Obama’s Failed Stimulus Still Fleecing Taxpayers

It’s not healthy to dwell on the past. But, for the taxpayers across the country, it is important to learn from past mistakes. The continued problems with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), aka Stimulus Plan, is a good lesson as to what not to do. The nearly trillion-dollar spending package, passed on a party-line vote in 2009, was supposed to rocket the economy out of the recession.

The law funded absurd projects such as a snowmaking facility in Duluth, Minn., math and literacy coaches for North Carolina’s public school teachers, and a $3 million tunnel for turtles in Florida.

Still, then-President Obama promised up to 500,000 new construction jobs a month. Vice President Joe Biden declared the summer of 2010 as the “Recovery Summer.” Administration officials heralded “an explosion of projects” across the country. It couldn’t be all bad, right?

But as the air turned crisp and the shadows grew longer, even the taxpayer-funded National Public Radio couldn’t spin the results. “’Recovery Summer’ Ends with Economic Pothole,” read a September headline.

The failure of Obama’s stimulus plan would be laughable if it didn’t carry an $835 billion price tag. Or if it wasn’t still fleecing taxpayers.

But sadly, the disastrous impact of the stimulus hasn’t ended with the Obama administration. The ARRA is back in the news nine years after it was enacted and a year after Obama left office.

According to the South Bend Tribune, “two local lawyers claim 62 Indiana hospitals, including two in St. Joseph County, systematically falsified records and defrauded taxpayers of more than $300 million.”

The lawyers allege the hospitals in Indiana took federal grant money made available through the ARRA to implement electronic medical records systems. Only it doesn’t appear that they implemented the electric records systems at all.

“The lawsuit says the pair found that in 2013, Memorial Hospital reported 16 requests for electronic medical records and claimed it provided all 16 within the required three business day period,” the South Bend Tribune reports. “The lawyers allege that on five occasions between April and Dec. 2013, they received records in an electronic format only once and none of the records were issued within three business days, contradicting what the hospital reported. The pair claim to have found similar discrepancies with the other three hospitals.”

When it comes to taxpayer boondoggles, $300 million is just the tip of the iceberg. If the allegations are true, hospitals were able to siphon off nearly $5 million each on average. Investigations around the country can and will likely yield “discrepancies” totaling tens of billions of dollars.

Regardless of the pitfalls of the stimulus package, most Americans have reasonably assumed that the worst is behind them, with the nearly trillion dollars long flushed away. Unfortunately, taxpayers are not off the hook just yet for gargantuan spending passed nearly nine years ago. This episode serves as a cruel reminder that government programs linger on long after they have run their course or have been demonstrated to be useless, even harmful.

This is another teachable moment about the fallacy of Keynesian-style government stimulus and the wastefulness of unnecessary government spending. Despite this, and other reprehensible findings about the misuse of stimulus funds, it’s unlikely that politicians in Washington will learn their lessons.

REMEMBER THIS? As a community organizer in Chicago, Obama sued banks for not giving mortgages to marginal people.....those on disability were considered eligible according to Obama's cockeyed thinking.

As president, Boobamba sued these same banks for burdening people w/ mortgages they could never hope to pay back.

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These findings were released by the IG of another reckless US Treasury gem, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Obama’s disastrous initiative to rescue the nation’s ailing financial institutions.

EXCERPT---FOURTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS Behind The Real Size of the Bailout; A guide to the abbreviations, acronyms, and obscure programs that make up the $14 trillion federal bailout of Wall Street
SOURCE motherjones.com --- Mon Dec. 21, 2009 12:23 PM PST

The price tag for the Wall Street bailout is popularly put at $787 billion—---the actual size of TARP--the Troubled Assets Relief Program. But TARP is just the best known program in an array of more than 30 overseen by Treasury Department and Federal Reserve that have paid out or put aside untraceable money to bail out financial firms and inject money into the markets.

To get a sense of the size of the real $14 trillion bailout, see MJ chart at web site. A guide to the pieces of the puzzle includes massive untraceable Treasury Department bailout programs.

Money Market Mutual Fund: In September 2008, the Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel announced that it would insure the holdings of publicly offered money market mutual funds. According to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), these guarantees could have potentially cost the federal government more than $3 trillion [PDF].

Public-Private Investment Fund: This joint Treasury-Federal Reserve program bought toxic assets from banks and brokerages—as much as $5 billion of assets per firm. According to SIGTARP, the government's potential exposure from the PPIF is between $500 million and $1 trillion [PDF].

TARP: As part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel made loans to or investments more than 750 banks and financial institutions. $650 billion has been paid out (not including HAMP; see below). As of December 21, 2009, $117.5 billion of that has been repaid.

Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) stock purchase: The Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel bought $200 million in preferred stock from Fannie Mae and another $200 million from Freddie Mac [PDF] to show that they "will remain viable entities critical to the functioning of the housing and mortgage markets."

GSE mortgage-backed securities purchase: Under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel may buy mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to SIGTARP, these purchases could cost as much as $314 billion ---SNIP---.

LONG READ---go to web site to read more and checkout the shocking financial charts.

SOURCE http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/12/behind-real-size-bailout

CONT

STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE Soon as they occupied the WH, Obama and the Chi/cons (a) took control of the US Census; Obama placed his COS Rahm Emanuel in control of the US Dept of the Treasury (including the conservative-suppressing IRS). Read on.

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THE SMOKING GUN---WSJ REPORT--On Jan 20, 2009 Timothy Geithner was appointed Obama's Secy of the Treasury. But within three weeks, the Obama White House tightened its grip on Treasury. Obama put his COS, Rahm Emanuel, in charge of Treasury---Rahm Emanuel's dual role was an unusual move.

When he got to Treasury, WH COS Rahm Emanuel was so involved in the inner workings that the phrase "Rahm wants it" had become an unofficial mantra among subservient govt staffers, prostrate in obeisance, scurrying to accede to Rahm's wishes, according to Treasury government officials. Reported by WSJ / 05/31/09

More here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113406528875137.html

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Pres Trump needs to to ask US Treasury officials what exactly Rahm Emanuel and Obama were doing there.

PAUSE TO REFLECT--- As taxpayers were being gulled by the TARP fraud, Obama had tight control of Treasury and spent trillions of tax dollars. Obama calculatedly placed his then-COS Rahm Emanuel in a dual role.......in the WH and at Treasury. Obama had a stranglehold on the US Treasury via COS Rahm Emanuel's dual role.

A few years ago I went to the State Fair. Had some corn dogs and milk shakes, saw some immensely fat pigs, and then went to the swine barn. You know, the usual State Fair stuff.

But as I was walking around the Fairgrounds, I noticed the buildings. All had conerstones from the mid-1930s. They were all FDR WPA projects. In fact, you still seem them everywhere. Well, at least we got something lasting out of all of that. And then it occurred to me:

Where are all the buildings from 0bama’s “stimulus?” You don’t see them because they were never there. It was a trillion dollar bling party for his crony interest groups. And a total theft from the taxpayers.

a stunning fact is that they got over $1.5 billion dollars PER YEAR spent on them while he was in office- that is over 12 billion for his two terms- I’m wondering too if some of that money made it’s way somehow to off shore accounts

WORLD'S BIGGEST SCAM EVER:

Only seven years after a muslim sneak attack on America that killed 3,000 people in one day:

America elects closet Muslim, racist America hating Barack Obama as president of the most wealthy and powerful nation to ever exist
Obama has never produced any valid identification to prove his citizenship or eligibility to hold the office.

WORLD'S BIGGEST THEFT EVER:

Barack and Michelle Obama's 8 years in the White House:

Making a $900 stimulus package turn into vapor
Spending billions of taxpayer dollars on parties and vacations
Using the federal government to support and fund muslim and ultra-leftist anti-America groups

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