- A recent USA Today article by Julie Schmit reported on the Federal government's failed attempt to help out American home owners who were facing the threat of foreclosure. The name of the program was called the Emergency Homeowner Loan Program and it was terminated in September after helping less than half of its projected number of households.
Also, according to the article, almost half of the taxpayer funds that were spend aside for the program went to just three states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut. This fact is another indication of failure and how inefficient this government program (and most others) was when you consider the state by state foreclosure rates (as reported by Realty Track for the Month of June, 2011):
- Nevada - one foreclosed home for every 114 homes in the state - rank = 1
- Arizona - one foreclosed home for every 205 homes in the state - rank =2
- California - one foreclosed home for every 244 homes in the state - rank = 3
- Maryland - one foreclosed home for every 1,358 homes in the state - rank = 31
- Pennsylvania - one foreclosed home for every 1,509 homes in the state - rank = 37
- Connecticut - one foreclosed home for every 1,525 homes in the state - rank = 1,525
Even worse, according to the article, only 12,000 applicants were approved for the program, at a cost of about half a billion dollars. This was 60% short of the objective and works out to about about $42,000 per applicant. Given that there are millions and millions of homes in the country that are in foreclosure or that are likely to shortly be in foreclosure, saving 12,000 homes will make nary a dent in the problem. And at $42,000 per successful applicant, even if the program reached millions of foreclosed homeowners, the country never would have been able to afford the cost.
Typical political class insanity. Pitiful results at a high cost of a program that never would have made a dent in the problem even it it reached its objective. So, just like Solyndra, another half a billion dollars worth of taxpayer wealth down the drain of waste.
- In 2007, the political class made it illegal for Americans to own regular, good old fashioned incandescent light bulbs. I remember being so disgusted with the politicians at that time, wasting time and resources on what should be a consumer choice issue, not a government issue, when so many other major issues needed to be addressed.
Now, that same political class, according to an article in the November 14, 2011 issue of Business Week, is hotly debating the same issue again and whether or not that 2007 ban should be lifted. Now, I thought the original legislation was ridiculous and unneeded but it is now being propagated again with politicians wanting to undo what they never should have done in 2007.
What a waste of time and energy when the same issues that went unaddressed in 2007, (failing schools, lack of a national energy policy, escalating national debt, etc.) are still not being addressed today, replaced by idiotic light bulb efforts.
- According to an article by Matt Welch in the November, 2011 issue of Reason magazine, according to Environmental Protection Agency statistics cited in an article in the August, 2011 issue of Investor's Business Daily, the Obama's economic stimulus program set aside $7.2 billion to invest in green/clean technologies. These billions were set aside to create a broad new category of "green jobs," five million new jobs in the next ten years according to President Obama himself.
According to the EPA numbers, those billions of dollars have created or retained a grand total of 7,140 green jobs at a cost of about $1,000,000 per job. Not quite an efficient way to create jobs or expand the economy. Billions of taxpayer dollars wasted with no discernible and long term positive effect.
- The New York Times ran an article on August 2, 2011 that described the activities of artist Erika Nelson from Lucas, Kansas. For ten years, Ms. Nelson has made miniature models of giant pieces of Americana (e.g. models of the World's Largest Ball of Twine and the World's Largest Can of Fruit Cocktail) as part of her mobile miniature museum and has toured around the state with her pieces.
Nice hobby until you realize that this hobby has been subsidized by the Kansas taxpayers to the tune of $2,000 a year. Talk about non-essential government spending. Finally, however, budget constraints are forcing the state to get out this ridiculous subsidy this year, about ten years and $20,000 too late.
- According to an article the Miami Herald that was summarized in the November 25, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, taxpayers spend $800,000 a year to house each prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. This is 30 times more expensive what it costs to keep a prisoner on U.S. soil.
Thus, is you believe that about 172 prisoners are still at the prison camp, based on various news reports, then the Federal government could save about $130,000,000 a year if only Obama had executed his major campaign promise to shut down the facility if he was elected President. His failure to do so and the political class failure to make/allow him to fulfill that promise will unnecessarily cost the American taxpayer over $1 billion of the next ten years.
Waste, insanity, idiocy, and more, your American political class.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
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