Stimulus plan: Close enough for government work
www.waltonsun.com
October 16, 2010
Detractors label the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka stimulus plan) a failure, and the converse is true for supporters. For Walton County property owners the $329,860 received by the school district mitigated our property tax bills. The stimulus plan funded several local DOT projects, built a pedestrian bridge for the 30A bike path and helped revamp a Walton County jewel ? Topsail Hill State Park and Preserve. I admit my wife and I enjoyed the tax cuts from the stimulus plan. The additional debt created by the stimulus poses a longterm dilemma, but for all the teeth gnashing about the stimulus plan and higher deficits, the GOP?s ?Pledge to America? leads to even larger deficits.
Where have all the fiscal conservatives gone?
Regardless of your opinion, there is one dog that did not bite. The projected fraud and abuse simply did not occur. Initially, many experts predicted 5 percent losses at a minimum. After all, the BBC reported $20 billion was lost in Iraq where Halliburton had years of no-bid contracts. Government inefficiency is legend, but the stimulus plan has, relatively speaking , little fraud. Of almost 190,000 contracts, loans or grants, less than .2 percent are under investigation.
Sure, there were some shady deals. Boeing received a contract for environmental monitoring at a site. One small problem: Boeing received a fine for polluting the same site. In Arizona, the largest highway project went to a firm where top executives pled guilty in a federal criminal case involving fraudulent tax returns. The head honchos paid a $1.2 million fine. Hmm, maybe they can move to Florida and run for governor.
Because of the unusual oversight and transparency initiated by Vice President Biden, it was simple to terminate fishy deals. For example, a Long Island, New York bridge-painting project ($1.9 million) got the kibosh after an ineligible company won the bid. The Federal Highway Authority revoked a $1 million project in Washington when investigators discovered the county engineer stood to profit from the proposed road. The engineer owned some land where, conveniently, the road was going.
A former Monroe, La., city official who did time for public corruption was the sub-contractor on a $200,000 sidewalk-paving project. Assuming his firm submitted the low bid and everything was kosher, in my opinion, that?s no foul ? especially for Louisiana.
The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, independently led by Earl Devaney, followed the money with complex computer programs. These algorithms alerted the board to suspicious spending and, paraphrasing Barney Fife, the board could nip it in the bud. Inspectors general from every major agency scrutinized the stimulus also.
According to a ?Time? magazine report, Biden was directly responsible for blocking more than 250 projects. Republican Senator Pat Roberts complimented the White House and Biden on the Senate floor for appropriately delaying a paving project in Kansas.
The stimulus plan met its goal and spent 70 percent of the money by fiscal year end. While the stimulus is on time, under budget, and relatively free of fraud, there is no doubt it is a political failure. The tepid recovery lends credence to failed stimulus rhetoric.
Even though the recession officially ended in June 2009, America still logically has the recession blues. We still experience aftershocks from the worst financial experience since the Great Depression. In 2008, our financial system was more comatose than the 2010 Georgia Bulldogs.
The USA Today reports many independent economists agree with the White House?s projection three million Americans would face unemployment without the stimulus.
Buz Livingston is a certified financial planner. He operates Livingston Financial Planning Inc. focusing on hourly financial planning and investment management. Contact him directly at 850-267-1068 or at buz@ LivingstonFinancial.net? .
BUZ LIVINGSTON
www.waltonsun.com
October 16, 2010
Detractors label the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka stimulus plan) a failure, and the converse is true for supporters. For Walton County property owners the $329,860 received by the school district mitigated our property tax bills. The stimulus plan funded several local DOT projects, built a pedestrian bridge for the 30A bike path and helped revamp a Walton County jewel ? Topsail Hill State Park and Preserve. I admit my wife and I enjoyed the tax cuts from the stimulus plan. The additional debt created by the stimulus poses a longterm dilemma, but for all the teeth gnashing about the stimulus plan and higher deficits, the GOP?s ?Pledge to America? leads to even larger deficits.
Where have all the fiscal conservatives gone?
Regardless of your opinion, there is one dog that did not bite. The projected fraud and abuse simply did not occur. Initially, many experts predicted 5 percent losses at a minimum. After all, the BBC reported $20 billion was lost in Iraq where Halliburton had years of no-bid contracts. Government inefficiency is legend, but the stimulus plan has, relatively speaking , little fraud. Of almost 190,000 contracts, loans or grants, less than .2 percent are under investigation.
Sure, there were some shady deals. Boeing received a contract for environmental monitoring at a site. One small problem: Boeing received a fine for polluting the same site. In Arizona, the largest highway project went to a firm where top executives pled guilty in a federal criminal case involving fraudulent tax returns. The head honchos paid a $1.2 million fine. Hmm, maybe they can move to Florida and run for governor.
Because of the unusual oversight and transparency initiated by Vice President Biden, it was simple to terminate fishy deals. For example, a Long Island, New York bridge-painting project ($1.9 million) got the kibosh after an ineligible company won the bid. The Federal Highway Authority revoked a $1 million project in Washington when investigators discovered the county engineer stood to profit from the proposed road. The engineer owned some land where, conveniently, the road was going.
A former Monroe, La., city official who did time for public corruption was the sub-contractor on a $200,000 sidewalk-paving project. Assuming his firm submitted the low bid and everything was kosher, in my opinion, that?s no foul ? especially for Louisiana.
The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, independently led by Earl Devaney, followed the money with complex computer programs. These algorithms alerted the board to suspicious spending and, paraphrasing Barney Fife, the board could nip it in the bud. Inspectors general from every major agency scrutinized the stimulus also.
According to a ?Time? magazine report, Biden was directly responsible for blocking more than 250 projects. Republican Senator Pat Roberts complimented the White House and Biden on the Senate floor for appropriately delaying a paving project in Kansas.
The stimulus plan met its goal and spent 70 percent of the money by fiscal year end. While the stimulus is on time, under budget, and relatively free of fraud, there is no doubt it is a political failure. The tepid recovery lends credence to failed stimulus rhetoric.
Even though the recession officially ended in June 2009, America still logically has the recession blues. We still experience aftershocks from the worst financial experience since the Great Depression. In 2008, our financial system was more comatose than the 2010 Georgia Bulldogs.
The USA Today reports many independent economists agree with the White House?s projection three million Americans would face unemployment without the stimulus.
Buz Livingston is a certified financial planner. He operates Livingston Financial Planning Inc. focusing on hourly financial planning and investment management. Contact him directly at 850-267-1068 or at buz@ LivingstonFinancial.net? .
BUZ LIVINGSTON
