The very first post at this blog was about the “Porkulus.” I haven’t discussed it in a while, so perhaps it’s time to revisit the whole fiasco.
So, we know that the Porkulus would most definitely prevent unemployment from going over 8%. We also know at this point that the Porkulus funds, as predicted, went to overwhelmingly Democratic districts (we said all along that it was going to go towards paying back supporters). We also found out that the numbers of “jobs saved or created” were bogus, and that some places were counting pay raises for existing employees as jobs created. One place even claimed to have created more jobs than their total number of employees!
Then, an even more serious flaw was found. Billions of dollars in Porkulus money went to Congressional districts that do not exist. The government downplayed it, the MSM glossed it over, and all was well…right? Well, not so much. One of the websites that helped point out some of the previous corruption with the Porkulus is now reporting that funding went to zip codes that do not exist. Here are some excerpts from their article.
First it was phantom Congressional districts. Now it’s phantom zip codes.
Last month, we reported on federal stimulus money credited with creating jobs in nonexistent New Mexico Congressional districts. Further examination of the most recent report on the recipients and uses of New Mexico’s share of the $787 billion stimulus shows jobs created and money going to zip codes that do not exist.
New Mexico Watchdog broke what became a national news story, and fodder for Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert. The website launched by the Obama Administration to track the destinations of billions of dollars of stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act showed billions going to nonexistent Congressional districts. The website, recovery.gov, reported $26.5 million going to ten New Mexico Congressional districts that do not exist. Those millions were credited with creating 61.5 jobs. Spadework by our Watchdog counterparts in other states showed a total of $6.4 billion reported as being allocated to 440 nonexistent, or “phantom,” Congressional districts.
So, 26.5 million is credited with creating 61.5 jobs? Simple math tells us that government spent $430,894.30 per job. Now, I don’t know wages and cost of living in Oz, Wonderland, or Shangri-La, but it is apparently quite expensive to hire folks there. Or, are some Democratic operatives or groups sitting on a boatload of government money? Who knows? Maybe the yellow brick road needed repaving?
The agency charged with tracking the stimulus funds, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, attempted to eliminate this embarrassment by lumping all the billions reported going to nonexistent Congressional districts into a new category called the “unassigned” Congressional district.
Translation: “Erm, we don’t know where it is, or who got it. Actually, we do, but we’re not going to tell you. We’ll just change the category so it doesn’t look so bad.”
Closer examination of the latest recovery.gov report for New Mexico shows hundreds of thousands of dollars sent to and credited with creating jobs in zip codes that do not exist in New Mexico or anywhere else. Moreover, funds reported as being spent in New Mexico were given zip codes corresponding to areas in Washington and Oregon.
The recovery.gov site reports that $373,874 was spent in zip code 97052. Unfortunately, this expenditure created zip jobs. But $36,218 was credited with creating 5 jobs in zip code 87258. A cool hundred grand went into zip code 86705, but didn’t result in even one person finding work.
None of these zip codes exist in New Mexico, or anywhere else, for that matter.
The recovery.gov report also credits New Mexico with $131,139, though the zip codes receiving these funds (but creating no jobs) are in fact located in DuPont, Washington, Richland, Washington, and Gales Creek, Oregon.
These errors were found by checking the zip codes reported at recovery.gov against the United States Postal Service’s on-line zip code locator. Coming on top of our discovery of millions of dollars reportedly going to ten phantom New Mexico Congressional Districts, this latest discovery confirms that the data released by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, at least for New Mexico, contains serious errors. All told, we have found over $27 million dollars that has been reported as going to either nonexistent Congressional districts or nonexistent zip codes.
So, again the government has wasted billions, and they can’t even say where it went, not will they even state that they are concerned!
The next quarterly report tracking stimulus funds, and reporting jobs created or saved by expenditure of those funds, is scheduled to be posted by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board on January 30, 2010. The reports are docketed for quarterly releases. The discovery of errors, raising questions about the integrity and accuracy of the data, have occurred with the release of every report.
Update West Virginia Watchdog’s Steve Allen Adams reports $28 million in stimulus funds going to what he has discovered are nonexistent zip codes.
So, what we are seeing is massive fraud. Our government is telling us that they are “transparent,” but what we are seeing is something opaque. We can see enough to know that we are being ripped off, but the who, what, where, and how of it is pretty obscured. Given the short track record of this administration, we might ask for an accounting of this money. But then again, I wouldn’t hold my breath either!
My final thought is this; what would the reaction be if a Republican Administration had done the same thing? Would the MSM be talking about it nightly until heads rolled, or would they be doing what they are now, which is absolutely nothing?
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I believe that future generations should have the same opportunities that myself, and those that came before me, had. My parents taught me that I could do anything I wanted to do. I don’t want to have to tell my daughter, “You can do whatever the government tells you to do.” We are at a crossroads in this country; are we going to be free, or are we going to be slaves to the nanny state. I choose freedom. 
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The news just get better on this issue doesn’t it? The administration is either purposely committing fraud or they are imcompetent. I think that they are both. And now congress is talking about a second stimulus bill? This is insane!
I am still looking for New Hampshire district 6 so I can move there, they received quite a bit of stimulus money, and many jobs were saved there, yet I still can only find two districts.
You gotta take that right turn at Albuquerque.
Matt,
I think we both know the answer to your final question, don’t we. I know I am being sarcastic, but I am surprised they haven’t found a way to blame the fraud on Bush. That may be coming next.
Seriously, this tells of a rampant problem we have in our government. It is long since past doing what is right for the country and instead is focused on what the individual can get out of it for themselves or the special interest groups they favor. It is no wonder we are bankrupt.
Fear not LD, They’ll find a way!
Outstanding stuff. Good writing indeed!
I wonder what ACORN’s cut was?
Seriously though, you are right. It’s special interests that are benefiting. I think this is worthy of a criminal investigation once Obama and the rest get voted out.
This money, this pork is nothing but a pay off for past support. Our money is going into the pockets of special interest and favored groups of voters. I suspect that for each dollar going out to “stimulate”, ha! the economy only a cent or two goes to that while the rest is sucked up by a chosen few—mainly the political fat cats who live off the stupid tax payers who keep re-electing the politicans who keep feeding the pork to the fat cats while the stupid voter just complains about how corrupt the system is. What a GD mess things are in.
Whether it is appropriating taxpayer monies for irrevelent projects, or to districts that don’t exist – stories like this just continue to illustrate the federal government’s massive ineptitude. This has to stop and the balance of power has to shift back to the people. Those in favor of a big, parental government should be sterilized.
Agreed, but not the sterilization. That’s John Holdren’s gig. Though, we might ask them to lead by example and not reproduce. After all, children produce a large carbon footprint!
Welcome back!
The PORK is nothing more than Democrats giving themselves entitlements that they clearly don’t deserve. This administration certainly lives in a fantasy land. Heck, making up zip codes somehow doesn’t surprise me with this administration.
I’d love to see the list of cronies and Soros-funded organizations that received this money.
And they want to tackle MORE stimulus, after wealth share. Every day I feel like I’m looking out from a page in Atlas Shrugged.
I really have to read that book. I’m so behind on reading. I’m going through Liberal Fascism right now.
Just think about where the economy would be if we didn’t have the porkulus bill, government takeover of business and the real possibility of socialized medicine: Unemployment would be around 6 to 8% and we would have positive GDP growth…
Oh wait, that would mean things would be getting better.
We can’t have that! The state of crisis must be maintained, and you can’t blame capitalism when you take your boot off it’s neck. Also, you can’t make more and more people dependent on the government if they can care for themselves. Can’t have any of that, can we?
Isn’t this just the most awful thing! These people make me sick. And they want to get their hands on healthcare? I am getting high blood pressure with all this, I kid you not.
PS: I got your comment to my email, Matt! I see that you do have the great new vid “America Rising” on
your sidebar. I didn’t see that.
I think one tiny glitch in my new comment thingy is that when someone is on it, and someone else comments, it doesn’t get on there? Strange, huh…I get email notifies, but your comment didn’t show up, Drat!
Anyway, just wanted you to know so you don’t think I”m deleting your comments
Don’t worry, glitches are part of the game. The CH 2.0 crashed fatally when daylight savings time kicked in. I make weekly backups for that reason. I was back up and running in about 20-30 minutes.
The only transparency out there today are the bloggers and a few conservative sites. Great post Matt.
Thanks! You are correct. I think folks should get their information from as many sources as possible. I think I’ve been at the Kossack’s place more this week that I can count. You have to track what your opposition is thinking.
I’m a huge fan of Ayn Rand’s work, and the objectivist philosophy. Free markets, and free will lead to growth and prosperity. More government and regulation leads to less growth and prosperity.