Straight facts on Stimulus spending here in Mass
The Globe today, after reviewing government documents on exactly how many jobs were saved or created as of the end of October, were wildly exaggerated. Groups that received a total of 4 billion stimulus dollars, miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures or claimed jobs for work that has not started yet. The company from Seattle who's job it is to track the stimulus funds says that some recipients did not report at all and some reported wrong or missing data.
While we are in line to get another 1 BILLION dollars more in stimlus funding for granbts, loans and contracts, I have to wonder, what in the world is happening here. We knew the money was coming, we knew there would be rules to follow and yet, all that money has not produced much of any results in job creation.
In related bad news, the jobs outlook for Mass looks gloomy for 2010, with an estimated 10% unemployment rate. According to the nonprofit think tank, New England Economic Partnership, another 60,000 jobs will be shed the third quarter of 2010... just in time for the elections.
The well touted Plymouth Rock Studios 550 million dollar plan for Plymouth has lost it's finical backer. This project is not dead yet... but may have to scale down to get financing.
Green job growth is still lagging with less than 1% in jobs for Mass and New England. Currently there are 27,000 jobs in Mass related to alternative energy.
On a brighter note, look for growth in big pharma buying up or partnering with smaller bio research companies here in Mass.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 9:59 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
Another example of the failure of the MA governing body. We still have not figured out how to use money given to us to improve the economy of our state. How stupid are these people on the hill? I think I could sure find some things for people to be doing and getting paid for without too much effort, and I could follow the rules to make sure it happens. Why can't they get the job done?
Has anyone thought about the effects on the MA budget that will continue to happen as the unemployment rate stagnates or gets worse? Less income tax because less people with an income, less sales tax because fewer people with expendable income, less property taxes because those people on the edge will not be able to hold on for another year if they don’t get a job, so they will lose their homes and not pay real estate taxes, more expenses for towns to do something about all the abandoned property being neglected by banks, more people on public assistance because they have no options. The need for services for people on the edge is not going to keep up with the funding mechanisms in place. Think about what that means people? There are children sitting next to your child in school who will be homeless in 2010 if something does not change. This is not isolated, it is happening in every town and city in the commonwealth. We don’t know what to spend stimulus money on? I suggest we figure it out very soon, someday, these children who will be and are suffereing will be adults taking over the running of all these institutions. When many of us will be expecting to collect our retirement and social security checks, the people controling those funds will be these children of today. How much anger at the people who left them homeless and hungry do you think these children will carry with them into their adult lives?
We reap what we sow. I suggest we all start sowing generosity, compassion, and community activism. It really is the only thing that will help us get through this difficult time with any sense of hope.
Seems that every day we hear something new about how poorly this state is being run. I wonder if other states are this messed up. We have money handed to us and we can not figure out how to spend it. That is because those on the hill are so use to just putting it in their own pockets or the pockets of their cronies. When that is not an option, they have absolutely no idea what they should do. Why don’t they appoint a committee of unemployed MA citizens to figure out how and where to spend the stimulus bucks? I am pretty sure there are a lot of smart people out there, unemployed, who could figure this out, and create jobs at the same time, as the stimulus money was intended to do.
You keep reporting this type of thing, and that is good, people need to know what is actually happening. But how about some ideas on what we can do about it? If you are really going to fun in the fall, then we need to know what you would do different from those now in office if you want to earn our votes. Just being well informed,and keeping others well informed, is not enough.
I thought MA was suppose to be the leader in Green technology? Is that still the case? Where do I go to get trained to be one of these new green people? I need a job, and I sure don't have the money to put myself back in school, so is the state offering programs to train people, and if so, how do I find one of those programs?
Your thoughts on this lack of stimulus spending Jim?
Arnold,
Good question, but in fairness, the decisions made by those who control the spending of stimulus money are not listening to those on the bottom of the food chain. Take the bridge that Kraft has asked for over Rte 1, a 9 million dollar stimulus money project. Kraft and family have given 5,000.00 to the Dem Party here in Mass and he has given Deval 500.00 for his campaign.
I personally think the project is not a bad one, it does employee construction workers, it does help the local economy for future growth and that's what it's intended to do.... BUT, it appears Deval may be using the stimulus money to get re elected. No one, as far as I can see, knows why Deval continues not to spend the stimulus money now. It's not like there's a shortage of good viable worthy projects in this state.
I, we, us, unless we are bigger fish in the pond, will be left to whatever scraps are left over, as it is the spending of the money in ways that help the majority and not just the entitled few, that is the problem.
I would have voted for any project that was put out to bid, that did not include political contributions and that fixed the roads and bridges in this state.
I would have voted for any green project that could prove it's efficiency, along with any start up business that would employee as many citizens as possible, but again, none of us are asked and when we suggest, we are ignored, why?, because we don't count.
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