Okay, so enough with the Facebook statuses. I’ve been frustrated with my inability to comment at length on news stories I like for a good long while now… but today, I remembered, “Oh, right, I have a blog.”
Anyhoo.
Today’s objection is to the GOP’s line-by-line analysis of “wasteful spending” in President Obama’s economic stimulus package. The article’s there for you to read, and what’s nice is that it’s just the list. So go read it; more after you do.
…Done? Okay, who else thinks that the GOP is completely off their collective rocker? Two can play at this line-by-line game; let’s go through it.
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
I’d like to take a closer look at this one. Remember that this was the DoE of the previous administration.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
Help Hollywood make movies? Historically, a good idea. Even in the Great Depression, movies served as a popular form of entertainment and remained an economic player. Also, big scenes always need extras — and extras = jobs.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
A needed measure, and arguably will have an economic impact. It’s better than having millions of viewers not make the changeover and stop being a TV market.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
Arguable impact. Manufacturing of these ships could create jobs or throw shipyards a bone, but I’m leery.
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
This? This is exactly the kind of thing that SHOULD be in here. Construction is one of the best ways of creating jobs, because it needs unskilled labor and lots of it.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
…Unless they’re including computer equipment in the cost of furniture, this may be a little excessive. (If you’re asking why this should be in the bill at all, it’s because building an office without furniture would be kind of silly.)
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
Yay auto bailouts! Yay alternative energy! Actually, I’d like to see exactly what this means first. If we’re talking cars they drive on their own time, probably not good.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD’s.
Okay, the Democrats have dropped this as a gesture of faith to the GOP. And you know what? That was boneheaded. I quote an anonymous CNN Democratic source: “”It’s hard to explain when you’re in the midst of a crisis why these programs are important. When people are struggling and thinking about their jobs, it’s hard to make that connection.” It’s important because you don’t want people dying or severely ill, obviously. (You could also argue that this would allow the CDC to create jobs.)
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
Environmental initiative? But hey, programs = jobs. I approve.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
Define “for,” please, CNN. Repairs make work, useless planning generally doesn’t.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
See above, though with a bit less skepticism. I’m plenty okay with museums getting money.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
I’m back and forth on this one. It’s not immediate and it may or may not create jobs, but I have this gut feeling that censuses are somehow important.
• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”
Same deal as the STD prevention: Democrats caved. Boohiss. Quitters need all the help they can get, and compared to the rest of this bill it’s not even a lot.
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
You know what’s good? Internet access. Sure it makes jobs (IT people, community instructors, and even just the construction work) but my main reason for liking this is my deep-seated belief in universal net access.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
May or may not be good. I can’t find an analysis of their pay scale, so I can’t tell ya.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
This is less than 1/3,400th of the total money spent to fix a SERIOUS problem. (I live in Santa Fe, I should know.)
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
Ditch-digging: another time-honored public works project that creates jobs all over the place. Plus, we need it. See: Katrina.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
See: above.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.
Saves money in the long run, gives contractors jobs, etc.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
You know what? My hometown (Magnolia, MA) doesn’t even HAVE a fire station any more. Let’s not cut things that fix that little problem, okay?
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
Gee, I wonder what I have to say about this. (Hint: my family lives in LA.)
•$1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.
Hey, you know what sucks? Looking for a job as a teen. We need to create teen jobs as much as adult ones — maybe even more so, as employers will almost always take an adult over a teen.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
Renovations. Contractors. Jobs. We’ve been through this.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
Define “for.”
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
Construction. Jobs.
• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Okay, this is literally making… well, not jobs, but really, what else do you call them?
• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
Pays for itself in the long run, is a TINY sum of this package, and will probably give some contractor a job.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
Okay, for this I have to talk about WHY the GOP wants to cut this stuff: they want more tax cuts. They’re proposed their own version of a stimulus package, which is more than half tax cuts. But I think that Rep. Frank of Massachusetts said it best: “I never saw a tax cut fix a bridge. I never saw a tax cut give us more public transportation. The fact is, we need a mix.”
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
Uhm. This one… well, Id like to see how prevalent a problem it is and how exactly this will help first.
• $75 million to construct a “security training” facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
Construction.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
IT work, and Lord knows the government needs some better computers.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.
Stimulates car rental services, which sounds like an industry that won’t be having a ton of fun right now.
So there you have it. Feel free to argue, as always.
