A Rundown of Obama’s Odd Stimulus

Just some random notes:

Stimulus Performs Worse than No Stimulus Predictions

July Graph
December 2009Graph
Another Graph

High Cost Per Job Saved
$23 million creates less than 21 jobs

But Hollywood is a different story entirely. Hollywood — the geographic Hollywood as found on Thomas Guide map page 593 — has received $23,338,327 in grants, loans and contracting. This money has created just 20.57 jobs. That’s $1,134,580.80 per job. And as interviews with recipients reveal, even that tiny jobs claim is clearly false, with many of the claims of newly created positions either impossible to verify or lower than reported.

Not even 20 full-time jobs have been created in Hollywood proper.

- laweekly.com

TN – $235,912 per Job

“In TN, stimulus jobs cost $235,912 per person,Good grief. Why not just cut each person a $100,000 check and save a ton?” – KnoxNews

Jobs Saved in >440 Phantom Districts

Researchers at the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity found 440 “phantom districts” listed on Recovery.gov, consuming $6.4 billion and creating or saving nearly 30,000 jobs. Their findings are listed HERE. -Washington Times

There’s one problem, though: There is no 9th Congressional District in Arizona; the state has only eight Congressional Districts.

There’s no 86th Congressional District in Arizona either, but the government’s recovery.gov Web site says $34 million in stimulus money has been spent there. -ABC News, Nov. 16, 2009

Tennessee’s Phantom 29th Congressional District.
http://districtscreated.org/candidates.html

Funny Job Creation

More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.

Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers. – Chicago Tribune, November 04, 2009

“While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.” – Boston Globe, November 11, 2009

Even CBS is on top of this. (October 30-ish Video). $100K for a single modular classroom counted as 280 jobs, pay raises counted as jobs…. Favorite line “They don’t understand how some stimulus project will create any jobs. For example, $500k to study social networks like facebook and $219K to study the sex lives of female college freshman”.

Associated Press/KnoxNews -

WASHINGTON — The federal government overstated by thousands the number of jobs created or saved with contracts awarded to businesses under President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program, according to an Associated Press review of employment data in the plan’s first progress report.
——
For example:

• A company working with the Federal Communications Commission reported that stimulus money paid for 4,231 jobs, when about 1,000 were produced.

• A Georgia community college reported creating 280 jobs with recovery money, but none was created from stimulus spending.

• A Florida child care center said its stimulus money saved 129 jobs but used the money on raises for existing employees.

“7 Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs. “What’s shocking is that even Washington, D.C. has lost jobs. How can that be?“

“Hard Stimulus Data Reveals That Michigan “Saved Or Created” Only 397 Jobs For 620 Million Stimulus Dollars, FAR Short Of 19,500 Claim.“

Funny Accounting

“IRS Cannot Verify Taxpayer Eligibility for 2/3 of $325 Billion of Stimulus Tax Benefits”

Counties with worst joblessness get least from stimulus package

Knox County, for instance, had an unemployment rate in November of 7.7 percent and is receiving about $344 per resident in stimulus money that is being disbursed through state agencies.

……

The residents of Scott County, which had one of the state’s highest unemployment rates at 17.8 percent, are receiving about $169 per capita.

“I’m just not sure the money that a lot of people in Washington thought would be going to rural areas ever got to rural areas the way it was intended. … That’s a little opposite of the impression that most of us got back when they talked about the stimulus funds at the first of the year.”
…
Lola Potter, spokeswoman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said the focus of the stimulus package isn’t necessarily “to raise the economic status of counties who weren’t doing well,” but instead to help states bounce back from the loss of tax revenues.
…..

Pork

“One reason unemployment continues to rise may be that stimulus funds did not target high-unemployment states.” – American.com

Glenn Reynolds comments: “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his political clout”

Sources:
KnoxNews, Counties with worst joblessness get least from stimulus package
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development; U.S. Census Bureau, ProPublica
KnoxNews, In TN, stimulus jobs cost $235,912 per person, Good grief. Why not just cut each person a $100,000 check and save a ton?, MICHAEL SILENCE, December 24, 2009 at 7:26 AM

LaWeekly.com, Hollywood’s Catered Stimulus, Why $23 million creates just 21 jobs, Tim Cavanaugh, November 18, 2009 at 4:31pm
Reason, That Stimulus is So Freaking Awesome it Has Created or Saved Jobs in Congressional Districts That Don’t Even Exist!, Nick Gillespie | November 16, 2009

ABCNEWs, Exclusive: Jobs ‘Saved or Created’ in Congressional Districts That Don’t Exist, Human Error Blamed for Crediting New Stimulus Jobs to Nonexistent Places, JONATHAN KARL, Nov. 16, 2009
Boston Globe, Stimulus job boost in state exaggerated, review finds, Errors, incomplete data, estimated positions go into federal report, November 11, 2009
The American, , State of the Stimulus Veronique de Rugy Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Chicagotribune.com, Illinois data on stimulus-related jobs saved, created don’t add up, Districts say job numbers attributed to them inaccurate; totals ignore Chicago, Erika Slife and Bob Secter November 04, 2009

The Military, Education and It’s perception by the Left

Under construction… just some notes so far.

The Raw Data:
2009 – West point is ranked #1 by Forbes. Wasn’t too long ago when the Naval Academy was #1. It was certainly the most selective anyway. (citation needed)

Statistics on education of military personnel
defense.gov
The Demographics of Military Enlistment After 9/11, Tim Kane, Ph.D., November 3, 2005

The Politicians:

John Kerry
He says:

“You know, education — if you make the most of it — you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Military responds w/
“Halp us Jon Carry – We R stuck hear n Irak.” banner

The Media

Chris Matthews

Calls West Point “enemy camp” and “strange Venue”:

“I think it’s true of most wars,” Matthews said. “They start with a lot of excitement. I remember the scene in ‘Gone with the Wind’ where the rebels are so excited about going to war with the North, a country they can’t beat because of its industrial advantage and population advantage. They are going to lose that war eventually.”

However, Matthews also said he saw a lot of skepticism among some of the older audience members at West Point, which he called “the enemy camp” and “a strange venue.”

Bill Clinton

Snopes on the draft dodging claim.

Iranian Election & Protest Timeline

Reconstructing the timeline. Notes so far:

Day 1: June 12, 2009 – Election day
Day 2: June 13, 2009 –
Day 3: June 14, 2009 –
Politico.com – Romney calls on Obama to speak out on Iran

Mitt Romney, a once and maybe future presidential candidate, calls Iran’s presidential results “a fraud” and urged President Barack Obama to speak out against the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Obama, Romney said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” should “indicate that this has been a terribly managed decision by the autocratic regime in Iran.”

The former Republican Massachusetts governor also used the Iranian results to broaden his indictment of Obama, saying “it’s very clear that the president’s policies of going around the world and apologizing for America are not working.”

Day 4: June 15, 2009 –
LGF: Video: Iranian Militia Fires on Protesters
LGF: Protester Slain in Tehran, Others Wounded

Boston globe puts up some striking pictures of the protests.

Obama makes a statement (must find non-youtube video). LGF commenter asks:

“why can’t he take the side of freedom and liberty?…that’s not meddling, it should be a universal ideology that he never wavers from, no matter who or what”

Day 5: June 16, 2009 – Rueters reports on Thousands of protesters.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Thousands of supporters of Iran’s defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi marched in Tehran on Tuesday following a disputed poll prompting the biggest street protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

On a fourth day of demonstrations since Friday’s election, witnesses said they headed — largely in silence without the accustomed chants — towards the state television building, despite Mousavi’s call for them to call off a planned rally.

Day 6: June 17, 2009 –
Day 7: June 18, 2009 –
Day 8: June 19, 2009 – Krauthammer claims Obama is afraid to take sides in the WaPost.

Day 9: June 20, 2009 – The infamous Neda Agha-Soltan is shot.

Videos of other people being shot and killed also pop up.
LGF: Iranian Student Shot to Death by Islamic Police
LGF: Protester Shot to Death in Tehran
LGF: Thousands Defy Khamenei

Day 10: June 21, 2009 – Time takes notice of the internet “torrent”:

Particularly haunting is the 40-second YouTube video that shows a young woman, wearing jeans but otherwise dressed conservatively, suddenly falling to the sidewalk, shot in the heart. Her eyes turn to what must be a cell-phone camera, wide and shocked and dying as we stare at her. Men rush to her side and try to stanch the wound, but blood trickles from her mouth as an older man — later described as her father — cries and cries. Hours after the video surfaced, people on Twitter said she had not been part of the demonstration at all. Just a bystander. By the end of the day, the Tweets had given her a name: Neda, which means “the voice” or “the call” in Farsi.

Day 11: June 22, 2009 –

Day 12: June 23, 200 – Major Gerrit of FNC asks Obama: “What took you so long?”

(Video)

This was 8 days after the videos of Iran’s death squads in action hit youtube, facebook and twitter.
With his history as director of the Joyce foundation, one might think that videos of AK47s mowing down unarmed civilians would prompt a faster response. Same goes with the NBC children singing about freedom and democracy.

Sources:
Time, What the World Didn’t See in Tehran, Howard Chua-Eoan Sunday, Jun. 21, 2009

Smoothies for the Sick

If a sore throat is getting in way of your eating the following smoothies are a great
caring4cancer.com

Favorite Recipes

Bursting Blueberry Smoothie
Preparation time: 10 minutes.

Serves one.

Ingredients
*4 ounces soft or silken tofu*
*1 banana (use a frozen banana if a thicker smoothie is desired)
*½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
*1 tablespoon canola, almond, or olive oil
*1 cup any liquid (milk, soy milk, rice milk, Boost, Ensure, Boost Plus, or Ensure Plus, or a generic version of one of these products); use more than 1 cup if needed to blend

Instructions
*Clean, peel, and prepare the fruit and other solid ingredients.
*Place these ingredients in the blender.
*Add liquid ingredients to the blender.
*Blend all of the ingredients together to your desired consistency.
*Add additional liquid to the blender if needed to thin out consistency for better blending. Depending on the strength of your blender, you may need more or less liquid to make the mixture blend.

Per serving**: 720 calories; 91 grams of carbohydrates; 22 grams of protein; 30 grams of fat***; 5.1 grams of fiber; 308 milligrams of sodium; 1,157 milligrams of potassium****
* For tofu, try a brand that does not need to be refrigerated until opened. You can find these brands on the shelf, in the nonrefrigerated health food or ethnic food section of your grocery store. Refrigerate any leftover portion of tofu after you open it at home.

** Made with Boost Plus, Ensure Plus, or a generic version of one of these products. Calories and protein will be somewhat lower if made with milk, soy milk, rice milk, or another liquid.

*** This recipe is high in fat, but contains healthy fat from the canola, almond, or olive oil.

**** If you are on a potassium-restricted diet, this recipe may not be right for you. Ask your doctor or dietitian if you are unsure of your dietary potassium limits.

Cinnamon Peach Smoothie
Preparation time: 10 minutes.

Serves one.

Ingredients
*1 cup diced peaches (fresh, frozen or canned)
*½ cup low-fat plain yogurt
*½ cup any liquid (milk, soy milk, rice milk, Boost, Ensure, Boost Plus, or Ensure Plus, or a generic version of one of these products); use more than ½ cup if needed to blend
1 tablespoon honey
*Cinnamon to taste (1/8 teaspoon is a good place to start)

Instructions
*Clean, peel, and prepare the fruit and place in the blender.
*Add liquid ingredients to blender.
*Blend all of the ingredients together to your desired consistency.
*Add additional liquid to the blender if needed to thin out consistency for better blending. Depending on the strength of your blender, you may need more or less liquid to make the mixture blend.

Per serving*: 390 calories; 68 grams of carbohydrates; 15 grams of protein; 6.5 grams of fat; 2.5 grams of fiber; 215 milligrams of sodium; 866 milligrams of potassium

* Made with Boost Plus, Ensure Plus, or a generic version of one of these products. Calories and protein will be somewhat lower if made with milk, soy milk, rice milk, or another liquid.

untested recipe:

2 cups milk
2 scoops chocolate whey protein
1 cup oatmeal
1 banana
- OR -
1 cup strawberries/raspberries/etc
3 Tbsp peanut butter
ice

Throw that in the blender and enjoy.

If you don’t have any protein powder and don’t feel like getting some(get Optimum Nutrition 100% whey), you can use yogurt or cottage cheese for some more protein but you’ll have to add honey or chocolate syrup to give it enough flavor.

I’m not cooking the oatmeal. I like to get steel cut oats and use those, but the regular Quaker ones are fine too.

untested but twice endorsed recipe #2:

- 1 cup of boiled oats
- 2 scoops chocolate whey protein powder
- 2 cups milk
- 1 banana
- 1 tbsp natty pb
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- lots of ice

= 1000 calories and tastes really good. I throw in some brocolli too since I hate actually eating vegetables.

untested recipe #3:

For medical reasons, I’m supposed to consume a lot of yogurt. I tired quickly of eating it straight, having it over cereal, etc., so I have been making the Indian drink lassi and a lot of smoothies.

Lassi is simple: ~2 parts yogurt to 1 part water, with sugar, fruit, salt, or spices to taste. You can find a lot of complicated recipes online, but the base is simple and flexible. Enjoy!

For the past few months, I have had about one smoothie per day with frozen fruit, yogurt, sugar, and water. I hate cleaning my regular blender, but my hand blender works well inside my 21 oz. glasses, and it is easy to run it through the dishwasher.

To increase the calories of either without increasing the thickness too much, you might try using glucose rather than regular sugar (sucrose). Glucose is not as sweet, so you can add more.

….

there are actually arguments for consuming (probiotic) yogurt in a wide variety of situations. Here are some benefits:

Decreasing the gastrointestinal side effects of antibiotics.
Reducing lactose intolerance.
Promoting regularity.
Reducing ulcers (from H. pylori).
Reducing colon cancer, a common but underemphasized life-threatening cancer.

Obviously, yogurt is also a source of protein and calcium.

Matt Flynn recipe
Oreo cookie ice cream 1:1 with whole milk. calorie problem solved.

Some untested advice:
Nuts, oats, olive oil, cottage cheese, berries, milk, etc. Easy to get a thousand calories here.
whey protein, yogurt, ice, frozen banana.
Oatmeal+whey protein+frozen fruit.
Milk, ice, bananas, peanut butter, honey.

2 scoops brewers yeast for protein, 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 2grams of vitamin C powerder form and you will rock.

for high calorie switch yogurt with ice cream and add peanut butter.

Milk certainly works, can’t go wrong with coconut oil or something similar…also just take a tbsp of olive oil before and after every “meal”, calories will just climb…

if you wanna go the lazy route carnation instant breakfast is what was recommended to us by a dietitian for our child that was low weight.

Buy some Ensure Plus. It’s easy and high calorie.

Job Prestige & Remuneration

From the Economist:

Many working-class men have lost their jobs. Those who are still employed have seen their wages stagnate and their pensions shrivel in the stockmarket crash. Their health insurance is insecure, but they don’t trust Congress not to make it worse.

Meanwhile, they can see that one group of Americans has been practically unaffected by the recession: government employees. Their hours have not been cut, their benefits are gold-plated and they are almost impossible to sack. In good times, few Americans notice these things, but in bad times, the disparity grates. Cops and firefighters can retire in their 40s and draw defined-benefit pensions for life. With overtime, one tenth of the police in Massachusetts made more than the governor’s annual salary in 2006, according to the Boston Globe. Including benefits, the average employee of New York City makes more than $100,000, according to Forbes, while some Californian prison guards “sock away $300,000 a year”.

And what do taxpayers get for their generosity? The bad bargains get all the publicity. Union contracts force the postal service to pay thousands of unneeded workers to do nothing. In New York, public-school teachers who can’t be trusted to teach but can’t be sacked either are paid to sit and do crosswords.

Instapundit on average compensation of Federal civilian employees vs. average compensation in the private sector.

Obama’s Stimulus

The Efficiency & Effectiveness

TIM CAVANAUGH ON HOLLYWOOD’S STIMULUS: Why $23 million creates just 21 jobs. – via Instapundit

GayPatriot: Hey, Ma’am, where are the jobs? Twice as many Californians lost jobs in one week in October than put to work in nine months by the “stimulus”.

Instapundit: 7 Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs. What’s shocking is that even Washington, D.C. has lost jobs. How can that be?

The Accountability

More jobs saved than exist

Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.

Chicago Tribune: Illinois data on stimulus-related jobs saved, created don’t add up

ASSOCIATED PRESS: STIMULUS WATCH: Salary raise counted as saved job.

BLOOMBERG: ‘Jobs Created or Saved’ Is White House Fantasy: Caroline Baum.

Boston Globe – Stimulus job boost in state exaggerated, review finds:

“While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.”

Washington Times: Recovery.gov shows money flowing to nonexistent Congressional districts.

“Recovery.gov also shows 2,893.9 jobs created with $194,537,372 in stimulus funding in New Hampshire’s 00 congressional district. But, there is no such thing. The site also shows $1,471,518 going to New Hampshire’s 6th congressional district, $1,033,809 to the 4th congressional district and $124,774 to the 27th congressional district. In fact, New Hampshire only has two congressional districts; inviting confusion about where the money listed for the 00, 4th, 6th and 27th districts is going.”

Reason: That Stimulus is So Freaking Awesome it Has Created or Saved Jobs in Congressional Districts That Don’t Even Exist!

Note 2 Self, the countless non-existent districts

The End Results?

Via Instapundit

August 22, 2009

MARK STEYN: Stimulus Hits A Pothole. “Meanwhile, in Brazil, India, China, Japan and much of Continental Europe the recession has ended. In the second quarter this year, both the French and German economies grew by 0.3 percent, while the U.S. economy shrank by 1 percent. How can that be? Unlike America, France and Germany had no government stimulus worth speaking of, the Germans declining to go the Obama route on the quaint grounds that they couldn’t afford it. . . . And yet their recession has gone away. Of the world’s biggest economies, only the U.S., Britain and Italy are still contracting. All three are big stimulators, though Gordon Brown and Silvio Berlusconi can’t compete with Obama’s $800 billion porkapalooza. The president has borrowed more money to spend to less effect than anybody on the planet.”

Paul Krugman responds … on Germany and France at least.

Describing Obama via Charts & Graphs

Private Sector Experience of Cabinet Secretaries … or lack there of. From Forbes/ JP Morgan via Volokh.

BUSH DEFICIT VS. OBAMA DEFICIT IN PICTURES.

White house predictions of stimulus vs Actual unemployment (Don Surber, Innocent Bystanders)

Joyce Foundation Funding Patterns

Afghanistan Troop Timeline

Just patching this together in a vain attempt to make sense of things….

Aug. 30 2009 – Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal submits report to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates

September 20, 2009 – NYT’s reports “The top military commander in Afghanistan warns in a confidential assessment of the war there that he needs additional troops within the next year or else the conflict “will likely result in failure.””

October 22, 2009 6:26 AM – Former Vice President Dick Cheney took a swipe, Wednesday evening, at the Obama administration’s drawn out decision on Afghanistan, saying the President, “seems afraid to make a decision”. In a speech to the Center for Security Policy, Cheney added, “the White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.”

24 Nov 2009 – “Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan.”

Sources:

Bob Ainsworth criticises Barack Obama over Afghanistan, Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan., James Kirkup, Thomas Harding and Toby Harnden, 9:00PM GMT 24 Nov 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6646179/Bob-Ainsworth-criticises-Barack-Obama-over-Afghanistan.html

ABC News, Cheney: Obama Endangers Troops by ‘Dithering’ October 22, 2009 6:26 AM

General Calls for More U.S. Troops to Avoid Afghan Failure, By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER
Published: September 20, 2009 , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/world/asia/21afghan.html?_r=2&hp

Obama to Weigh Buildup Option in Afghan War , PETER BAKER and DEXTER FILKINS
Published: August 31, 2009 , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/asia/01military.html?_r=1

Financial Crisis Notes

Volokh on the financial crisis
by category: Financial Crisis
History & FDR’s impact on the depression

Peter Wallison – WSJ op ed (who presciently warned of the danger posed by these policies back in 2005)
Does the Financial Crisis Discredit Libertarianism:
Narrative and Counter-Narrative on the Current Financial Troubles:

Question: Powerlineblog, cspan, the NYT’s, etc documented McCain’s attempt to slow down Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac as well as Barney Frank’s attempt to stop it. I wonder how of those that currently cry about “cowboy investers” and the free market claim the same?

The Teabag Perjorative

Talking dirty is getting pretty popular among the big whig dems…..

CNN’s Anderson Cooper

“It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging.” – Politico

Bill Clinton

Whitehouse quoted Clinton arguing: “The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning.”

-Politico

Obama

, “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care?

-NYT

Sources:
Michelle Malkin: http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/16/what-is-the-difference-between-anderson-cooper-and-matt-taibbi/
prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com, Lawmakers Detail Obama’s Pitch, JACKIE CALMES, November 7, 2009, 9:45 pm
Politico, Clinton: ‘We are winning’, Inside 42’s lunch with Senate Dems, CAROL E. LEE & CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 11/11/09 11:36 AM