Sizing Up Stimulus Results
A year into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Newsweek checks in with a few local loan recipients. The big question: Did the money doled out by the government work as a stimulus or stopgap? The Polytechnic Institute of New York University picked up $4.2 million to put towards research on renewable energy, which could…

A year into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Newsweek checks in with a few local loan recipients. The big question: Did the money doled out by the government work as a stimulus or stopgap? The Polytechnic Institute of New York University picked up $4.2 million to put towards research on renewable energy, which could eventually result in new jobs and cheaper energy resources. However, for Peter Byrners, owner of the seven-person graphic design firm Lúgh Studio Inc. (at 138 Union Street, near Columbia Street), the $150,000 loan he received “enabled him to pay an outstanding American Express bill and payroll taxes, and provided a much-needed cash cushion. But it did not help him hire new workers, restore his company’s health insurance, or reinstate the employees’ 20 percent pay cut.” Greenwich Street Equities took out a loan to build Choice Hotel (at 611 DeGraw St, between Third and Fourth avenues), but it’ll be spent entirely on temporary jobs: “The $1.5 million loan for the boutique hotel will employ 50 to 60 subcontractors and construction workers until the property is completed.”
The Stimulus in My Neighborhood [Newsweek]
Photo from WSDM.
Legion,
The whole point of the stimulus is to spend money to increase economic activity. It’s supposed to be “inflated to a massive scale”. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but do you understand the basic economics behind deficit spending during a recession?
How can I get some of this stimulas money? I need to be be stimulated also- the more the better. Lets keep keeping interest rates low so we can continue helping the idiots that bought more home than they could afford!
LOL im dying laughing. im very curious what they found
*rob*
Posted by: Butterfly at February 22, 2010 11:08 AM
*rob*
…that’s funny, I’m looking at the Project Proposal here
and they have you listed as the Lead Investigator for the grant proposal!
On the line headed Lead Investigator it says:
Dude from Park Slope with talking Pit Bull
MM,
my point is that with a bill this size, the pork is inflated to a massive scale.
there are better ways to do things.
the government has shown us ample evidence of it’s ineptitude in controlling fraud and abuse.
that’s why Medicaid and Medicare are going bankrupt, as well as California and Amtrak and the Post Office isn’t doing too well either.
You shouldn’t rely on Republican talking points – a lot of these projects have been distorted by Boehner and McConnell, not exactly disinterested parties in presenting the president’s stimulus plan. Also, a lot of Republicans made a stink about the stimulus – and then posed for pictures accepting the money distributed to their districts. Hypocrisy indeed.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/feb/19/stimulus-funding-what/
Please, Legion, I don’t have time to do so, but I could go on the internet and find just as many projects that no one could disagree were monies well spent, including the boring statistics of the numbers of teachers, first responders and other extremely necessary workers whose jobs were directly saved by stimulus money. Also the extension of unemployment, which has kept, literally millions of people from going on welfare, or losing their homes. They don’t make punchy headlines.
Was money wasted? Of course, when politicians on both sides are able to steer it to pet projects in their districts, which has been going on since federal budgets began. I’m not defending every piece of the stimulus bill, but there is much good to everyday people in it, and we’d be a lot worse off if we had just let the market adjust itself. Far too many people would be in much worse shape, and I don’t even want to think what that would look like.
quote:
$390,000 TO STUDY MALT LIQUOR AND MARIJUANA CONSUMPTION: “The State University Of New York At Buffalo Won $390,000 To Study Young Adults Who Drink Malt Liquor And Smoke Marijuana.†(“Senate GOP Point Out ‘Pure Waste’ Found In Stimulus Package,†The Hill, 12/8/09)
LOL im dying laughing. im very curious what they found
*rob*
“The big question: Did the money doled out by the government work as a stimulus or stopgap?”
Neither. You cannot stimulate a collapsing economy that was built on a Ponzi debt. You cannot stopgap a gaping hole of losses with more debt. The financial system has to crash, burn, clear and reset. Painful but necessary process. The so-called stimulus only bought time.
***Bid half off peak comps***
$757 Billion of our tax dollars:
1. $100,000 IN STIMULUS FUNDS USED FOR A MARTINI BAR & BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE: “You probably wouldn’t guess that a martini bar and a Brazilian steakhouse would be on tap for stimulus funds, but in St. Joseph, Missouri, two privately owned facilities are getting 100,000 of your tax dollars.†(CBS’s “CBS Evening News,†12/9/09)
2. $390,000 TO STUDY MALT LIQUOR AND MARIJUANA CONSUMPTION: “The State University Of New York At Buffalo Won $390,000 To Study Young Adults Who Drink Malt Liquor And Smoke Marijuana.†(“Senate GOP Point Out ‘Pure Waste’ Found In Stimulus Package,†The Hill, 12/8/09)
3. $210,000 TO STUDY LEARNING PATTERNS OF HONEYBEES: “The University Of Hawaii Collected $210,000 To Study The Learning Patterns Of Honeybees, And $700,000 Went To Help Crab Fishermen In Oregon Recover Lost Crab Pots.†(“Senate GOP Point Out ‘Pure Waste’ Found In Stimulus Package,†The Hill, 12/8/09)
4. $1 MILLION TO STUDY ANTS: “Half A Million Dollars Went To Arizona State University To Study The Genetic Makeup Of Ants To Determine Distinctive Roles In Ant Colonies; $450,000 Went To The University Of Arizona To Study The Division Of Labor In Ant Colonies.†(“Senate GOP Point Out ‘Pure Waste’ Found In Stimulus Package,†The Hill, 12/8/09)
5. $15,551 TO STUDY DRUNK MICE: “The Rodent Study At Florida Atlantic University In Boca Raton Used $15,551 In Stimulus Funds To Pay For Two Summer Researchers To Help Gauge How Alcohol Affects A Mouse’s Motor Functions.†(“Stimulus Money And Weird Science: Benefit Or Boondoggle?†The Orlando Sentinel, 2/16/10)
6. $4,200-$5,500 TAX CREDIT FOR PURCHASING GOLF CARTS: “President Obama’s Stimulus Plan… Is Now Paying Americans To Buy That Great Necessity Of Modern Life, The Golf Cart.†“Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama’s stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart.†(“Cash For Clubbers,†The Wall Street Journal, 10/17/09)
7. $219,000 TO STUDY THE SEX LIVES OF FEMALE COLLEGE FRESHMEN: “Five Hundred Syracuse University Freshmen Will Divulge The Details Of Their Sex Lives … $219,000 In Stimulus Funds For The Study.†(“SU Sex Study Raises Concern,†The [Syracuse] Daily Orange, 9/8/09)
8. $1 MILLION TO RENOVATE “THE SUNSET STRIPâ€: “Sunset Boulevard, Also Known As ‘The Sunset Strip’ And One Of The Most Famous Streets In The World, Will Be Getting A $7 Million Facelift After More Than 75 Years Of Use, With A Free Million Dollar Nose Job Coming From Uncle Sam.†(“Feds Stimulus Sunset Strip Beautification Project,†WeHoNews, 9/28/09)
9. $325,394 TO STUDY “MATING DECISIONS†OF CACTUS BUGS: The Cactus Bug Project At The University Of Florida Is More Ambitious, Spending $325,394 In Stimulus Money To Determine How Environment Affects The Mating Decisions Of Females. According to the project proposal, it should also answer the question, ‘Whether males with large weapons are more or less attractive to females.’†(“Stimulus Money And Weird Science: Benefit Or Boondoggle?†The Orlando Sentinel, 2/16/10)
10. $500,000 TO STUDY “SOCIAL NETWORKS LIKE FACEBOOKâ€: “A $498,000, Three-Year Grant†To Study “Social Networks Like Facebook.†“Millions of Internet users have been enjoying the fun — and free — services provided by advertiser-supported online social networks like Facebook. But Landon Cox, a Duke University assistant professor of computer science, worries about the possible down side — privacy problems.†(“Seeking Privacy In The Clouds: Research Aims At Isolating Social Network Information From ‘Control Of A Central Entity,’†Science Daily, 10/15/09)
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Are-these-12-most-outrageous-economic-stimulus-grants—84845062.html#ixzz0gHQaOb2m
Leave the tax dollars in the pockets of We The People,
let the entrepeneurs among us decide and develop and grow the jobs market as we always have in the past!
There is need for scientific inquiry, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that scientific inquiry and research has been funded and flourished in the past without bankrupting our economy.
From the article, it would seem that the writer feels that the lack of publicity about where the stimulus money is being spent is the worst sin of the program. Although the money for the printshop didn’t create more jobs, or even prevent a couple more from being lost, it did stop the business from completely going under, depriving everyone concerned, including the landlord, and the city, ultimately, from an income. Construction jobs may be temporary, but aren’t they always? I’m sure those employed are glad for the stimulus money being available for their employers to begin or continue building.
I do agree that the lack of credit, and the high price of what credit there is, is a huge problem that needs to be addressed.
Would it be better for the stimulus money to be announced loudly in the streets, when it is distributed, for political purposes? Not so sure about that. Sometimes, yes, sometimes, no.