Here's Another $300 Million in Stimulus Spending You Can Expect to Get Totally Pissed Away by The Same Housing Agencies The Feds Say Pissed Away Earlier $$$

Expect to see variations on this story of weak oversight and big checks for the rest of your lives:

Housing agencies faulted in audits to get $300M of stimulus

The federal government will soon send more than $300 million in stimulus funds to 61 housing agencies that have been repeatedly faulted by auditors for mishandling government aid, a USA TODAY review has found.

The money is part of a $4 billion effort to create jobs by fixing public housing projects that have fallen into disrepair. Recipients include housing authorities in 26 states that auditors have cited for problems ranging from poor bookkeeping to money that was spent improperly, according to the review of summaries the agencies must file with the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

But don't worry, gentle taxpayer! This time, "the government has promised to closely monitor how the agencies spend the money."

Doesn't that make you feel better? Here's your government oversight at work:

Congress gave the Obama administration permission to withhold stimulus aid from housing authorities that the Department of Housing and Urban Development lists as "troubled" because of factors such as poor maintenance and financial management. But HUD decided to release the money to these authorities because they "should have the opportunity to improve their housing," spokeswoman Donna White said.

And here's USA Today's list of 61 agencies cited by auditors.

Whole story here. How bad will the wasteful spending of stimulus funds be overall? Think about it all as defense spending on steroids. That is, huge pools of money that are generally immune to any sort of real oversight because, you know, to actually follow up on how the dough is being spent would be unpatriotic. A trillion here, a trillion there, and suddenly you're talking about real waste.

Get a handle on just how much moolah is being thrown off a cliff in TARP, stimulus, you name it:

Comments

[Alan Vanneman]

Nick, Nick, bo bick. The point of stimulus funds is to SPEND them, not spend them wisely. If these recipients spend all the cash in Vegas, that would stimulate the economy. Of course, it's politically infeasible to dump money on people with the sole demand that they spend it in a month, but demanding that the cash be put to the best use possible is missing the point. A lot of the cash is going to maintain funding of state government functions that, guess what, don't work so well and provide less than vital services. I don't care.

The real point is to keep the cash flowing, because the "natural" economy has blown itself up. Yep, we're interfering with the natural economy. But extinction is a natural process. Do we want to go extinct just because it's the "natural" thing to do?

[Bronwyn]

*looks out office window at Louisville public housing*

I'm surprised Louisville Metro Housing wasn't on that list, what with all the scandal there lately.

[High Every Body]

Nick,

Thanks for trying to help me feel better but I still feel dirty.

HEB

[Jerry]

I think this note falls in the "yes you can take a drink category." Bottoms up.

[Kyle Jordan]

So, let me ask the Hit & Run readers a question.

In, oh let's say 30-50 years time, how do you think Obama and his administration will be viewed?

Keep in mind, the majority of people view FDR in a very positive light.

[Nick]

Kyle, he will be viewed by liberals and progressives as super awesome. He will be viewed by everyone else correctly. Teach your kids to be everyone else.

[Naga Sadow]

My cynicism appears to know no bounds. I'm not shocked or upset. I feel like Winston at the end of 1984 . . . I love Big Brother.

[High Every Body]

In, oh let's say 30-50 years time, how do you think Obama and his administration will be viewed?

Sort of like the way Nick says, but more like Carter than FDR. The leftoids still love Carter.

[Naga Sadow]

True dat, HEB. I know several old timers that think Nixon was great. He didn't start the wire tapping after all.

" Nixon with charisma? I COULD RULE THE UNIVERSE! "

[Kyle Jordan]

The scene with:

"NIXON'S BAAAAACK!!!!!"

And the crowd's raucous cheers to he and his Gundam-esque body is fucking hilarious!

[Naga Sadow]

Indeed Kyle.

"You just made my list."

"Quick! Shoot him in the back! While no one's looking!"

"That's my style. I like to kick em' while they're down."

[Warren]

$300 Million? Don't bother me with fiddling small change. What are you trying to do? Distract our attention form the serious corruption?

[John Thacker]

Sort of like the way Nick says, but more like Carter than FDR. The leftoids still love Carter.

Why not like LBJ?

[Isaac Bartram]

The leftoids still love Carter.

Ironic, huh? Seeing as how they did the most to sink his presidency.

[engineer]

"Nick, Nick, bo bick. The point of stimulus funds is to SPEND them, not spend them wisely. "
"I don't care."

Well, thank you for your honesty, Al. Doesn't mean I like your position any better, but at least you're not as full of it as Obama and his cronies.

[B-Rad]

Good video overall. Only complaint is at the beginning, where we're told "It all started in September of 2008 with the $29.5B bailout of Bear Stearns." I do believe this was in March of '08. Regardless, you might say it started at least a decade earlier. The following is from a good (and long!) statement by Ron Paul in early 2000:

"Although many claim the 1990s have been great economic years, Federal Reserve board action of the past decade has caused problems yet to manifest themselves. The inevitable correction will come as the new century begins and is likely to be quite serious.
The stage has been set. Rampant monetary growth has led to historic high asset inflation, massive speculation, over-capacity, malinvestment, excessive debt, negative savings rate, and a current account deficit of huge proportions. These conditions dictate a painful adjustment, something that would have never occurred under a gold standard. The special benefits of foreigners taking our inflated dollars for low-priced goods and then loaning them back to us will eventually end. The dollar must fall, interest rates must rise, price inflation will accelerate, the financial asset bubble will burst, and a dangerous downturn in the economy will follow. There are many reasons to believe the economic slowdown will be worldwide since the dollar is the reserve currency of the world. An illusion about our dollar's value has allowed us to prop up Europe and Japan in this past decade during a period of weak growth for them, but when reality sets in, economic conditions will deteriorate. Greater computer speed, which has helped to stimulate the boom of the 1990s, will work in the opposite direction as all the speculative positions unwind, and that includes the tens of trillion of dollars in derivatives. There was a good reason the Federal Reserve rushed in to rescue Long-Term Capital Management with a multi-billion dollar bailout. It was unadulterated fear that the big correction was about to begin. Up until now, feeding the credit bubble with even more credit has worked and is the only tool they have to fight the business cycle, but eventually control will be lost."

[Help Me Out]

The GE "$139 Billion Bailout" is actually FDIC insurance for up to $139 B in debt (see article link in my name). Isn't that kind of "bailout" actually different than the cash bailouts given to other companies? If GE never taps into the insurance, then the cost is zero. It's a RISK of spending up to $139 B, but the FDIC has similar risks with the various bank accounts that are insured.

I realize it makes the video more complicated to differentiate between such actions, but I am looking for a real understanding of what's what.