Posted on 07/24/2011 7:18:24 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Most agree the $658.4 million in federal funds has made an impact on the state that will be felt for years. But some have doubts about whether it had much impact on jobs here.
One Laramie County project serves as a microcosm for some of the advantages and limitations of the spending.
The county used $4.6 million in stimulus to help pay for its new 24-bed Juvenile Services Center that is being built east of Cheyenne.
But county officials now say they need to delay opening the center when construction is finished because there is not enough money to fund operations.
"I'm sure building the detention center will create jobs for the companies we are contracting with to construct it," she said. "But without more money, we can't operate it.
"So I kind of feel like it's an unfunded mandate since we got the money to build it, but now we don't have the money to operate it."
(Excerpt) Read more at wyomingnews.com ...
And the fact that there were no operating funds could not be ascertained before the project was started?
Are we so greedy that we cannot pass up useless money? Why could they not refuse the money under these conditions?
May not mean anything, but I found this on the Wikipedia page for Laramie WY:
Owing to the presence of the University of Wyoming, voters in Albany County and the City of Laramie support the Democratic Party in elections with much more frequency than does the state of Wyoming as a whole.
One governor tried to refuse some stimulus money (N. Carolina?), but he was so reviled by the press and other politicians and the public outcry that he had to relent. People still believe that “free” money from the government creates wealth, when the opposite is true. If government could create wealth, then the Soviet Union would still exist and be thriving.
When will folks learn that government handouts are a net negative? http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/our-economic-past-subsidies-hurt-recipients-too/
Are we so greedy that we cannot pass up useless money? Why could they not refuse the money under these conditions?
This was exactly why Gov. Rick Scott (R - Fla) turned down a federal grant to build a high-speed rail in Florida. The money would have paid for the building of the rail, but the tax-payers would have been left footing the tab to make up the difference between the operating costs and the fare receipts.
No matter how much lipstick you put on the stimulus pig it will still look like a pig.
I was reading a Nature Conservancy magazine on a recent visit to a doctor’s office. I was amazed at the amount of land purchased by Nature Conservancy using stimulus dollars.
Obama’s stimulus wasted a trillion dollars.
This is one thing about Perry that I respect. He did not take Federal funds from Obama that were designed to lock the state into future causes and costs.
I’ll tell you what IS working in Wyoming and that is good old fashioned oil and gas field exploration and development. Oh, and coal. Good paying jobs that create other jobs in the economy.
That’s only $92K per job “created” using his numbers. Why not just give cash gifts of $46K to twice as many people and do twice as much ‘good’? As the example shows, they don’t have the money to operate the juvenile center the porkulus paid to build. Of course at 7% unemployment they really didn’t need any stimulus anyhow, just quit screwing with energy markets and Wyoming would have full employment.
No. The stimulus failed everywhere.
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