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From the Redwood forests of California:

In a required state report to the federal government, the university system said the $268.5 million it received in stimulus funding through October allowed it to retain 26,156 employees.

That total represents more than half of CSU’s statewide work force. However, university officials confirmed Thursday that half their workers were not going to be laid off without the stimulus dollars.

“This is not really a real number of people,” CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow said. “It’s like a budget number.”

To New York Island (where if we do actually create or save ’em, we break the bank to do it):

Actually, taxpayers would be better off with such a deal, too, compared with the reality of the Obama stimulus program. Among the top 10 stimulus contracts awarded, there is the one for nearly $339 million that allegedly created or saved 41.19 jobs, or about $8.3 million per position. It was even worse with the $258 million contract to Brookhaven Science Associates in New York, where 25 jobs were saved or created, at a cost of $10.3 million per position.

To the Gulf Stream Waters:

In June, the federal government spent $1,047 in stimulus money to buy a rider mower from the Toro Company to cut the grass at the Fayetteville National Cemetery in Arkansas. Now, a report on the government’s stimulus Web site improbably claims that that single lawn mower sale helped save or create 50 jobs.

In Massachusetts the Fog is Lifting a Voice Come Chanting:

While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.

“There were no jobs created. It was just shuffling around of the funds,’’ said Susan Kelly, director of property management for Boston Land Co., which reported retaining 26 jobs with $2.7 million in rental subsidies for its affordable housing developments in Waltham. “It’s hard to figure out if you did the paperwork right. We never asked for this.’’

And to paraphrase the end of Mr. Guthrie’s fine tune, in the squares of the city and the shadow of the steeple, near the relief office where are the people, sure some are grumbling and some are wondering why this sham was made for you and me.

3 Responses to “This Sham Was Made for You and Me”

  1. Mark says:

    they will do anything to prove it’s working

  2. Harry says:

    This one has to go in the Wintercow top ten. If this were the Holstein Association’s national show, it would win “Get of Sire.” (That’s a lineup of four outstanding daughters shown by one owner, as in the Get of Sire of Osborndale Ivanhoe.)

  3. […] I just choked on my afternoon snack (it was an apple, for any paternalists out there thinking I am too stupid to look after myself).  This is the biggest farce foisted on us since, well, any of this? […]

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