LET THE LYING BEGIN: ANALYZING THE "STIMULUS" PLAN

The President said there were no earmarks in the plan. Yet, in the final hours, the President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pushed an $8 billion pork chop to construct high-speed rail lines from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Reid is a senator from Nevada, of course. Is that not an earmark for a friend? Is that not a pork project, the intent of which is to make money for the gambling casinos in Sin City, which will in turn donate money to Senator Reid when he runs for office?

Is this change? It is not the kind of change the President promised. It is just a change of pockets at best.

So, all you Democrats out there that believe the Democrats are the champions of poor people, realize the fat cats are making money. People on Social Security will get a one time payment of (drum roll please, Todd)$250.00. Not enough to make their car payment or one month's rent. But the big corporations that own casinos will rake in billions both in government money, plus the increase in business.

Won't it be interesting to follow this one through and see how many times Senator Reid gets his hand into this pocket before it is all done?

The total of the "scaled down" package they are trying to rush through before you can read it is now $789 billion. Let's see if I can write that number: $789,000,000.00 I think.

I can tell you after watching some C-Span that even the Democrats don't have a clue what they are doing with this plan. Every speaker had a different idea of what they were doing. Mostly, every pet liberal project is in there under the guise of stimulating the economy.

Can I just tell you that giving money to local governmental units will not stimulate the economy by next year as the President is saying. Let me ask you, have you ever seen a governmental body plan and execute a construction project is 6 months? Answer: (waiting for gales of laughter to subside) nope.

How long have Metroplex citizens been waiting for the highway 121 extension? 15 years or so?

Let's take the idea of that high speed railway. First, someone has to map a route. So, you hire a firm of civil engineers. They come up with a plan. But, who gets to say it is the plan? Remember, two states are involved. Is the Federal government going to run the project? That would actually make sense because the Corps of Engineers could do the design and remove some of the bickering.

But, here is what happens. You design the route. That will take months to survey, consider the terrain, consult with high speed train guys to see what kind of route works best, talk to seismogolotists (or however you spell that) to avoid earthquake risks, etc. Then, two, count them, two states have to agree on the route. How long do you think that will take? A millenium?

Then, the route the propose will go through some rich guy's property, especially someone who donates to Reid, or Pelosi for example. Guess what happens next? The route gets changes and both states have to agree on it.

Then, you get the route. This has all taken a year. How much money has gone into stimulating the economy? Roughly zero. Only the engineering firm has made any money. The rest of it is sitting in some entity's account, assuming the don't spend it on trips to Las Vegas or invest it in their brother in laws investment scheme.

next, you have to obtain the property. This takes forever. First, you have to appraise it. Then you have to make offers to the landowners. They all hire lawyers and bargain with you for more money. Speculators find out the route and buy land and hold out for more. Some do not want to move off the land that has been in their family for generations so that you can build a filthy stinking railroad that will only make a bunch of rich guys richer and keep Reid and Obama in office longer. So, you go through eminent domain (condemnation) proceedings and some go to trial. Nothing goes to trial in less than a year. So, we are two years out and how much money has gone into the economy? Only engineering fees and appraisal fees. Then, some payments for the land and moving expenses.

Anyway this is making me tired, but you can see, although, in time, some fat cats will make huge amounts of money, the economy in the short run will get no benefit.

I can't decide if Congress is just this deceitful and thinks it can get away with it, or this stupid to think throwing money into the wind will cause it to land where it is needed.

I think it is some of both.