Stimulus Spending here in Mass.
If you haven't heard, Deval has been called out for his lack of spending stimulus money here in Mass, for shovel ready projects. Some say it's about a quarter of what could be spent. No one knows for sure what his motivation is and I for one can not figure out why he is not spending the money that has already been appropriated.
The stimulus czar, Mr. Simmons, who we already know, is suspect in shady dealings and is double dipping his pension has explained to the media, that they are looking at projects that will have lasting and financial impacts down the road.
While not the total answer to our underemployment here in Mass, it's certain that many projects would employ tradespeople for at least some time, which would help some get through some tough times.
My guess... Deval is using the money to win political favor with groups that have shown that they are willing to support another candidate for Gov.
Deval has used 8 million to re hire 127 fire fighters, out of the 20 million in stimulus discretionary funds, while 45 million is ready to go to police departments across the state.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 10:05 AM
15 Comments
15 Comments:
How can we not be ready to spend this money which would employ MA residents currently going with out a paycheck? If it really is because we are looking for the right project, we should be looking harder. Other states are not having such problems finding projects to stimulate their economy. Have you driven on MA roads lately? I can think of 10 things that need to be done on the roads I drive on, maybe the Gov should open his eyes instead of sleeping in his car on the way to work.
I have an idea for how they can use this stimulus money. Extend the unemployment benefits for those of us who are now out of benefits. Not sure how we are going to survive in my house. My husband is still working, but has taken about a 15% cut in his pay, and I still have not found a job, even though I have been looking actively every single day for more than 8 months. I am young (34), educated, and in a field that is not obsolete, but there are just no jobs to be had out there. If my family was not helping us out, my daughter would be going hungry. And Patrick is sitting on money that could create jobs? No excuse for that if you ask me.
Oversight people, it all comes down to oversight, and in MA, the people doing the oversight are more corrupt than the people they are overseeing. This is just another example of that. Jim, where does MA fall in the measure compared to other states? I heard something about us being pretty close to the bottom of the barrel as far as spending this money.
I think we all could come up with some road and bridge repairs for sure.... they may just may not be in politically correct neighborhoods.
Good idea D... we are helping my daughters in the same way... with what we can. Some say that is the very reason consumer spending is low at this point, many people are helping their own and not spending on themselves.
I think we are 49th in the country Eric.... and even if we were 30th, or 20th... we should be in the top ten... with what's happening out there.
True it is.. it's all about transparency and oversight Eric.
Who gave this stimulas guy his job? If his job is to find ways to spend the stimuls money and he has not done that then what has he been doing for 40 hours a week? Fire him. Not like there is a limited number of people to replace him. There has to be someone in the hundreds of thousands out of work who can do a better job than he is doing.
Families helping families is what will get many through this difficult time. You can’t depend on the government to help at all. They can not even help by spending money they were given to spend on helping us. People complain the banks did not use stimulus money to help people the way they should. Looks like MA is taking the same road as the banks. This is ridiculous. Where does the Framinham coalition at the state house weigh in on this? Why can’t Framingham approach this stimulus czar with the projects in this town that qualify for stimulus funding? There must be something here we can get some of that money for.
It is stimulus money people, which means, it is suppose to stimulate the state economy. Can’t do that if it is sitting in the bank somewhere. Lets start spending.
Seems to me that it will be tougher to find things to spend the money on in the winter months than it was this past spring, summer, and fall. Pretty dumb to not use it when we could. Makes me think Jim is on to something here, the governor is using it as a tool to garner election support. Bad decision if you ask me. The unions are not going to support someone who withheld funds that could have put their members to work.
Anything we can do as constituents to prod them to spend this money? Should we start a write in campaign to the governor or what? May not help but is sure better than doing nothing.
We are 49th in the country? How does Deval justify that? Anyone know what the guidelines are we have to meet to spend this money? If it is really that tough, how come 48 other states are doing a better job than us?
20 million in discretionary stimulus funds 8 mil to the fire guys, that leaves 12 mil. How can he have 45 mil ready to go to the police unless he is raiding something else. Has the crime rate increased in MA since layoffs of cops? If not, how do you justify using stimulus money to rehire cops? How about the rest of us that are out of work?
Friend,
The State is kicking in money also to hire more law enforcement. The Fed's kicked in the most.. as it was Obama's pledge to increase law enforcement numbers.
We could all write to the local rep, senator and even Deval, but it's unlikely, any of us have enough weight to make any of them move.. after all, we are a one party state and they ALL want to be re elected next year
Jim is right, they all want to be re-elected. The only way to make them see we do not like what they are doing is to prevent that from happening. Rember this when it comes time to cast your vote in the next election. MA voters seem to have very short memories
Maybe this will be Patrick's downfall. Withholding money that could put people back to work is a pretty ballsy thing to do and could really backfire on him if people get wind of it. Lets hope the wind blows through here soon, taking him with it.
I think Patrick is still learning, and MA is not the best state to learn the ins and outs of politics in. He has made mistakes, but over all, I think he has done a better job then most. Times are tough, lets see how he steers the boat of MA threw these turbulent waters before we toss him aside.
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