I was reading the FT last week and one headline after another quoted Obama parroting something some Asian leader had told him to say. Fiscal responsibility. Harumph! Where was that in his playbook 6 months ago? How does that sync with the new healthcare plan he advocated (as opposed to the waterier one seeping thru Congress)? How does that sync with these not-so-fiscally-responsible splurges he authorized (to quote my anti-Stimulus blog post from last Feb):
"100 acres of new energy efficiency industrial zones" [in Puerto Rico] is gonna cost us $17 billion. That would be $4,000 a square foot ... or $11 million per job created. Why don't they just hand out shovelfuls of cash to these Caribbean shits? That would probably be cheaper than one of their other requests: $500 million to give solar water heater tanks to rural families. 14 very short-term jobs there (by their own count), so $35 million per job. Apparently the current $2,000 tax credit just isn't enough for these people, even though that's precisely the price of a one-family sized tank. Not that they're the only ones. Miami (city and county) have put in for nearly the same amount, mostly for transportation projects like the "Two hundred million dollar mile" project ($2.4 billion to extend the "Orange Line" east-west transit by 10 miles). By comparison, their pitch for $1.4 billion to expand the same "Orange Line" north-south is a bargain.
- The "Billion Dollar Bridge" in Moline Illinois
- The $600 million 100MW solar plant in Alabama using outdated technology. Strangely, other states can use newer technology to generate the same 100MW for hundreds of millions less.
- The new digs for the chief of Oakland police, $450 million
- And a parking garage for the Oakland Airport $300 million. Who can blame them? Its just SO TIRING to walk through their current lot.
- The events center and hotel in Albuquerque, $418 million
Not to be outdone, a similar pitch in Irving, TX (and here and here), including residential, commercial, and every other kind of -ial $1.4 billion. Where the hell is Irving anyway? - Or a Performing Arts Center in Vegas. $375 million. Apparently they don't have enough stages in that town.
- Or $2 billion to put (outmoded) solar panels on every roof in LA
Oh Jeez (after reading the first story)
Oh No (after reading the second story)
Oh Shit (after reading the third story)
Oh-Bama.
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