The Porkapalooza Details
The Sound Off Brother sent me this link last night. It is well worth the read. But here’s a sample.
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD’s.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
Now this is the kind of stuff that really helps main street, huh?
Hi guys, my first time on.
In my opinion we need to totally revamp this package. Why don't we offer financing to power companies to build nuclear power plants in the porkapalooza package? We could stop some of the environmental zelots from filing suits and get this done. We could start bidding on off shore drilling to bring in some money. I could even live with some green technology money if it didn't go to some Senator's kid. Maybe we could actually become energy independent and become an exporter of energy. These things can create thousands of good paying permanent jobs. The rest should be personal and business tax cuts. No Pork. Just projects to create jobs and help America.
It's a bad bill (though the long list by Jim amounts to$7.359B, less than 1% of the projected total). The Republicans could help if they could offer something different from the usual "tax cuts". Maybe incentives targeted to companies/investors/entrepreneurs who could create jobs by inventing/developing new products/technology different from the same-old-same-old. How about transportation that does not contribute as much to the transfer of $700B/year to oil producers abroad. Or things like a smart electricity grid or the S/W that would make that possible. Why just give tax breaks to the likes of the Big 3, oil Cos, coal Cos and assorted old technology/manufacturing companies?