Same Pork as Usual in Latest Stimulus Package

So where will this newest stimulus package get us? The democrats pushed it through the House of Representatives yesterday. President Barack Obama campaigned on change, but this new stimulus plan is full of the same old pork that we have seen for decades in American politics. President Obama has promoted the 3-T strategy for the stimulus package and recovery....temporary, targeted and timely.

First off the tax cuts & credits in the plan will mean $12/week per paycheck for the average American. It's nice, but won't make any difference at all for me. It won't change my spending habits. It won't make me go buy anything other than what I would be normally buying anyway. It will just go into my bank account as with most Americans. Very little stimulus there as most won't notice any difference at all.

Now to the pork in the bill. $70 million for stop smoking programs. Not going to create any jobs there. $335 million for sexually transmitted diseases = no job creation. $650 million for DTV coupons. $50 million for national endowment for the arts. Now I am all for museums and such, but come on. $75 million super computer for national oceanic and atmospheric association. Typical political pork. Nothing of the above helps our struggling economy or creates any jobs whatsoever.

Now to the building and infrastructure parts of the package. I think timely was one of the 3-Ts. According to the Washington Post, of the $30 billion devoted to highway spending, only $4 billion will be spent within the next 2 years. Less than $3 billion of the $18.5 billion for renewable energy and less than half the financing for school construction will be spent by 2011. How is this timely? We need this stuff now not in 2013!

Unfortunately, it looks like politics as usual in Washington. I love President Obama's energy and enthusiasm, but if we can't eliminate special interests and pork from Congress it is all for naught and this country will continue to have it's tax dollars wasted.