Part of the plan being released today calls for the funding of a permanent infrastructure bank that would invest in projects most critical to the economy. The up-front investment would go to the nation's highway system and focus on modernizing the system while providing jobs. There also would be investment in the nation's bus and rail systems, including an overhaul of Amtrak's fleet. The final cog would be the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system.
Infrastructure, which is an investment in America, is sorely needed and has the potential to create jobs. That said, last spending on infrastructure, the government did not require two conditions, hire America and buy American, thus funds flowed out of the country instead of into the pockets of Americans.
Also, the bidding procedure for contracts was the same as the one used in Iraq. It's all well and good to invest in U.S. infrastructure, this is one of the most bang for the buck stimulus proposals out there. But the devil is in the details and will we see this government do Stimulus right right this time? Democrats are bad enough, but Republicans block anything that will help the American people and this economy at every turn.
The governor of Ohio issued an executive order prohibiting use of public funds for outsourcing. Seems like a no brainer right? Don't use our taxpayer dollars to offshore outsource our jobs? Believe this or not, use of our money to offshore outsource our jobs happens every day, from food stamp and unemployment support to large software design projects. Yet as a result of an investigative journalism piece, Ohio, finally, does the right thing.
Columbus, Ohio--Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today issued an executive order that prohibits the expenditure of public funds for services provided offshore.
"Outsourcing jobs does not reflect Ohio values," Strickland said. "Ohioans have been among the hardest hit by more than a decade of unfair trade agreements and the trickle-down economic policies that promoted offshoring jobs at the expense of Ohioans who work for a living. We must do everything within our power to prevent outsourcing jobs because it undermines our economic development objectives, slows our recovery and deprives Ohioans and other Americans of employment opportunities."
The G-20 has declared to cut their deficits by half by 2013. Guess what that means. Raising taxes and cutting social safety nets. Even worse, it is reported the word double dip, despite the evidence on slowing economies, didn't even come up as a possibility. Forget real global financial reform too, the G-20 cannot even agree to a very minor tax.
The leaders also discussed banking regulations, but could not agree on a proposal for a global bank tax, supported by the United States, Britain and the European Union, but opposed by Canada and Australia.
Reflecting this balance, advanced economies have committed to fiscal plans that will at least halve deficits by 2013 and stabilize or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016. Recognizing the circumstances of Japan, we welcome the Japanese government’s fiscal consolidation plan announced recently with their growth strategy.
Look at some of their other goals. To trade people and advance more bad trade deals. What is it about the trade deficit these people do not understand? What is it about destroying middle classes do these people not get?
In response to this report of $1.4 billion dollars of ARRA funding, that's Stimulus dollars, claiming to create U.S. jobs, instead being funneled offshore to foreign nations, Senators Schumer, Brown, Tester & Casey demand the Obama administration Suspend Stimulus Program Funneling Billions Overseas.
In the wake of a new report revealing that a clean-energy grant program in the stimulus has paid out more than $1 billion to foreign manufacturers, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jon Tester (D-MT) urged the Obama administration Wednesday to suspend the program indefinitely until the law can be fixed so that funds only flow to projects that will create jobs in the United States.
It seems the MSM is finally catching on and reporting that Stimulus is actually stimulating other countries economies, including China. ABC News is reporting $2.1 billion of renewable energy stimulus funds have gone offshore.
This is disgusting. Since Congress wouldn't back off of the Buy American clauses, weak as they were, in the first stimulus bill (ARRA), the Obama administration is going to destroy those requirements via executive order.
Since Mr. Obama cannot rely on Congress to pass legislation exempting Canada from Buy American provisions, the complicated deal will rely on the President using his executive power to treat sectors of the Canadian economy as American, by claiming supply chains are so integrated they cannot be separated.
Ten months into President Barack Obama's first economic stimulus plan, a surge in spending on roads and bridges has had no effect on local unemployment and only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Spend a lot or spend nothing at all, it didn't matter, the AP analysis showed: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless of how much stimulus money Washington poured out for transportation, raising questions about Obama's argument that more road money would address an "urgent need to accelerate job growth."
The House of Representatives just passed another Stimulus bill of which $75 billion from TARP will be used to pay for it's $155 billion dollar price tag.
The 119-page measure contains proposals from lawmakers including Democratic Representative Daniel Lipinski of Illinois requiring federal agencies to publish requests for waivers on their Web sites. Waivers that are granted must contain a detailed rationale with an analysis of the impact of the waiver on U.S. factory jobs, the legislation says.
No doubt the lobbyists will be all over this one, making sure Stimulus stimulates other national economies.
The Congressional Budget Office has a new report out on the Stimulus.
Buried deep in the actual report is this little mention, in an appendix:
In analyzing the economic effects of ARRA, CBO drew heavily on versions of the commercial forecasting models of two economic consulting firms, Macroeconomic Advisors and Global Insight, as well as on the FRB-US model used at the Federal Reserve Board.
The CBO outsourced their job? Anyone aware that Global Insight has produced biased reports for corporate lobbyists?
Firstly, one would have to be dead to not hear about the massive errors from the White House on jobs created from the Stimulus. It appears the CBO is busy covering the White House's ass from the CBO blog statement:
The GAO has released a new report on the Stimulus.
GAO's review of prime recipient reports identified the following: Erroneous or questionable data entries that merit further review:
3,978 reports that showed no dollar amount received or expended but included more than 50,000 jobs created or retained
9,247 reports that showed no jobs but included expended amounts approaching $1 billion
Instances of other reporting anomalies such as discrepancies between award amounts and the amounts reported as received which, although relatively small in number, indicate problematic issues in the reporting.
Pretty astounding huh. Believe this or not, 75% of the reporting was supposedly reviewed by a Federal Agency, while only 1% was reviewed from the recipient of the funds.
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