Following the Bread Crumbs---Where is Your Stimulus Money Going?
Posted: Wednesday, March 04, 2009
by Sandra E. Graham
My Books and Articles
If like Hansel and Gretel, we plan to find our way back after the Stimulus Crumbs' have been distributed, we may do better to chance upon the fictional Gingerbread House instead.
As each state gets their allocated cut of the stimulus pie, each individual agency scrambles to get their proposed lists of needs' and wants' at the head of the line. And if you would like to view a Comedy of Errors without leaving your recliner, just log onto a few of the links in which each State reveals their own private wish lists. These web pages have been created in response to President Obama's signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These agencies range alphabetically from the Department of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Labor, to the Department of Treasury.
Then there was the $600 million request for the Heritage Trails Project (a one and one/half mile trail in Natchez)-of course, it was denied that such a request so outrageous could have even been considered. The actual cost would be closer to $3.1 million-but who's counting? SOMEONE SHOULD BE!!! Just another (huge) gap in the trail of crumbs.
And what about all these bridge projects (Coyote Creek needs one) and biking trails and carpool lanes-my gosh, there are so many things that we need and we NEED IT NOW!!! Does this remind you of anything just as ridiculous? Have you seen the commercial where the people hang out of their windows yelling, "IT'S MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW!!!"
Congress-not to be left out of the equation, saw fit to increase its own budget by $20 million to cover salaries and expense of adding temporary staffers.
Here is a list of the divisions of monies (in Billions) I have uncovered in my research thus far:
$247 Individual Tax Relief
$89.7 Medicaid Provision
$86.3 Health Human services, labor education
$79 State Fiscal stabilization funds
$62.3 Transportation and urban development
$48.9 Energy and Water
$45.7 Assistance for unemployed workers
$40.8 Health Ins. for unemployed
$26.9 Agriculture, nutrition and rural development
$20.2 Health Information Technology
$14.3 Environment, Interior
$13.9 commerce, Justice and Science
$8.5 Federal Facilities
$7 Military, veterans
$4.8 Defense
$1 Homeland Security
I'm sure foreign countries who love Westerners with all their hearts are very proud to see the last three divisions on this list. If nothing else since 911, have we learned that we don't need our military, our defense program, or our homeland security?--- Another gigantic gap in our trail of crumbs! If we can't stop terrorists from coming into our country, at least we can offer them beautiful nature trails to roam and doorbells on their doors and state of the art bridges to blow!
With all this said, we can only pray that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I don't mean the one that needs $800 billion to drill through the mountains to connect Arkansas and California; but the one through the dark forest of our ever diminishing trail of crumbs. The construction and expansion of health care centers, a lifeline for a financially strapped education system, small businesses, social security benefits, and many more areas will be receiving a share of this stimulus program. Hopefully each individual State will use good judgement when it comes to dispersing these funds.
The outcome of this Stimulus Package is out of Obama's hands-it now lies in the hands of our States and communities. If it doesn't work, we have no one to blame but our State and local governments-and ourselves if we see or hear of a misallocation of funds and don't make our voices heard in complaint.
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Sandra E. Graham, author, AMOS JAKEY and NICOLINA published by American Book Publishing. Sandra loves to write about people and if you enjoy reading about people, you will love these books. Her first two novels are historical/adventure/fiction of early 1900's America. Sandra also writes book reviews for authors through Book Pleasures (no charge for reviews). Visit her website for more information on her books that are in print now and reviews she has written.
http://www.sandragraham-articles-books.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)Hi Sandra, Bravo. Very well stated. You amaze me :-)Blessings, TeresaThanks, Teresa, for reading and commenting. I'm like Gary, my ratings are slipping so I thought I had better start writing again and stop staring at the walls.Have a good week.Sandra
Very nice article...keep wititng...ThaanksThanks, TC, for reading and commenting.Have a good week.Sandra
hi sandra,all valid points.i don't think we'll ever know how much money is foolishly spent.we still have homeless, and i don't care what anybody says, "they don't want to work, they're lazy, their alcoholics, drug addicts, dirty, smelly, etc.," they are still human beings, and the animals in the labs are treated better.one never knows why the person outside under the doorway, with nothing but the coat and clothes on their back, is homeless.i think we should concentrate on cleaning up our own backyard, before we go sticking our noses where they don't belong.thanks for sharing,my best regards,sueThanks, Sue, for reading and commenting. And you are right--we definitely need to clean up our own backyard.Sandra
Thank you for another great informative article. I'm struggling to get my ratings up but I'll just keep plugging away. Linda DThanks, Linda. And just hang in there and keep the articles coming--you'll get there, it just takes time.Sandra
Howdy Sandra, As usual, you have very valid points, and facts regarding the crumb trails. And there is allot that you said that hits the nail right on the head. The individual states will now be held accountable, and I'm just hoping that are elected officials in each state can make the right decisions, which I'm not so sure they can. Even in the state of Arizona, I am hearing cutbacks here, cutbacks there..and, to boot, even as trivial as a rattlesnake on someones porch, no longer will be removed by the fire dept, because of "Cutbacks", there is a ton of rattle snakes here in the desert, and allot of the elderly folks cannot remove these varmits themselves and rely on the fire dept that is trained to do this, now they can't because of cutbacks to the fire dept....pathetic. The only time they will now come out is if someone is bitten by these rattle snakes, or if they should appear in our public schools, etc. But no longer will they come to the residence. I know it sounds trivial, but out here, the elderly depend on it. It happens quite often. This was a great article. I really don't know what the solution is to all of this, for the exception of we the people getting involved in our governments spending, and petitioning, and writing our letters to our leaders. We the people are the only ones that really police these agencies. Great article and good points, I enjoyed the read. and I hope this comment finds you well, your fan, and friend in pen.......GaryThanks, Gary. Glad to hear from you again and glad you enjoyed the article. Thanks so much for reading and commenting.Sandra.
Very interesting. You have a nice use of metaphors.I especially liked: "SOMEONE SHOULD BE!"The article has a very good mixture of formal and informal language, which at times makes it humourous.I agree that jobs should be a main priority, especially in the economic climate.Thanks so much for reading and commenting and Welcome to SearchWarp.Sandra
This is by far my favourite article that I have read so far in my few hours of being a member.Just like Connor, my faourite bit was the "SOME SHOULD BE!" bit.Your grammar is brillant and the content is extravagant. Keep up the good work!Thank you so much, Mr. Home. Glad you enjoyed the article. And welcome to Searchwarp--there are some really great writers here and you'll find lots of articles to enlighten and make you laugh.Have a great week-end.Sandra
Oops, meant someone, not some.Gotta' ya. Ha. Don't worry about a little typo---we do it all the time. Every time I write an article, I re-read several times checking for errors and still have to edit it at least once after I submit.Have a good one.Sandra
Sandra,Excellent article! Thank you for putting the numbers out there but you forgot one: $30 million for the saving of Nancy Pelosi's Salt Marsh Mouse in CA!I don't understand the complaints. The President is doing everything that he promised he would. My question is how many were actually listening?NancyThanks, Nancy. Most were probably listening--they just heard only parts they wanted to hear; or heard it the way they wanted to hear it. No matter how good or bad the stimulus program is, it will only be as good as each division allows it to be. How it is used will be the determining factor.Thanks for reading and commenting.Sandra
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