Thursday, February 05, 2009

Stimulating Government Growth: The Porkulus

The "economic stimulus" package, as you may have heard, is shaping up to be genuine pork-fest. Here are some examples of the recipients of this future drain on your economic outlook (if you pay taxes, that is) from NRO authors Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson, in their article 50 De-Stimulating Facts:

"$150 million for the Smithsonian
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
$350 million for Agriculture Department computers
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
$600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
$450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
$600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
$1 billion for the Census Bureau

INCOME TRANSFERS
A big chunk of the stimulus package is designed not to create wealth but to spread it around. It contains $89 billion in Medicaid extensions and $36 billion in expanded unemployment benefits—and this is in addition to the state-budget bailout (see “Rewarding state irresponsibility” below)."
Mayor Daley has added his wish list, but is refusing to divulge the details, "because once you start putting it out publicly, you know, the newspapers, the media is going to be ripping it apart," Daley said.

Read the rest: 50 De-Stimulating Facts at NRO
Read the rest: Daley refuses to release stimulus project list at Clout Street

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