Senator McCain is twittering 10 pork project a day from the Democrat’s porkulus bill. Some highlights:
#6. $632,000 for the Hungry Horse Project
#8. $143,000 for the Historic Jazz Foundation in Kansas City, MO
#10. $3,806,000 for a Sun Grant Initiative in SD
#4. All 13 earmarks for PMA group, which has been raided by the FBI for corruption, totaling over $10 million -THE BEST GOVERNMENT $ CAN BUY
I have to give McCain kudos for highlighting this garbage. I’ll be honest, though, there’s a part of me that feels like the sooner Obama bankrupts the government, the sooner the political class that’s run this country into the ground will be thoroughly discredited. The shame is that they will likely drag the rest of us down with them.
My high school got a pork barrel project. $2.6 million.
But it’s for a wind turbine to power the school at a savings of over $300,000/yr. My high school has a maritime and aquaculture focus. And lots of water pumps, etc.
While I don’t think it’s critical. I think it’s one of the few projects I’ve seen in porkulus that a) has a return on investment and b) might actually save money in the long term.
Essentially, it’s take about 9 yrs to pay off the turbine. After that the reduction in energy costs would equate to savings for the tax payer. In 20 yrs it could pay for itself 2x over. So at least there is a long term investment and return on that project.
And frankly, I kind of like the idea that my high school’s electric bill will no longer be funding terrorists in the Middle East and S. America.
That said, I still would have preferred to see this be done by private investment.
Hmmmm…As an engineer, I’d like to see the assumptions and analysis that shows a cost savings of $300k/year. What about the amortization of that $2.6MM debt? What are the O&M costs/year? What’s the expected (guaranteed?) service life of the components? How much does the insurance cost annually for that thing? What are the assumptions for the cost of 100% backup power for when the wind isn’t cooperating? Just wondering.
I agree with your post Sebastian. It is a shame but it’s also very necessary. Buckle up folks, it’s gonna be rough for a while. It also has to get worse before it gets better.
So you voted for McCain.
You must come to this reality.
The country is already bankrupt you tools.
The Republicans philosophy put us in our own modern day depression.
We tried it your way for 8 years.
Your philosophy is broken.
You need to get a new one.
Tax cuts for the rich don’t work.
Bush gave the rich a trillion dollar tax cut that was supposed to create 3 million jobs.
You call it trickle down effect. i call it getting pissed on.
langx, it was not the republican philosophy that caused the slide. You really think taxing the rich is going to create more jobs?
N.U.G.U.N., hmmm, I do wonder how that school will save money. If everyone could build a wind tower to save money then they would. Maintenance will cost a lot. One problem with wind power is that it does not always generate power when you need it.
langx:
I am no fan of George W. Bush, but this financial panic has nothing to do with him. It has nothing to do with Obama either, but he’s not doing anything to get us out of it. We’re not going to spend our way out of a financial crisis that has its roots in a credit bubble. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.
“…It has nothing to do with Obama either,..”
Sebastian, what world are you living on? Have you missed the fact that damn near every time that ignorant Markist opens his yap the damn market drops another couple of hundred points? He may not have started the problem, but he sure as hell is throwing gasoline on the fire. Not to mention the demos and friends spending the last eight years screaming about how bad the economy was.
I hold no brief for former Pres. Bush or the repubs as far as their culpability to this mess, but Obama and his merry band of thieves/socialists are ear deep in the swamp and calling for more rain.
emdfl:
This started before Obama took office. The roots of it have little to do with Obama. Some with the Democratic Party, but not all of it. That’s not to say I disagree with you at all Obama’s throwing gasoline on the fire. His policies so far will be disastrous, I think. In a year, he will own this recession, whether he likes it or not.