Mama Bin Cranky

Screaming on the Inside

Posts Tagged ‘www.Recovery.gov’

Recovery.gov has a New Logo

Posted by madjillmom on March 8, 2009

Recovery.gov Logo

Recovery.gov Logo

Lots of stuff happening at recovery.gov.  The part that catches my eye is the new logo that will be stamped on the “things” provided by the stimulus package.  A new brand of your tax dollars at work.  A new logo for the surplus government cheese, if you please.  You can get your own by downloading it from Sheriff Joe at recovery.gov.  Why is the adminstrations giving this out? I might be able to put it on a website promising you a piece of the stimulus money (an ongoing scam that has popped up in e-mail and on the web).  I have really enjoyed the photoshopped ones on that some bloggers have published.  I guess the logo will appear on the windmills, power lines, swine smell research buildings, and broadband cables that will soon be coming to my community.

Last week, Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez confiscated a plant owned by Cargill, an American company.  He was mad about the shortage of cheap rice he promises his people, so he took over the plant. Pres. Obama hasn’t said a word about Hugo appropriating the American company’s property. I wonder if Chavez will have a logo on the bags of rice he now controls and hands out to the people?

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HUD Works Stimulus at the Speed of Light – Urban Renewal on Steroids

Posted by madjillmom on March 2, 2009

Perusing the recovery.gov site once again, looking for accountability. 

Under Announcements is a 2/25  post about Fighting Foreclosure and Homelessness.  Click on this to see that HUD is sending out 75%  of stimulus allotment or $10 billion to make green jobs and to revive the housing market with high rates of foreclosure (would this be California, Florida, Arizona, NYC, etc.).  If you want more info, you click and to to whitehouse.gov.

Whitehouse.gov gives you the general breakdown.  It reads this way:

$3 billion to develop, finance, and modernize public housing; $255 million for Native American and Native Hawaiian Housing; nearly $100 million for lead hazard reduction; $2.25 billion to kick-start the production of stalled affordable rental housing projects under the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP); $2 billion to undertake much-needed project improvements to maintain the quality of critical affordable housing; $1 billion to rehabilitate affordable housing and improve key public facilities under the Community Development Block Grant Program; $1.5 billion to reduce homelessness, and prevent it among those facing a sudden economic crisis; and a temporary increase to the loan limits of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

It appears that only $1.5 Billion is going to be split between foreclosure and homelessness.

If you want a further breakdown, click and go to hud.gov and a spreadsheet magically appears on your computer with state breakdowns.  Looked at this for a while and noticed that each program has grantees or contract numbers.  In other words, they know who will get the money already.  That means that the companies or community organizers were already signed up for these programs.  If you thought you might get a little of this government business, you are too late.  The HUD Secretary is Shaun Donovan.  Now he can get to work on the Housing Affordability and Stabilization Act otherwise known as the “working chumps pay your mortgage act”.

I didn’t know the government could work this fast.  I expect our local project (HUD housing) to be much nicer soon.  Still waiting to hear from VP Joe on what is going to benefit my community.  He hasn’t sent me an e-mail yet. 

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Making Fun of VP Joe

Posted by madjillmom on February 25, 2009

First off, let me say, I believe VP Joe Biden is a clown. Further, I believe that he was chosen by Vladimer Putin and brings very little to the position other than overstatement and gaffes. However…

Last night, for the second time in 8 days, Pres. Obama laughingly refered to VP Joe Biden. “..nobody messes with Joe”. The chamber erupts in laughter. Last week, it was a reference to the fact that the Pres. didn’t really know what Joe was talking about. The press corps erupts into laughter. I think this will serve to make Joe Biden even a bigger joke than I think he is. Why is Pres. Obama doing this? It seems that the Pres. feels comfortable turning over the oversight for responsible government spending to this “laughing stock”.

I am checking into Recovery.gov again to see if Joe is doing his job. Under Accountability there are two memos posted. One is a two page initial implementation memo and the other is a 1 1/2 page detailed guidance memo. There is an announcement about this memo on the site. Detailed it ain’t. I am less than impressed with both memos. They are just clutter. From the timeline posted, there are no milestones until May. What happened to March and April? Didn’t Obama say he was sending money to the states for medicaid later this week. Isn’t that a milestone? Which states got how much money? I sent them a message asking for info on programs and projects that benefit Texas and Austin County. Let’s see if they answer.

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Is Pres. Obama Ignoring the Market?

Posted by madjillmom on February 23, 2009

Other than the administrations’ minor comment regarding the nationalization of banks, Pres. Obama seems to be ignoring the market at this point in time. Almost daily, he comes out and tells us how transparent the Stimulus package will and should be, how we should live within our means, and how he will hold mayors and governors to account if they waste their stimulus money. But there has been no direct acknowledgement of the markets fall since the stimulus bill was signed. Something tells me if the market was falling like this under a republican, the country would be accusing the President of “fiddling while Rome burned”. Even Bill Clinton said something about how he should appear to be more optimistic. Does Pres. Obama doubt his ability to talk the market up? Or does he want things to get worse? If that is the case, what does he have planned? Pay as you Go doesn’t really reassure the market at this point. Neither does increasing taxes the rich and the corporations.

Shouldn’t the greatest orator of our times address the market’s fall to make us all feel better?

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Protecting the Vulnerable with Bars and Bubbles, but no Info

Posted by madjillmom on February 22, 2009

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.

Posted in Obama Administration, Obama's Stimulus Bill, Politics | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Pres. Obama signs Stimulus Bill

Posted by madjillmom on February 17, 2009

He started his speech by saying how many different interest groups were for this stimulus bill.  Somehow he mentioned the Unions more than once.  If you didn’t know the facts, you might think the bill had bi-partisan support.  Actually, the opposition had more bi-partisan support. 

Yes, governors and mayors will all stand in line to get the money.  They should grab as much for their communities as they can.  I will be looking at the accountability site,  www.recovery.gov,  to see if my community will have any direct benefit – a windfarm, a sewer project, a supposed to be fired but now rehired policeman, an ATV trail,  something of significance.  That $13 in our pocket starting almost immediately doesn’t feel so great given the burden placed on my kids to get it.  If I split it between them, they would get $4.33 each a week.  (Don’t count on this windfall, my dear sons.  I have great plans for that money.)

The new electric grid sounds good.  Of course, the last time the congress ran a construction project, The Capital Visitors Center, it came in way overbudget and was delayed by years.  Hope the stimulus isn’t more of the same.

Posted in Obama's Stimulus Bill, Politics, Republican Dissent | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

 
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