I had one a mile long that I was sending out.

People who don’t want to research or read the bill (Specter)
this list is a good idea of why we are calling it pork – because it is.

Maybe Obama is trying to use the stimulus as economic aid to Mexico…?

That one will probably create some new jobs. At least it will if you take a broad definition of what “job” means, and if you don’t look too hard at the price tag for each of those “jobs”.

Of course, if the business community needed these youth, it would hire them without calling for stimulus money. So whatever jobs it creates are, by definition, unnecessary.

Last year my wife and I earned just under $200k. Before the election we decided that if Obama won that she would quit her job and we’d live on my salary alone, which is about half of our total. We made a lot of money and enjoyed ourselves with regular dining out, clothing for us and the kids, movies, and other fun stuff. We were “spreading our wealth around”. I make enough myself for her not to work so who loses by her staying out of the workforce? Us? Not really. So, we’ll enjoy fewer material comforts but really it’s no big loss to us. The real losers are the waiters and waitresses at the restaurants we no longer visit, the retailers we no longer frequent, and of course the state and federal governments who lose our income taxes and much of the sales taxes we paid. In addition to that, with my wife now a dependent I can claim her on my tax returns and further reduce my taxable income.
It’s the best John Galt I can manage. If more Americans who can afford to do so, do as we did, we could really hurt the economy and starve the socialist beast.
I won’t be any man’s, or government’s, indentured servant which is exactly what Obama and the Democrats want to turn taxpayers into.

Why does the Coast Guard need an Ice Breaker? I thought the polar ice was melting.

… although I agree that quite a few are not necessary.

“$39 billion slush fund for “state fiscal stabilization” bailout ”

I think that might be a very good idea right now. Several states are having severe financial problems and it may be necessary to appropriate the funds, but I want to see how they will be used.

“$275 million for flood prevention”

Infrastructure spending that would create work, both low-tech and engineering work, I think a reasonable appropriation. I might even want more, but I would want to see how it will be administered.

“$10 million for urban canals”

Ditto, and a pittance in comparison to a lot of the rest of it…

“$1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth”

I’d be very interested to see how the program will be administered, at least it’s job creation, but I’d prefer to see full-time jobs created. However, any job is good, and I worked and contributed my check to the family budget as a teen.

I am not adamantly opposed to job creation by funding infrastructure projects. One thing that some people dinged Sarah Palin on was her commitment to infrastructure projects. As a person who lives in a semi-undeveloped area, and who has lived at the bare edges of civilization (last house on the electric grid on the road), roads and bridges are good things.

So are training programs to get people the heavy equipment certifications that are necessary for these. It’s not high tech work, but it’s work.

I want rural broadband initiatives badly. I think they would create a LOT of work. It is not that expensive to set up distributed call centers via broadband. With lower facility costs and the ability to pay slightly less to people who don’t have to commute daily (and that discrepancy will change more if gasoline goes back up), we might be able to start taking back a few of our call centers from overseas. Building and maintaining such a network *would* create high tech jobs as well as lower-tech jobs.

I also want to see more money going to organizations who will help with Welfare-to-Work programs. My mother works for Goodwill Industries doing job placement for individuals who are currently on disability and want to try to re-enter the job market. They employ a lot of the people they are trying to find other jobs for in their processing plants.

Those kind of programs need to be pushed, in my opinion, along with an overhaul of the disability system — a lot of people apply for disability so they can qualify for health care when they have significant health issues. They might be able to work part-time, but the only way they can work is if they are having medical treatment, and when they work they can’t afford health care and don’t qualify for disability. It’s a cycle that is difficult to break for the people who want to work, and a cycle that is infinitely exploitable by people who do not. Health care costs a lot in this country, and one of the hidden costs is the missed wages by people who could be well and work if they had access to the care.

I’d be thrilled if they would cut the things listed from this bill other than the ones I mentioned, keep the rural broadband appropriation from the Senate bill that the House bill didn’t have, and saved the difference — or put it into other programs that would work more directly for job creation and training of the workforce.

Enough billions to provide brain scans to all conservatives and liberals for sake of determining any abnormal brain development due to industrial pollutants wreaking havoc on an individual’s ability to interpret reality.

“Exactly how [is this] related to stimulating the economy and creating new jobs?”

It’s going to provide thousands of jobs for design, construction and support as well as hundreds of jobs for decades in a community that is not really surviving. This is infrastructure – electrical/power grid infrastructure. It would employ my family members directly and indirectly.

That said, I’d vote against it. It is not every American’s duty to fund a private power plant. I just couldn’t show up to a family reunion EVER.

But at least it does what Mr. Erickson appears to think it doesn’t.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson

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Every item on that list can be defended on the grounds that it creates jobs. Many of them also have clear ancillary benefits in addition to job creation, e.g.:

“$2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars” employs people designing and building the batteries, but it also reduces oil consumption and saves money for consumers. In addition, it (presumably) will help American cars become more competitive by using less gas.

“$275 million for flood prevention” employs people designing and building flood control projects, and it hopefully prevents extremely costly flooding and saves lives.

“$5.5 billion for making federal buildings ‘green’” employs people designing, building, and installing energy-efficient devices and materials, and it reduces the federal government’s energy costs in perpetuity.

Maybe I’m missing something, so I’ll turn the question around: how exactly do any of these FAIL to stimulate the economy and create or save jobs?