Patterico's Pontifications

5/17/2009

Your Economic Stimulus Money at Work

Filed under: Government — DRJ @ 11:25 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

Click here to see where federal stimulus dollars for transportation infrastructure projects have been announced.

So far, there’s not much love for Virginia, New Mexico, Kentucky and Nebraska.

— DRJ

27 Responses to “Your Economic Stimulus Money at Work”

  1. Feh. New Mexico’s badass. We don’t need no stinkin’ funny money.

    Leviticus (f0b73a)

  2. 161 M for Cook County IL

    Surprise, surprise.

    Second only to Harris County in TX with 300 M

    kbdabear (ece077)

  3. What did Virginia do to piss off Obama?

    Susan (49fe2f)

  4. You’re surprised about Cook County? Color me surprised at that one.

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  5. Never mind – I missed the sarcasm in that statement.

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  6. I’m not entirely sure, but I think Cook County gets more than the rest of the state combined. I’d need to see an actual text-based list to make sure.

    Anyone know where I could find that?

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  7. Scott,

    It’s not exactly what you asked for but you can use the drop-down menu or click on each State and see a break-down for each county. And if you lived in South Carolina, you could visit this website from Governor Sanford.

    Leviticus,

    Speaking solely as a West Texan who loves to travel in New Mexico, the central NM roads could use some of that stinkin’ funny money.

    DRJ (f55947)

  8. Second only to Harris County in TX with 300 M

    Actually, Cook County is beat out by Harris county (TX – $300.4M), Tarrant county (TX – $259.5M), Cuyahoga county (OH – $220M), and Miami-Dade county (FL – $192.2M).

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  9. I see “Mr. Personality” Harry Reid’s Clark County made out like a bandit. Can’t imagine why.

    PatAZ (384d51)

  10. Actually, Cook County is beat out by Harris county (TX – $300.4M), Tarrant county (TX – $259.5M), Cuyahoga county (OH – $220M), and Miami-Dade county (FL – $192.2M).

    Yeah, I’m sitting here in Tarrant County and can’t believe it. Is it a typo? Bit of a shock that these two Texas counties are at the top of the list.

    Grateful for all ya’ll’s money, mind you, but I can’t imagine how they plan to spend all of it.

    Strick (d22786)

  11. Democrats hope the stimulus money will help turn Texas blue, or at least purple. We’ll see. The Governor’s primary between Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rick Perry will be the first test.

    DRJ (f55947)

  12. It is surprising how little of that $800,000,000,000 has been spent, considering how it was so vitally important that an actual bill could not be produced in time to allow the members to actually read the bill prior to voting on it.

    JD (8d3f8f)

  13. “Democrats hope the stimulus money will help turn Texas blue, or at least purple.”

    DRJ – I am SHOCKED that there is even a suggestion in your comment that the decision to allocate so much stimulus money to Texas was done with a crass political purpose in mind rather than after a thorough detailed study of where the money was most needed and could do the most good for the most Americans!

    Heh!!

    Double Heh!!

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  14. Does that make me a pragmatist, a realist, or a cynic? I never have been able to get that straight.

    DRJ (f55947)

  15. Speaking solely as a West Texan who loves to travel in New Mexico, the central NM roads could use some of that stinkin’ funny money.

    I don’t get outside Albuquerque at all, but from what people at work have told me, the city has a decent DoT, while the state’s DoT is a basketcase. I guess it depends on where you drive through.

    Another Chris (a3bb8f)

  16. “Does that make me a pragmatist, a realist, or a cynic?”

    A conservative or a realist, I think.

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  17. Does that make me a pragmatist, a realist, or a cynic? I never have been able to get that straight.

    A racist. Duh.

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  18. “Democrats hope the stimulus money will help turn Texas blue, or at least purple.”

    Or maybe Harris and Tarrant Counties simply have bureaucrats that have more patience in filling out forms to get federal money, and are willing to tell Rick Perry where to stick his recent “no Barack Obama money for me” stance. Never, EVER, underestimate the ability of Southern states and counties to get their snouts in the trough, regardless of what short end of the electoral stick they are holding.

    I suspect most Dems are seething at this, especially considering the fact that Texas Democrats and California Republicans are mirror images of one another.

    Brad S (9f6740)

  19. I also find it interesting that Maricopa County (in John McCain’s Arizona) gets $131 million in funds for projects that facilitate the dreaded (anti-Democrat Party) suburban sprawl.

    I’ll bet it’s hard for John McCain and Jeff Flake to keep the crap-eating grins off their faces when they speak of “anti-earmarks.”

    Brad S (9f6740)

  20. Brad S – Why the animosity towards the South?

    JD (55ca08)

  21. JD, I have no animosity toward the South. The GOP is correct in focusing its electoral energies on a part of the nation that is, arguably, tied with the West as the fastest-growing region.

    I just feel it’s important to mention that the South’s experience with obtaining extra federal money isn’t necessarily linked with the relative strength in numbers of the party that represents the South. This was true in the early Eisenhower years, and it’s true now.

    John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Arizona, however, are a different story. After all, Arizona wouldn’t have the population of neighboring New Mexico if it weren’t for such federal expenditures as the Central Arizona Project. This is something that folks like Flake and McCain conveniently forget.

    Brad S (9f6740)

  22. “Speaking solely as a West Texan who loves to travel in New Mexico, the central NM roads could use some of that stinkin’ funny money.”

    – DRJ

    Heh. Fair enough, especially since us New Mexicans are allowed to drive the same (high) speed at night as we are during the day.

    I’m more familiar with western New Mexico than eastern New Mexico. I’ve been all over the state (my soccer team actually got lost trying to find the stadium in Hobbs and ended up in Texas), but I’ve been west much more frequently.

    Leviticus (c55c49)

  23. US 20 from Rockford, IL to Dubuque, IA needs to be resurfaced and 4 laned, also a 4 lane bridge over the Mississippi at Dubuque.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  24. …roads in western NM…
    how are they around Reserve?

    AD - RtR/OS! (c02a3c)

  25. I couldn’t say, exactly – the last time I was around Reserve was a few years ago. My family went camping in Gila National Forest.

    It was a nice trip.

    Leviticus (bddf35)

  26. McCain, and Flake as far as I know, do not request earmarks. Now, you can assert, as some do, that earmarks are more honest than getting the snout in the trough secretly by McCain has always been pretty square on this. He was actually attacks by some phony “vets” in the primaries for opposing a bill that would have increased education benefits for vets but did so with an incentive not to reenlist.

    I disagree with him on a lot of topics but spending is not one of them.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  27. Well said, Mike K.

    JD (a67da8)


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