Not to anyone's surprise, but today's quote of the day relates to the $787 billion stimulus plan.

First of all, cheers to the Associated Press for seriously digging into the supposed jobs "saved" by the stimulus - a fictional number that cannot be defined.

From the report:

"14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren't saved."

Sooo, the US taxpayer is on the hook for the government to spend taxpayer money... to increase the salaries of the taxpayer's EMPLOYEES in the federal government, and then lie by calling that a saved job.

Quote of The Day:

"If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job," HHS spokesman Luis Rosero said

He's serious!

Also in the report:

The Obama administration told Head Start officials to consider a fraction of each employee as a job saved.
"It's a glitch in the system," said Ben Allen, the research director at the National Head Start Association. "There was some misunderstanding among some in the Head Start community about completing the reporting requirements." Allen said a cost-of-living adjustment "may not be viewed traditionally as a job saved, but one could interpret it that, by providing COLA, you're retaining staff."

Back in July I wrote:

Another way to look at it -->> the stimulus works out to $7200 per US household. With our economy 70% dependant on consumer spending, why not give that money back to the taxpayer, the rightful owner? Or just give it to the bottom half of households (by income), and that's $14k per family. For many people that is a HUGE increase in the quality of life, letting a parent quit their second job, etc. They could reduce debt, save more for college, get the kids braces.......



But that wouldn't work according to John Kerry, who says that the government must spend your money because you might not spend it correctly. Incredible, but at least he's honest.

According to the WSJ, the stimulus money is barely even going to infrastructure, but instead to localities who use it to prevent reducing their own salaries.