Pres. Obama has asked us to go to Recovery.gov to see how the stimulus package is being spent.  I went to look at it and it is way less than informational.  The bar graph is misleading as bar graphs often are.  I quick glance would lead the uninformed to believe the bill was really heavy in tax cuts.  That is not the case.  The bars are marked ambiguously like Infrastructure and Science in the same bar.  Then there is is my favorite, “Protecting the Vulnerable“, and my runner-up favorite, “other“.  If you want to find out how your tax $$ will protect the vulnerable, you would naturally click on that bar or click on the “learn more” link.  You might hope for a greater explanation, perhaps a nice bullet list of projects and places translated from the actual bill, but put in normal language so simple people such a myself can see and be amazed. No such luck. Click on a bar and you are transported to the pretty pastel bubble chart.  Each lovely bubble is marked with a big number and the same titles as the bar graph. Click on a bubble, but don’t expect any further information or explanation.  Below the bubble graphic is an invitation to see the same information in a table chart.  Still no further information.  So much for transparency.

Still wanting information, I went to the “Read the Bill” link.  This took me to a place to give comments and I clicked on the url for the bill which takes me to another screen to click on another URL and voila… the bill finally appears.  Then my eyes glaze over.  I did a search but couldn’t isolate anything (searched Texas).  Can’t print it, too much tree waste.  

For a last attempt, I went to FAQs.  It tell me that there is no information until it is all broken down and set out.  Lots of info coming soon to recovery.gov.  Now I will sleep better.  Perhaps I will dream of popping pretty pastel bubbles.