediction of the stimulus's effects--rather than actually examining the economy--they can release their end-of-2010 update now. It is all just a matter of multiplying scheduled stimulus outlays times the pre-set multiplier. There is no need to wait and see how the economy and stimulus performs.
Test the Multipliers
The debate over the efficacy of Keynesian stimulus is essentially a debate over the correct multipliers. Some believe the multipliers are high[4]; others believe they are as low as zero[5] (or even negative). Testing the stimulus requires testing the multipliers. Yet by simply assuming large multipliers, the CBO effectively pre-ordained its conclusion that the stimulus worked regardless of what actually happened in the economy.
Elmendorf has confirmed that the CBO's stimulus analysis consists of little more than re-releasing its pre-stimulus projections. Policymakers and analysts should not mistake this analysis for an actual examination of the stimulus's impact.
Brian Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
Stimulus Jobs Count: CBO Admits It Ignored the Economy’s Actual Performance
Published on March 23, 2010 by Brian Riedl WebMemo #2843
If a meteorologist was asked what the day's high temperature had been, would it be acceptable to simply repeat his/her earlier forecast? Of course not. The forecast was merely a prediction, which should now be replaced with what actually happened.
Yet that is the approach the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) used when declaring that the stimulus had saved 1.5 million jobs. Rather than actually examine the performance of the post-stimulus economy, it essentially re-released its old forecast that the stimulus would likely create jobs.
CBO Confirms Its Methodology
In a recent speech to the National Association of Business Economics, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf confirmed this by stating:
[W]e don't think one can learn much from watching the evolution of particular components of GDP [gross domestic product] over the last few quarters about the effects of the stimulus … so we fall back on repeating the sort of analysis we did before. And we tried to be very explicit about it that it is essentially repeating the same exercise we did rather than an independent check on it.[1]
When asked if this means that any actual underperformance of the stimulus would fail to show up in the CBO's stimulus jobs count, Elmendorf replied "That's right." This means the 1.5 million jobs saved estimate was pre-determined.
Of course, the stimulus was originally promised to create (not just save) more than 3 million jobs.[2] Instead, the economy has since lost more than 3 million additional net jobs. The abject failure of the stimulus policies recommended by Keynesian economic models should induce some fundamental re-analysis of these models' assumptions. Instead, the CBO is re-releasing the same jobs analysis--with the same economic assumptions--that they had used a year ago.
The "Begging the Question" Fallacy
The CBO's conclusion that the stimulus created jobs is based on an economic model that began with the premise that all stimulus bills create jobs. In other words, the conclusion is already assumed as a premise. Logicians call this the fallacy of begging the question. Mathematicians call it assuming what you are trying to prove.
More specifically, the CBO's model started by automatically assuming that government spending increases GDP by pre-set multipliers, such as:
* Every $1 of government spending that directly purchases goods and services ultimately raises the GDP by $1.75;
* Every $1 of government spending sent to state and local governments for infrastructure ultimately raises GDP by $1.75;
* Every $1 of government spending sent to state and local governments for non-infrastructure spending ultimately raises GDP by $1.25; and
* Every $1 of government spending sent to an individual as a transfer payment ultimately raises GDP by $1.45.[3]
(Note that all CBO figures in this paper represent the midpoint between their high and low estimates.)
Then the CBO plugged the stimulus provisions into the multipliers above, came up with a total increase in GDP of 2.6 percent, and then converted that additional GDP into 1.5 million jobs.
The problem here is obvious. Once the CBO decided to assume that every dollar of government spending increased GDP by the multipliers above, its conclusion that the stimulus saved jobs was pre-ordained. The economy could have lost 30 million jobs, and the model would have said that the economy would otherwise have lost 31.5 million jobs without the stimulus. An asteroid could have hit the United States, wiping out everyone outside of Washington, D.C., and (as long as Washington still spent the stimulus money) the CBO's economic model would have produced the same stimulus jobs data. There is no adjustment made to reflect what actually happened in the economy after the stimulus was enacted.
Computer Model Trumps Economic Reality
The inability to precisely count stimulus jobs is not the CBO's fault. It is extremely difficult to determine how many jobs were created or saved by the stimulus bill because there is no counterfactual showing how the economy would have performed without the stimulus. In addition, detailed economic data can take years to acquire. However, the proper response would be for the CBO to declare they lack the resources to measure the performance of the stimulus--or at the very least incorporate the economy's continued underperformance into their models--rather than try to present their earlier predictions as some sort of actual post-stimulus job count.
The CBO will likely release updated stimulus jobs estimates in the future. Why wait? If the CBO is merely repeating their prediction of the stimulus's effects--rather than actually examining the economy--they can release their end-of-2010 update now. It is all just a matter of multiplying scheduled stimulus outlays times the pre-set multiplier. There is no need to wait and see how the economy and stimulus performs.
Test the Multipliers
The debate over the efficacy of Keynesian stimulus is essentially a debate over the correct multipliers. Some believe the multipliers are high[4]; others believe they are as low as zero[5] (or even negative). Testing the stimulus requires testing the multipliers. Yet by simply assuming large multipliers, the CBO effectively pre-ordained its conclusion that the stimulus worked regardless of what actually happened in the economy.
Elmendorf has confirmed that the CBO's stimulus analysis consists of little more than re-releasing its pre-stimulus projections. Policymakers and analysts should not mistake this analysis for an actual examination of the stimulus's impact.
Brian Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
So the two counties recieved so much stimulus money but have not applied it to their situation. It looks like the state may not need the money? Maybe they should send it back. Regardless here is an article that goes a little more into detail.
Two L.A. agencies get $111 million in stimulus funds but have created only 55 jobs
Controller Wendy Greuel, who audited the Public Works and Transportation departments, says the city needs to move more quickly to spend the federal money. The city's budget director disputes figures.
California state colleges and universities will get more than $200 million in stimulus funds
By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times
September 17, 2010
Two Los Angeles departments have received $111 million in federal stimulus funds yet have created only 55 jobs so far, according to a pair of reports issued Thursday by City Controller Wendy Greuel.
The reports conclude that the agencies, Public Works and Transportation, moved too slowly in spending the federal money, in part because of the time it takes to secure approval of government contracts. The two agencies plan to create or retain a combined 264 jobs once all the money is spent, according to the reports.
With unemployment above 12%, city officials should move more urgently to cut red tape and spend the money, Greuel said. "The process needs to be changed to make sure we get these projects out as quickly as possible," she said.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa referred questions to City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the top budget official. Santana would not comment on the audit but offered a newer set of figures for stimulus spending citywide, which were sharply different from Greuel's.
Santana's report said that in June, stimulus dollars helped the city create or retain 936 jobs. "And we've only spent 13% of what we've received," he said.
Greuel said in response that she spoke with Santana on Thursday and that he did not disagree with the data contained in her audit.
The controller's audits found that as of March 31, the city had secured $594 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was created to invigorate the economy by spending money on infrastructure projects.
Of that total, nearly $71 million went to the city's Department of Public Works, which plans to create or retain 238 jobs by resurfacing streets and bridges, rebuilding sidewalks and storm drains, and adding bicycle safety grates to catch basins.
So far, the public works agency has shielded 37 public employee jobs from elimination as a result of the city's ongoing budget crisis and created eight public or private jobs, the report said. Part of the problem, Greuel found, was that it took eight months to put together certain bid packages, review the bids and award the contracts. The second report looked at the Department of Transportation, which received seven grants worth nearly $41 million to purchase buses, install traffic signals and upgrade railroad crossings. Although those projects were designed to support 26 jobs, nine have been created or retained so far, Greuel's report said.
Auditors found that the department moved slowly to purchase 16 Commuter Express buses, a process that took from July 2009 to June 2010, when the City Council approved the expenditure. Greuel said in her report that department officials had overlooked the fact that the buses would need the council's sign-off.
Four of six contracts from the Federal Highway Administration, dealing mostly with installation and upgrades of traffic signals, also were slow in being awarded, the report said. Greuel's audit said the transportation agency's bidding process, which is designed to ensure the city complies with local, state and federal contracting policies, "may not be the best approach" for stimulus funds.
Cynthia Ruiz, president of the Board of Public Works, said her agency agreed with Greuel's findings and had begun looking for ways to streamline the contracting process. "We're hoping to have some changes within the next six months," she said.
The reports did not touch on other agencies that have received federal money, including the Department of Water and Power. Those agencies will be examined in coming weeks, Greuel said.
david.***@****
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
*
“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor
antyfed at 8:10 AM September 17, 2010
I'm so angry at all of this... bush abandons the free market in order to pay back countries who were scammed by wall street and obama picked up where he left off. no wonder gov't is trying so hard to censor the news. it works in other oppressed countries and we are next. followers and believers of progressive liberals: please wake up and smell the coffee. they sell their ideas based on false intentions that sound great: help the poor, FREE everything and some sort of utopian existence. you laugh at jihadist who executed suicide missions with the belief of being rewarded in heaven with 70 virgins and $10K left to the family here on earth. you're no different. educated yourselves about u.s. monetary policy and study political history. technology changes but not people. we are still the same. the only thing that changes is how we get things done.
I'mYourHuckleberry at 8:04 AM September 17, 2010
The Gravy Train is pulling out in six weeks. Stay the course. The Prince of Fools and his Confederation of Nation Destroyers will be joining the soup line along with their voting bloc.
Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.
Two L.A. agencies get $111 million in stimulus funds but have created only 55 jobs
Controller Wendy Greuel, who audited the Public Works and Transportation departments, says the city needs to move more quickly to spend the federal money. The city's budget director disputes figures.
California state colleges and universities will get more than $200 million in stimulus funds
By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times
September 17, 2010
Two Los Angeles departments have received $111 million in federal stimulus funds yet have created only 55 jobs so far, according to a pair of reports issued Thursday by City Controller Wendy Greuel.
The reports conclude that the agencies, Public Works and Transportation, moved too slowly in spending the federal money, in part because of the time it takes to secure approval of government contracts. The two agencies plan to create or retain a combined 264 jobs once all the money is spent, according to the reports.
With unemployment above 12%, city officials should move more urgently to cut red tape and spend the money, Greuel said. "The process needs to be changed to make sure we get these projects out as quickly as possible," she said.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa referred questions to City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the top budget official. Santana would not comment on the audit but offered a newer set of figures for stimulus spending citywide, which were sharply different from Greuel's.
Santana's report said that in June, stimulus dollars helped the city create or retain 936 jobs. "And we've only spent 13% of what we've received," he said.
Greuel said in response that she spoke with Santana on Thursday and that he did not disagree with the data contained in her audit.
The controller's audits found that as of March 31, the city had secured $594 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was created to invigorate the economy by spending money on infrastructure projects.
Of that total, nearly $71 million went to the city's Department of Public Works, which plans to create or retain 238 jobs by resurfacing streets and bridges, rebuilding sidewalks and storm drains, and adding bicycle safety grates to catch basins.
So far, the public works agency has shielded 37 public employee jobs from elimination as a result of the city's ongoing budget crisis and created eight public or private jobs, the report said. Part of the problem, Greuel found, was that it took eight months to put together certain bid packages, review the bids and award the contracts. The second report looked at the Department of Transportation, which received seven grants worth nearly $41 million to purchase buses, install traffic signals and upgrade railroad crossings. Although those projects were designed to support 26 jobs, nine have been created or retained so far, Greuel's report said.
Auditors found that the department moved slowly to purchase 16 Commuter Express buses, a process that took from July 2009 to June 2010, when the City Council approved the expenditure. Greuel said in her report that department officials had overlooked the fact that the buses would need the council's sign-off.
Four of six contracts from the Federal Highway Administration, dealing mostly with installation and upgrades of traffic signals, also were slow in being awarded, the report said. Greuel's audit said the transportation agency's bidding process, which is designed to ensure the city complies with local, state and federal contracting policies, "may not be the best approach" for stimulus funds.
Cynthia Ruiz, president of the Board of Public Works, said her agency agreed with Greuel's findings and had begun looking for ways to streamline the contracting process. "We're hoping to have some changes within the next six months," she said.
The reports did not touch on other agencies that have received federal money, including the Department of Water and Power. Those agencies will be examined in coming weeks, Greuel said.
david.***@****
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
*
“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor
antyfed at 8:10 AM September 17, 2010
I'm so angry at all of this... bush abandons the free market in order to pay back countries who were scammed by wall street and obama picked up where he left off. no wonder gov't is trying so hard to censor the news. it works in other oppressed countries and we are next. followers and believers of progressive liberals: please wake up and smell the coffee. they sell their ideas based on false intentions that sound great: help the poor, FREE everything and some sort of utopian existence. you laugh at jihadist who executed suicide missions with the belief of being rewarded in heaven with 70 virgins and $10K left to the family here on earth. you're no different. educated yourselves about u.s. monetary policy and study political history. technology changes but not people. we are still the same. the only thing that changes is how we get things done.
I'mYourHuckleberry at 8:04 AM September 17, 2010
The Gravy Train is pulling out in six weeks. Stay the course. The Prince of Fools and his Confederation of Nation Destroyers will be joining the soup line along with their voting bloc.
Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.
Perhaps you'd prefer this source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_16096665?nclick_check=1
I hate to see the way people are being played against each other. Do I think things are going to be better when the republicans get in? No I sincerely do not. As you said, the same ole, same ole. And I agree things are out of control and is getting worse by the day. The power trips in Washington, the radicals being put into office that have a say over our lives, when they cannot run their own, the media choosing sides is all a carefuly orchestrated strategy and is working. I dont think anyone wants to do away with things like social security, yet the radicals that want to do away with it are now being seated all in the name of getting the old out and in with the new. This will not work and it will only get worse, if that is even possible, which I guess it is. When I read or hear something, I have to literally go search for the facts, and that should not be. I think what we all need to do is sit back and think about things for a minute and put them into perspective. We did not get where we are overnite and we are not going to get out of it overnite. The republicans didnt go so great last time, dems not this time, and people are ticked. But as a result of being ticked they are also being terribly irresponsible in their choices. I think its all going to blow sky high. I heard 1 in 7 people are at poverty level and most of the ones being seated really dont care, they mock the poor etc. Middle class has all but disappeared and your coming to a time when you have rich people and the poor people who serve them, and our rights are out the window. I like to visit non partisan sites when numbers start getting thrown around and that puts some perspective on it, but nothing is going to work overnite and the american people need to realize that a large part of the unemployment is because those jobs went overseas. We need to create jobs where we can cause those are not coming back. With the technology of today the face of the job force is changing and throw all those coming back from the military and it is only going to get worse. I worry most about what the division in our country will escalate to. Its like we are on a rollercoaster going straight down and no one that matters has any power to stop it.
Something that ran in the Associated Press this morning states that the poverty rate is climbing in the United States. Make what you want of that. To me it says that the stimulus isnt working. One of the lines in this particular article stated that California recieved $111 million dollars from the stimulus package and it managed to save 55 jobs. 55.....thats a horrible number.
But here is the kicker, in my opinion. (Its my opinion based on observation of the nations headlines) Political red tape is screwing everything up. In that particular article, (I cant remember the ladies name and dont have the article handy...I know, not very helpful) the representitive from the state of California said that red tape has held up at least 7 jobs for better than 7 months.
Instead of refining government, we are further convoluting it. Nothing within government is simple. Weve allowed our government into every aspect of our lives, our elected officials arent listening to us and are lying to us, and not enough of us are educated enough to be able to do anything about it. Fear mongering has got us into this and will continue to hold us here. We sway like a pendulum....one side now, then the other side next.
These people cannot get on the same page and this story is getting old. These elected officials will not get on the same page with each other in order to get things accomplished. Blame placing amongst politicians is running rampant.... running the political lines in order to save face amongst their constituents is more important thatn listening to the people. Our government has run amok! It doesnt matter who is in the White House..... Until we change, until we force change in politics, we can expect the same thing.
For those of us not aware, there is a nasty little underbelly within politics and its bloating! As much change as we were all promised, politics are still as they were. Back room deals are prevelant...(look at all of the crap plugged into the health bill, look at the recent immigration plug into a military spending bill) Government can not be transparent even though we were promised that. Unfortunately, enough people bought into that, that change was coming, there was going to be fiscal responsibility, there was going to be transparency, there was going to be accountability.
To me, when you sit and are still blaming the other team for things, you arent doing your job. You said you were going to bring people to the table and that hasnt happened. What happened to the accountability? It sounds like blame placing.
In closing, a politician will say anything to get elected. Promises, regardless of who is saying them either become lies, half truths, or accomplished. When your accomplishments are few and far between and your failures outclass anything that you have accomplished....you've failed. The system that eleceted you has also failed you, and you have failed it. Promising change and not delivering is failure, but the system is hindering any progress. Ive said it a hundred times on this board...until you change the way the system works, you will be accepting the status quo.
But here is the kicker, in my opinion. (Its my opinion based on observation of the nations headlines) Political red tape is screwing everything up. In that particular article, (I cant remember the ladies name and dont have the article handy...I know, not very helpful) the representitive from the state of California said that red tape has held up at least 7 jobs for better than 7 months.
Instead of refining government, we are further convoluting it. Nothing within government is simple. Weve allowed our government into every aspect of our lives, our elected officials arent listening to us and are lying to us, and not enough of us are educated enough to be able to do anything about it. Fear mongering has got us into this and will continue to hold us here. We sway like a pendulum....one side now, then the other side next.
These people cannot get on the same page and this story is getting old. These elected officials will not get on the same page with each other in order to get things accomplished. Blame placing amongst politicians is running rampant.... running the political lines in order to save face amongst their constituents is more important thatn listening to the people. Our government has run amok! It doesnt matter who is in the White House..... Until we change, until we force change in politics, we can expect the same thing.
For those of us not aware, there is a nasty little underbelly within politics and its bloating! As much change as we were all promised, politics are still as they were. Back room deals are prevelant...(look at all of the crap plugged into the health bill, look at the recent immigration plug into a military spending bill) Government can not be transparent even though we were promised that. Unfortunately, enough people bought into that, that change was coming, there was going to be fiscal responsibility, there was going to be transparency, there was going to be accountability.
To me, when you sit and are still blaming the other team for things, you arent doing your job. You said you were going to bring people to the table and that hasnt happened. What happened to the accountability? It sounds like blame placing.
In closing, a politician will say anything to get elected. Promises, regardless of who is saying them either become lies, half truths, or accomplished. When your accomplishments are few and far between and your failures outclass anything that you have accomplished....you've failed. The system that eleceted you has also failed you, and you have failed it. Promising change and not delivering is failure, but the system is hindering any progress. Ive said it a hundred times on this board...until you change the way the system works, you will be accepting the status quo.
Really Sara? Fox, republican news machine? Fair and Balanced? Really?
If you go to the CBO website, you will see that the stimulus created a great many jobs. Of course it is not a partisan site, so you dont have the spin, just the facts.
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Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
