PORKULUS 50 Outrages: Look What is in the Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus Bill

National Review has the sad but true poop on PORKULUS – the Democrat/Obama Economic Stimulus bill, S.1.

VARIOUS LEFT-WINGERY:

1. $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts

2. $380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program

3. $300 million for grants to combat violence against women

4. $2 billion for federal child care block grants

5. $6 billion for university building projects

6. $15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships

7. $4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion to provide â€œyouthâ€ summer jobs for people up to the age of 24

8. $1 billion for community development block grants

9. $4.2 billion for â€œneighborhood stabilization activitiesâ€

10. $650 million for digital TV coupons, including $90 million to educate â€œvulnerable populationsâ€

POORLY DESIGNED TAX RELIEF:

11. $15 billion for business-loss carry-backs

12. $145 billion for â€œMaking Work Payâ€ tax credits

13. $83 billion for the earned income credit

STIMULUS FOR THE GOVERNMENT:

14. $150 million for the Smithsonian

15. $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters

16. $500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities

17. $44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters

18. $350 million for Agriculture Department computers

19. $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building next year

20. $448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters

21. $600 million to convert federal auto fleet to hybrids

22. $450 million for National Aeronautics and Space Administration

23. $600 million for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

24. $1 billion for the Census Bureau

INCOME TRANSFERS:

25. $89 billion for Medicaid

26. $30 billion for COBRA insurance extension

27. $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits

28. $20 billion for food stamps

PURE PORK:

29. $4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

30. $850 million for Amtrak

31. $87 million for a polar icebreaking ship

32. $1.7 billion for the National Park System

33. $55 million for Historic Preservation Fund

34. $7.6 billion for â€œrural community advancement programsâ€

35. $150 million for agricultural commodity purchases

36. $150 million for â€œproducers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fishâ€

RENEWABLE WASTE:

37. $2 billion for renewable energy research

38. $2 billion for a â€œclean-coalâ€ power plant in Illinois

39. $6.2 billion shall be for the Weatherization Assistance Program

40. $3.5 billion shall be for energy efficiency and conservation block grants

41. $3.4 billion shall be for the State Energy Program

42. $200 million shall be for state and local electric-transport projects

43. $300 million shall be for energy-efficient appliance rebate programs

44. $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments

45. $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries

46. $1.5 billion for green technology loan guarantees

47. $8 billion for innovative technology loan guarantee program

48. $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects

49. $4.5 billion for electricity grid

REWARDING STATE IRRESPONSIBILITY:

50. $79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund

Think this is enough of an outrage?

The entire bill should be scraped and reconstructed with items that actually WILL stimulate the economy.

How about a payroll tax cut to start?

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, PORKULUS, S.1, Economic Stimulus Bill

10 Comments

Anthony Kones

February 5, 2009 at 7:08 pm

I had no idea that the bill was this poorly built. I was expecting a uncalled for rant but this is an outrage!

They need to redo this and NOW

Marina

February 6, 2009 at 4:02 am

Wow, where are all those money coming from? If we are so rich how come we have so bad health insurance, so bad schools and …. I can keep going on.

Daniel

February 8, 2009 at 10:29 am

Maybe it would be better to invest all those money in better health system.

Kim

February 11, 2009 at 5:19 pm

I don’t get it. What is the bad stuff you people have such a problem with? Other than the clean coal plant (which it’s stupid to build when we have cleaner, cheaper tech right now) and possibly all that for batteries, that’s pretty much all stuff that will either create jobs now or be a sound investment to save money in the future.

Flap

February 11, 2009 at 5:22 pm

The bill has been modified since this post but there remains considerable non-stimulus related spending.

The danger with too much government spending is inflation and the lack of growth in the private economy because government spending freezes it out.

Kim

February 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Why would government spending cause a freeze in private growth, particularly if government money is being put in the private sector?

Flap

February 11, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Because outside the government paid projects there is insufficient cheap capital to fund other projects. The private sector will have to compete with the government for capital, thus raising the cost – among other things.

But at this link the issue is more fully explored: http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/bg1831.cfm

Proponents of smaller government have the oppoÂsite view. They explain that government is too big and that higher spending undermines economic growth by transferring additional resources from the productive sector of the economy to government, which uses them less efficiently. They also warn that an expanding public sector complicates efforts to implement pro-growth policiesâ€”such as fundamenÂtal tax reform and personal retirement accountsâ€” because critics can use the existence of budget defiÂcits as a reason to oppose policies that would strengthen the economy.

Bill

February 13, 2009 at 10:20 am

Kim says “goverment money”.. IT’S OUR MONEY not the goverments..the goverment doesn’t have any money and by the way how does $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts stimulate the economy.. or most of the pork that is listed in the stimulus for goverment. Most of this bill is just PORK that the Liberals couldn’t get when Bush was in .. and now that they have a majority in both houses and the pres, they want to spend whatever money they can to keep the votes.. doesn’t matter how much it is going to break our backs and our kids and grandchildren and their children. Where is the money for the military.. closing our borders or keeping the terrorist out of the US. No .. let’s close Gitmo and bring the terrorists to the US where they can have the same rights of a citizen, so we can pay to house them, feed them, give them lawyers so they can be released into our population and kill more US citizens. Remember they said that the only way this war was going to end is that the US turn muslim, or we are all DEAD. Wake up people.

Kim

February 13, 2009 at 1:35 pm

$50 million for the Endowment for the Arts?! That is guarenteed jobs. Galleries need artists, receptionists, curators and janitors. Public art projects beautify the country, raise property values and put artists to work. And art education projects create jobs for teachers, jobs through the supplies they have to buy, and enrich our children’s education. Just because YOU don’t like art doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable, or that spending money on it isn’t going to stimulate the economy.

And the military doesn’t get money through economic stimulus bills. It gets its money (which is way way way more than it should, talk about breaking taxpayer backs for something that hurts us in the end) in its own bills.

And PS, Al Quaeda has said in the past that it would no longer target the US if we removed all our troops from the Middle East. Those are words right out of Bin Laden’s mouth. If you can’t see what America has done to put a big target on its back, then you need to learn more. There are tons, TONS of non-Muslim countries out there that are not targeted by Islamic terrorist groups.

Bill

February 13, 2009 at 3:16 pm

Keep drinking your coolaid.. It has nothing to do with liking or disliking the arts.. how many janitors is that going to hire. How about putting the all the people on welfare that sit home and do nothing..collecting OUR money in those janitorial jobs for their welfare checks.. or put all the people on unemployment in the sports stadiums for 8 hours a day just to make sure they their not getting paid under the table while collecting OUR money. Force employers to take the responsability for hiring under the table. Why does Amtrak need $850 million of our money.. an ice breaker?.. Historic preservation fund.. $650 million for tv converters.. come on.. most of the list is BS

Anthony Kones

February 5, 2009 at 7:08 pm

I had no idea that the bill was this poorly built. I was expecting a uncalled for rant but this is an outrage!

They need to redo this and NOW
Marina

February 6, 2009 at 4:02 am

Wow, where are all those money coming from? If we are so rich how come we have so bad health insurance, so bad schools and …. I can keep going on.
Daniel

February 8, 2009 at 10:29 am

Maybe it would be better to invest all those money in better health system.
Kim

February 11, 2009 at 5:19 pm

I don’t get it. What is the bad stuff you people have such a problem with? Other than the clean coal plant (which it’s stupid to build when we have cleaner, cheaper tech right now) and possibly all that for batteries, that’s pretty much all stuff that will either create jobs now or be a sound investment to save money in the future.
Flap

February 11, 2009 at 5:22 pm

The bill has been modified since this post but there remains considerable non-stimulus related spending.

The danger with too much government spending is inflation and the lack of growth in the private economy because government spending freezes it out.
Kim

February 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Why would government spending cause a freeze in private growth, particularly if government money is being put in the private sector?
Flap

February 11, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Because outside the government paid projects there is insufficient cheap capital to fund other projects. The private sector will have to compete with the government for capital, thus raising the cost – among other things.

But at this link the issue is more fully explored: http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/bg1831.cfm

Proponents of smaller government have the oppoÂsite view. They explain that government is too big and that higher spending undermines economic growth by transferring additional resources from the productive sector of the economy to government, which uses them less efficiently. They also warn that an expanding public sector complicates efforts to implement pro-growth policiesâ€”such as fundamenÂtal tax reform and personal retirement accountsâ€” because critics can use the existence of budget defiÂcits as a reason to oppose policies that would strengthen the economy.
Bill

February 13, 2009 at 10:20 am

Kim says “goverment money”.. IT’S OUR MONEY not the goverments..the goverment doesn’t have any money and by the way how does $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts stimulate the economy.. or most of the pork that is listed in the stimulus for goverment. Most of this bill is just PORK that the Liberals couldn’t get when Bush was in .. and now that they have a majority in both houses and the pres, they want to spend whatever money they can to keep the votes.. doesn’t matter how much it is going to break our backs and our kids and grandchildren and their children. Where is the money for the military.. closing our borders or keeping the terrorist out of the US. No .. let’s close Gitmo and bring the terrorists to the US where they can have the same rights of a citizen, so we can pay to house them, feed them, give them lawyers so they can be released into our population and kill more US citizens. Remember they said that the only way this war was going to end is that the US turn muslim, or we are all DEAD. Wake up people.
Kim

February 13, 2009 at 1:35 pm

$50 million for the Endowment for the Arts?! That is guarenteed jobs. Galleries need artists, receptionists, curators and janitors. Public art projects beautify the country, raise property values and put artists to work. And art education projects create jobs for teachers, jobs through the supplies they have to buy, and enrich our children’s education. Just because YOU don’t like art doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable, or that spending money on it isn’t going to stimulate the economy.

And the military doesn’t get money through economic stimulus bills. It gets its money (which is way way way more than it should, talk about breaking taxpayer backs for something that hurts us in the end) in its own bills.

And PS, Al Quaeda has said in the past that it would no longer target the US if we removed all our troops from the Middle East. Those are words right out of Bin Laden’s mouth. If you can’t see what America has done to put a big target on its back, then you need to learn more. There are tons, TONS of non-Muslim countries out there that are not targeted by Islamic terrorist groups.
Bill

February 13, 2009 at 3:16 pm

Keep drinking your coolaid.. It has nothing to do with liking or disliking the arts.. how many janitors is that going to hire. How about putting the all the people on welfare that sit home and do nothing..collecting OUR money in those janitorial jobs for their welfare checks.. or put all the people on unemployment in the sports stadiums for 8 hours a day just to make sure they their not getting paid under the table while collecting OUR money. Force employers to take the responsability for hiring under the table. Why does Amtrak need $850 million of our money.. an ice breaker?.. Historic preservation fund.. $650 million for tv converters.. come on.. most of the list is BS