Rural broadband is neither rural nor broadband
Ba-dum-dum-crash!ProPublica reports:
A key stimulus program to bring Internet service to rural America may not be up to the job of spending its $2.5 billion in extra funding effectively, according to a report (PDF) released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspector general.
…
Monday's report found that the Rural Utilities Service continues to grant loans to areas that already have broadband service and to communities near major cities."We remain concerned with RUS' current direction of the broadband program, particularly as they receive greater funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," Assistant Inspector General Robert W. Young wrote. "RUS' broadband program may not meet the Recovery Act's objective of awarding funds to projects that provide service to the most rural residents that do not have access to broadband service."
In written comments attached to the report, the Agriculture Department said the law creating the broadband program contained no restrictions as to proximity to major cities. "Rural" was defined only as a community with fewer than 20,000 people.
More than 90 percent of the loan applications the agency has approved since the critical report in 2005 went to areas that already had broadband service, the report said. "OIG remains concerned because the overwhelming majority of communities…receiving service through the broadband program already have access to the technology," Young wrote.
And you just thought it sucked not to have a job...
Ba-dum-dum-crash!People who still have jobs are faring worse than at any time since the Great Depression, a USA TODAY analysis of employment data found. Furloughs, pay cuts and reduced hours are taking a toll on workers who so far have escaped job cuts.The employed worked fewer hours in May — an average of just 33.1 hours a week — than at any time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began counting in 1964. Part-time work is at a record high. Overtime is at a record low.
The magnitude of job losses — 6 million jobs gone, a 9.4% unemployment rate — has overshadowed the groundbreaking nature of the nation's employment troubles, especially the financial decline of those still working.
Another airport to nowhere...
Ba-dum-dum-crash!Who knew Rep. Mike Michaud (D, ME) was so powerful? After all, John Murtha (D, PA) only got $800,000 for his airport.
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle is getting $2.5 million in federal stimulus money to extend its parallel taxiway.Michaud goes on to say the funds will create jobs and improve infrastructure. Without a doubt, it will provide a short-term stimulus to the economically depressed region, but is that particular airport worth $2.5 million of taxpayer money?The announcement Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud said the project will provide the airport with a full parallel taxiway, improving operational safety and efficiency.
Presque Isle is a nice little city (well, city by Maine standards) in Aroostook County. Its population in the 2000 census was 9,511. That's not a lot of people. Perhaps, though, one should judge whether the money is being spent wisely by how many flights go in and out of the airport per year.
That number? Not so big. Last year, the number of flights was 4,522. On average, that's about 12 a day, or $552 per flight.
Many stimulus projects are of 'dubious merit'...and that's the L.A. Times speaking!
The Los Angeles Times reports that many of these projects are of "dubious merit," and that some of them almost literally amount to putting window dressing on abandoned houses. Senator Tom Coburn will release a report this week detailing the questionable projects Obama has included on his massive spending spree...Obama says he wants to use Porkulus to create a high-tech infrastructure in energy and transportation, but that's not where the money will go. Here in Minneapolis, the local government has taken $2 million to refurbish an old theater, while only spending less than $300,000 on a solar-panel manufacturing plant that would have created 360 jobs within two years. The subsidy for the latter wasn't enough to open the plant, which makes it a waste. As Nicholas points out, that decision flies in the face of Porkulus requirements that the money not go to recreational endeavors, especially those "that serve a predominantly higher-income clientele."
Earlier this year, I noted the inclusion of a snow-making machine … in Duluth.
Ba-dum-dum-crash!
Johnny, let's take a closer look at this one, shall we?
Ba-dum-dum-crash!Courtesy of Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) new report, "100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion", here are the Top Ten most dubious Obama stimulus projects:
- "Free" Stimulus Money Results in Higher Utility Costs for Residents of Perkins, Oklahoma
- FutureGen: The Stimulus Earmark that Wasn't, Becomes the Costliest Pork Project in History
- Little-Used "Shovel-Ready" Bridges in Rural Wisconsin Given Priority Over Widely Used Structurally Deficient Bridges
- $800,000 for little-used Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport to repave a back-up runway; the "Airport for Nobody" Has Already Received Tens of Millions in Taxpayer dollars
- $3.4 Million for Wildlife "Eco-Passage" in Florida; Project Still May Take Years to Finish
- Nevada Non-Profit Gets Weatherization Contract After Being Fired For Same Work
- Non-Existent Oklahoma Lake in Line for Over $1 Million To Construct a New Guardrail
- Taxpayers Taken for a Ride: Nearly $10 Million to be Spent to Renovate a Century Old Train Station that Hasn't Been Used in 30 Years
- Ten Thousand Dead People Get Stimulus Checks, Social Security Administration Blames a Tough Deadline
- Town of Union, New York, Encouraged to Spend Money It Did Not Request For a Homelessness Problem It Does Not Have
Cronyism? There's no cronyism here, no sirree!
You can't help but be encouraged when reading about all of the good projects being funded by the nearly $800 billion stimulus bill. Wonderful programs, all serving the public. Not the slightest hint of pork in them.
NOT!
Most of the $2.2 billion in economic stimulus money for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects will be spent in the home districts of members of Congress who oversee the corps' funding, a USA TODAY analysis found.
Two-thirds of the money will be spent in states or districts represented by members of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that direct how the Corps of Engineers spends its money, the analysis found. The corps is spending its stimulus money on construction projects in 43 states for building or fixing water and sewer lines, dams, reservoirs, levees and harbors.
President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress say the $787 billion stimulus package didn't contain any money for projects requested by members of Congress. However, the stimulus law directs the corps to spend its extra funding on current projects - which were all selected by Congress in past spending bills.
The states getting the most money - California, Mississippi, Illinois, Texas and Florida - all have lawmakers serving on the appropriations committees. The seven states getting no corps stimulus funding include Michigan, which has the nation's highest unemployment rate but no members on the energy and water spending panels in either chamber.
Ba-dum-dum-crash!
Brought to you by Hope-N-Change Kool-Aid, where reality is opposite what we actually say!
There's my two cents.
P.S. - all emphasis mine.
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