As stories pile up about how the money from Obama’s massive stimulus bill was spent, it is becoming clear why the money stimulated few jobs. Two recent stories illustrate this.
First is the report from Randolph, Massachusetts, on how that city spent $4.6 million in scarce taxpayer dollars from the stimulus funds.
The lucky district took its windfall cash and repaired — a horse bridge! Yes, the horseshit project connected two parts of the 238-acre “Blue Hills Reservation,” making it easier for horseback riders and pedestrians to wander freely therein.
An owner of a local equestrian center was of course delighted at this pork project: “I was psyched. I thought, Whoo-hoo, new bridge!” Her defense — standard for anyone who has never read Bastiat — was, “How many other misappropriations have been given through the state for financial funding?” In other words, it benefits me, and the state has approved other senseless projects, so what’s the big deal?
A local bureaucrat, one Wendy Fox, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, said that the bridge was popular and often used, though she couldn’t give any numbers. The horses on the farm on one side of the bridge total 30, and those on the other side total 20 — which averages about $92,000 per horse to build the bridge.
Then there is the happy news that nearly 90,000 people who got “stimulus payments” were either prisoners or . . . corpses. The thinking must have been that the cash would go beyond stimulation and into the realm of resurrection.
Yes, 72,000 stimulus checks (each for $250 of loot stolen from taxpayers) went to deceased people, in anticipation of one last blast. Seventeen thousand more payments were sent to prison inmates. And only about half the money has been returned.
Your tax dollars at work.
