Recovery.gov: Your Tax Dollars at Work

Where IS the transparency... Can't we at least audit the Fed to find out WHERE... the money went? We already know we'll NEVER get it back! Thanks to the bipartisan bailouts for Billionaires program... But hey, it's just YOUR MONEY, "don't worry, be Happy!"

Thank you for the link. I checked my zip code and was astounded by the grants and loans that were awarded to neighborhood "businesses". Good grief, is this what we "rescued"? A beautician college up the street received $500,000. A black belt karate studio received $400,000. A guy who lives in a house (not a business address) received 2 million to start a magical moments party planner business. I'm in a state of shock. Has this country lost its frigging mind? What on earth is going on with our government and its leaders? These people in my neighborhood were barely afloat in good times. I honestly think I could apply for a couple of million to study how stupidly these funds have been disbursed and to whom. Hey, maybe I will. We're all in deep kimshee, folks, if everyone else's zip code has as many losers getting our money as my zip code has.

Another Hope And Awe? Your Tax Dollars At Work. Just don't hold your breath for the trickle down effect.

The gov. is taking over private entities, and the people aren’t complaining about a lot of this. Supposedly a “Cash for Kitchen Clunkers” program is to begin late this year or early next year – the states will run this policy – set forth by Energy Protection Act of 2005.

Funding for Kitchen Clunkers program comes from the stimulus pkg. – another HUGE WASTE of taxpayers money – maybe some jobs are being made, but more people are unemployed, and when as a running mate Obama said JOBS would be his first priority - people need JOBS – NOT kitchen appliances (or a replacement car). States and the unemployed are in dire trouble, this money, THAT GOV. DOESN’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO FRIVOLOUSLY SPEND, should be more closely monitored. Why can’t there be a panel, consisting of PRIVATE CITIZENS taking care of the spending of their money – the gov. is wasting too much of stimulus money, too much of this debt is being squandered on special interest such as ACORN (supposedly acorn, and it’s branches were cut from any MORE of our stimulus dollars because of corruption), research councils, and pet (pork) projects.

The current admin. Spent over 1 billion of stimulus money for a council for effectiveness research for health care, and around 9.5 million on revamping a website that was not working - recovery.gov – WHY CAN’T THERE BE A WAY/COUNCIL FOR THE PEOPLE/COMMONERS TO EXPRESS CONCERNS about the way gov. is mismanaging THEIR money – the President is saying people are trying to kill this bill by MISREPRESENTING the FACTS, when misrepresenting the facts is what the President, and his administration are doing -

The phone lines at the White House are usually busy, so people have no one that will address their concerns. If billions of $ can be spent on gov. projects, WHY can’t an open telephone line be available to the commoners – at least a callers message could be recorded, the caller could be given a number which could be referred to when talking to coulcilpeople/reps APPOINTED BY THE PEOPLE, AND NOT THE GOV. These concerns could be public knowledge – if listed on recovery.gov MAYBE more people would visit their website.

Senators are elected to six-year terms, and every two years the members of one class—APPROXIMATELY ONE-THIRD OF THE SENATORS—FACE ELECTION OR REELECTION. Terms for Senators in Class I expire in 2013, Class II in 2015, and Class III in 2011
PHONE NUMBER FOR THE CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD –

Thomas-gov will describe bills – clicking on Senate/Congress , then Senators/Congressman will bring their phone numbers, addresses and links to their e-mails.

Perfectly good roads are being "resurfaced". Basically, break the old pavement, use it as gravel and lay a new layer on top. Most of it wasted.

With all due respect to the rest of the whining comments, isn't that what a stimulus is supposed to be? The government throwing money into the economy to jump start it? Digging holes & filling them back up, as it were. And now the economy is picking back up in places. When the private sector is faltering, its up to the government to pick up the spending. Maybe that's too simple & Keynesian for some, but it's the best model we've got. The real problem is that even when the economy is doing well (the previous decade) the government is still involved in deficit spending. Much of that could be solved in one word: Iraq.

I am sure that if an independent council of citizens, culled from a broad spectrum of demographics, were to have access to the spending records of the government, not only regarding stimulus funds but the entire budget, we would find all the money we could ever need being spent frivolously, or at least in ways that would causes a great deal of outrage among the people.

We talk about education, yet any time there is a budget issue that seems to be the first area that cuts are made.

I feel that providing for defense, education, road maintenance, fire fighting resources, and a more actively regulated police force should be the main goal of our government. It is currently involved in running far to many aspects of our lives and the cost is out of control.

I know, I know, before anyone jumps on me about it, I know that some of those listed items are for the Federal government, while the rest of them should be handled at the state and local level and that are certainly items I have forgotten to add to the list, but the point remains the same.

I am sure that eliminating waste can free up a lot of resources but that amount will pale next to what could be realized if the government went back to doing its job, as defined by the constitution. This, plus the realization that while there are many actions and programs that are a good idea and would serve to improve the quality of life for many, we simply cannot sustain such programs when there are no resources to devote to them.

Sorry Bobby, but going deeper into debt in order to solve a problem caused by debt doesn't work. We're digging ourselves a deeper hole then we'd have been in if the government kept out of it. They called this the worst economic turn down since the great depression. But the figures that have been pointed out only go back to the early 1980's. Why? Probably due to the 1970's being worse, with all the economic issues of that decade.

Look at it this way. Our national debt is almost 12 trillion dollars. The government is expecting an additional 9 trillion dollars to be added to that amount over the next ten years, if memory serves me. So in 2019, our national debt will be 21 trillion dollars. Right now, we can barely afford to pay the intrest on our debt to China, Japan, and the other countries that we get loans for. What happens when we can't pay the interest? They stop giving us loans, and we default and the country will posibly go bankrupt. What does this mean? That means that all the money in your bank account will be worthless. You might as well just use it as wallpaper. It's happened to Iceland.

It'll also mean that the public healthcare won't be funded, niether will foodstamps, unemployment, medicare, medicaid, etc. All the entitlements that we've grown accustomed to will be unfunded, and will have to go away. Civil services like police, fire and rescue may go unfunded. Military may also go unfunded. Why would all these people do the same job for no pay? Alot of the won't. It's a scary prospect, but if we continue the way we are going, and keep going deeper into debt, the possibility that a situation similar to what I've described could happen. Of course that's a worse case, nothing could happen. But both of those are unlikely. Most likely it'll be somewhere in the middle. We're not out of the woods yet ladies and gentlemen. We've got to take control of our government. Tell them to stop with the spending. We all think it, we just need to start doing it.

As for the grants, hell, I may even apply for one.

Of course this was going to be a huge job. Maintaining websites and website design is alot of work and cost.

Of course this was going to be a huge job. Maintaining websites and website design is alot of work and cost.

Is all this Bush's fault? What ever happened to the liberals favorite saying "It happened on his watch".

Iraq was a farce, we should have hit Pakistand and Afganistan in the begining but NOOOOOO, so yeah it is Bush's fault. Lies lies and more lies.

After 21 years of solid employment I am now unemployed.. Moving to tent city to join the rest of the over qualified people who busted their butts to keep this country going so people like Bush can sit back and mock the people of this country.