My dad spent all of December putting together ridiculously elaborate bid proposals (in triplicate) for construction projects in the city of El Paso (apartment complex rehab jobs mostly). He was told these jobs were part of the stimulus plan and the money had to be spent. All but 2 jobs were cancelled, Im guessing they just decided to keep the money. I wonder how much money was wasted between he and all the other contractors who spent their time and money bidding these jobs?
Aye yi yi! There should be some basic educational requirements to run for public office and a sanity test every year.
These are not new buildings you ignorant prick. Apparently you have no idea what a commercial building costs or whats involved if you think you can construct a 15 story hi rise for 3 million in 4 months. But you're right, 3 million for me is 3 million less for someone else. Too fucking bad! Life's not fair and the rich get richer. If you can't deal with that tough. As for needing work, hardly. Business is booming. I'm not even bidding new projects because we couldn't possibly get anything else done this year if we won. Good or bad I don't know, but to say the stimulus isn't hitting the street or helping the economy is niave at best. I will say this, these buildings should have been repaired 5 years ago and the 3 million doesn't come close to doing all thats needed. And since your mom will likely end up living in one of these places one day you should pray they get fixed.
It seems that the stimulus money was just a trickle down scheme to keep local/state/federal govt's from having to lay off employees. If there was any left after the govt's took their cut, maybe it went to something practical in the private sector. So, the money was basically wasted as it dooesn't seem that tax revenues are picking up. This means that the govt employees whose jobs were saved will lose them anyway unless there is more stimulus.
The stimulus money going towards these projects in my opinion is just to keep the economy rolling along for another 6-12 months, there after the downfall in the economy is coming back. These pojects are being forced on the economy, if the economy was still in growth mode these projects that they made up out of thin air would have never taken place. These projects are just being done because of stimulus, they are pulling these projects out of thin air just to keep people at work, what happens after all the stimulus money is spent, what other projects can they possibily come up with next.
EXACTLY, why no one understands this is beyond me... They will be losing their jobs once this stimulus money is through with, it was only put through to keep people from being laid off months ago.
It will not help the economy in the long run, once the stimulus drys up and liquidity is drawn from the system the economy will struggle again. They are forcing jobs on an economy that doesnt need them at this time, asset bubbles is the only way to create jobs in our economy today.
It has a Forrest Gump/Yogi Berra vibe to it, but it's essentially true and I hate it. As James Vu used to say "inflate or die". Keep spending and HOPE for inflation greater than previous inflation to keep our ponzi system running for another week, month, year.
And the re-adjustment will be even more severe. Cash for clunkers was the test run for this kind of interference. As such, nobody can value anything 6 months into the future as the government decides the winners and losers thru their alphabet soup of federal stimulus programs.