Blog Archives
Stimulus: One Year Later
One year later, people are still asking about what happened to the promises of new jobs. Unemployment levels are still at an all-time high, meanwhile President Barack Obama has claimed that the Stimulus has been successful. Wow…wasteful government spending has a degree of success…go figure. Considering that Obama has a penchant for the “I’s”, perhaps, we should look at how the stimulus has done, then make the assessment if it is working.
First, let’s take a look at the stimulus timeline. Other than the creation of fake Congressional districts, it is only costing the taxpayers for the long haul. Then, USA Today came out with an article saying that the funds are going to programs that have been eliminated.
With all of this occurring, you may be asking yourselves if you are benefitting from the stimulus funds. Don’t worry, you are paying for something that you will never see.
Aside from Obama and the Democrats in Congress claiming this as a “disaster averted” moment, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Republican challengers to troubled incumbents are using this to their advantage. Keith Fimian, who is challenging freshman Rep. Gerry Connolly, said in a statement that the only thing benefitting from the stimulus is the budget deficits, debt, and the increased likelihood of tax increases.
“Gerry Connolly eagerly advocated this reckless spending binge last year because he is a career politician who doesn’t know how jobs are created or how economies grow. All Gerry Connolly knows how to do is grow government, tax and spend away our hard earned money, and run for re-election. His economic policies have failed.”
I couldn’t have said it any better myself. In fact, we are in trouble if we continue to rely on using stimulus packages as a way for economic recovery.
Capitol Visitor Center Opens Today Nine Times Over Budget
Well, the Capitol Visitor Center opened today amidst controversy and without a great deal of fanfare from those who believe our taxpayer money should not fund a project that originally started with a $265 million dollar budget, but finished with $621 million in debt. Wow, that is at least nine times over the allocated amount.
Like I said, it did not open with so much fanfare. There is more office space for members of Congress and more media studios. Additionally, the Capitol Visitor Center messed up on an important element, because on one statue, they placed “e pluribus unum” as our nation’s motto. Our nation’s motto is “In God We Trust.” There are other aspects as well ranging from honoring General Welfare, which basically hailed passage of Medicare as the best policy ever passed.
The Capitol Visitor Center is completely underground. It does not offer you the opportunity to enter the Rotunda. Basically, the Capitol Visitor Center was a wasted attempt by Congress to preserve history at its essence. They should be ashamed of this quagmire.
For more on the Capitol Visitor Center, check out:
a great architectural critique by The Washington Post.
The Heritage Foundation had a great post on their blog.
The Hill also reports on the controversy surrounding the Capitol Visitor Center
