Through the lens darkly
Stimulation, clunker nation, taxation, health care obliteration
Unemployment risin”™ fast, more taxes will give us gas.?So round ”™n”™ round ”™n”™ round we go?Where the world”™s headed, nobody knows?Just a ball of confusion.
— With apologies to The Temptations.
The one good thing about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is that it created 2,200 Census Bureau jobs. With unemployment at record levels more people are at home; so when that knock comes at the door, someone will be answering.
But we jest, ever so uneasily.
“Under the Recovery Act, the Census Bureau received $1 billion in funding, $120 million of which was used to create the new positions,” a press release stated on July 31. “The remaining funds were directed to other critical 2010 Census operations, including expanding the 2010 Census communications and advertising campaign.”
Whoa, so 2,200 people will be getting paid about $54,000 each and the remainder ”“ $880 million ”“Â will go to other “critical” operations; communications? Hmm. Have they not heard of Twitter? It”™s free.
Back at the end of February, the Census Bureau”™s parent, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the business side of government, received $7.9 billion to “create and save jobs for American workers.”
The $1 billion the Census Bureau received came out of that allotment.
The remaining $6.9 billion went to the Commerce Department”™s five other agencies: Economic Development Administration; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Institute of Standards and Technology; National Telecommunications and Information Administration; and Office of Inspector General.
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As of Aug. 14, $80.9 billion in ARRA funds have been paid out by the government. The largest chunk, $27.6 billion, was paid by the Department of Health and Human Services.
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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration received $4.7 billion in ARRA funds to establish a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to award grants to “eligible entities to develop and expand broadband services to rural and underserved areas and improve access to broadband by public safety agencies.”
On Aug. 20, the Federal Communications Commission issued a four-page public notice with the heading ”“ no, we are not making this up ”“ COMMENT SOUGHT ON DEFINING “BROADBAND.”
If ever there was a prime example of putting the cart before the horse it is this.
Aug. 20 apparently was a good day for making announcements, for on that day The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded $40 million to “create jobs, strengthen the economy, and support safe and efficient marine commerce and trade.”
At least that was the agency”™s spin since the money would specifically be used to chart nearly 2,000 square nautical miles in the coastal waters of Alaska, Washington, California, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Virginia.
The “create jobs” part of the equation would come much, much later when ports such as Hampton Roads in Virginia would be able to accommodate bigger ships.
“More ships means more dockworkers and more dockworkers means more people eating in restaurants, shopping in malls and remodeling their homes ”“ creating even more jobs.” That was Commerce Secretary Gary Locke”™s take on how charting sea floors equals job creation.
You would think mapping the ocean floor would take a back seat to finding a way out of this recession.
Just a ball of confusion”¦