Here's a stimulus success story: In Arizona's 9th Congressional District, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. At least that's what the website set up by the Obama Administration to track the $787 billion stimulus says.
There's one problem, though: There is no 9th Congressional District in Arizona; the state has only eight Congressional Districts.
There's no 86th Congressional District in Arizona either, but the government's recovery.gov Web site says $34 million in stimulus money has been spent there.
Government is so awesome, right? I did a little fact checking just to make sure, and there are definitely only eight districts. I also checked out the state legislature, but there are only 30 districts there, so we still don't make it to Recovery.gov's 86th district. The best part? The government hasn't realized its mistake yet. Here's a screenshot of the AZ by district page from Recovery.gov that I've taken as a precaution against its eventual correction (click on the image for a larger version):
Line 9 is (nonexistent) District 86. The list also includes nonexistent Districts 40, 9, 15, 00, 78, 38, 11, 29, 36, 50, 52, 25, and 18. The $34 million in 86 didn't even save any jobs, but it's way weirder that the $761,420 spent in nonexistent District 15 did save 30.
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This story is the icing on the cake. Washington has GOT TO BE STOPPED. This is an OUTRAGE!!!!!!!
Maybe if you had read a little deeper into what this website it about, you'd realized that every state on this map has more districts than the actual state has. Look at DC for example. It says that DC has a 98th district, among others.
Is this an example of government spending so outrageous that it implies ineptitude? Or is it merely explained by the reporting system the website admits to having?
While your post is certainly incendiary, the website itself has a tutorial video that says that the spending is reported by the recipients...
That is, it's not your government that's spending money in nonexistent congressional districts...it's a beta version website that clearly hasn't been put into full effect yet.
Better luck next time on "uncovering" the dastardly actions of the government.
You're right that the content is contributed by citizens. The transcript of the video I believe you're referring to is here, and says as much. However, it also says:
It seems to me that in getting the submitted data onto the website, someone would be able to catch this incorrect information which, left as it is, looks an awful lot like misuse of "recovery" funds. Moreover, if you check the FAQ for citizens, the government clearly takes responsibility for the site:
The inspector generals, the next question goes on to say, are responsible for making sure that the administration of this spending goes well and no misuse of funds occurs.
So either way, this is an official government website (lacking a beta designation, by the way, which is customary for beta sites) displaying false information despite being designed to weed out exactly such content and provide transparency. I fail to see how it is an improvement on the situation to say that the content is user-submitted given that (per the video you mentioned and the FAQ) it is transferred from another website and reformatted for this one. No one could check to see if there was any wrong information or misuse of funds during that process? Really? That's just as bad as the staff entering bad content themselves...oh wait, it is the staff entering bad content themselves.
And here's an updated story from ABC:
Oh, c'mon, you got to stop trying to stick up for this stuff! Please use your brain just a little bit, and try and do a little math so you can have a eureka moment to see just how much money is being spent. Do you not care that our country is having the rug pulled out from under it? Do you not care that our country is currently being pummeled by the current administration? Don't you not believe that the entirety of the stimulus package funds should be accurately reported? You sure are quite ignorant in what you say. You have no business making such remarks when you clearly are ignorant, and you should keep your uneducated arguments and comments to yourself.
You made short work of 'Anonymous'.
I'd just like to point out that YAL beat Drudge on covering this particular news piece. Thanks Bonnie!
Yes, I'm sure the staff in charge of this site is not only large enough, but has enough hours in the day to double-check the inaccuracies of 435 congressional districts, not to mention the tens of thousands of contract jobs and grants being reported on a daily basis.
The point everyone can agree upon is that the site (launched approximately two weeks ago) is in shambles, and is currently an inaccurate source to track the money.
However, this doesn't justify your article's tone of somehow "catching" the government in the act of something devious. It's not like this is some wide reaching conspiracy to give money out to nonexistent districts. It's the case of a shoddy website that is still in the phases of being corrected. Is that a point of criticism? Sure. Is it evidence of a government so overburdened by its own spending that it can't even keep track of what it's spending on? Unlikely at best. How else will they know who ask for donations on the next run for office?
Dear Anonymous,
If I remember correctly, President Obama said:
"It also contains an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability, so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we're spending every dime."
So, no, it is not a stretch to say Bonnie has caught the government in the act of something devious. After all, Obama said we knew where every dime would go!
I don't see "an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability," rather I see more of the nonsense we've had for the past several decades of the government spending money and the citizes having no way to know where it went.
Dear Anonymous,
I would say the government is never overburdened by its own spending...the people and the economy are.
[quote]Is it evidence of a government so overburdened by its own spending that it can't even keep track of what it's spending on? [/quote]
No offense but this made me lol. Since when has government ever been able to keep track of what it's spending on? Money goes missing every day, sometimes (in the case of the DHS) billions at a time.
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I would say the government is never overburdened by its own spending...the people and the economy are.
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