The Train to Nowhere Departing at a Leisurely Pace

Remember back to the Stimulus/Bailout/spend our way out of a recession caused by subprime lending ad nausem era how high speed trains (faster than a speeding bullet) were going to create lots of jobs and improve our infrastructure?? Well, guess what. Several states have reviewed their budgetary state of affairs and decided now is not the time to throw more money at a system that is currently losing money. So, no bullet trains for now. But wait, the state of Illinois is spending $3bn of their existing stimulus funds on adding 3 new trains to the 5 that run between Chicago and St. Louis. Not only that, the average speed of these trains will increase from 51.2 mph to 56.8 mph!!! Woo Hoo Hold on to your hats everyone!! We'll need airline pilots to fly these rail rockets!! I wonder how much more $$$ it would take to get these trains to the magical mile a minute speed of 60 mph?? 1, 2, 4 billion?? I doubt it. There would be calls for research on the effects of breaking this subsonic barrier on the environment, no doubt about it. Never mind that tractor trailer rigs break this barrier on a daily basis. To paraphrase Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's former chief of staff and the future mayor of Chicago, "Never let an opportunity to waste taxpayers money go to waste."

Transparency with the stimulus funds report

I just finished reading an interesting article on the Phoenix Arizona tv Channel 12 news website about the uproar over the errors in the stimulus quarterly reports. Apparently lots of funds were sent to nonexistent congressional districts. Fortunately, there were also lots of jobs created or saved in these same phantom districts. The Franklin Center for Public and Government Integrity reports there were over 440 phantom districts in the stimulus reports.

This amazes me since there are only 435 congressional districts in the USA. I am not an accountant or auditor, but it seems to me that if X amount of funds were paid to phantom districts then there should also be X amount of funds missing from the total paid to the non-phantom i.e. real congressional districts. Channel 12 reports that it appears most of the phantom funds were paid to the intended receivers, they just made a little error in reporting the district number.

I am certain this can be corrected sooner or later. Maybe the stimulus reports should only be done by states and not districts. After all transparency means the ability to see something clearly. Phantom means invisible.

If we, the American people, will have accounting problems with the $787 billion stimulus spending, what problems will we encounter if Obama/Pelosi care gets enacted? The senate finance version was about 1000 pages, the house version 1990 pages. We cannot afford the printing costs of these proposed bills. What will happen when if it is passed and employers, insurers and health care providers have to figure out how to cope with it? I am thinking, if the government cannot do better than this with the stimulus, we may have a health care revolution in the near future.

Congressional follies about AIG

Quote of the Day:

"Some People say I make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."

Will Rogers

First of all, a standing ovation is due to Edward Liddy, CEO of AIG for standing up to the arrogance of Steven Lynch. (A Massachusetts democrat, definitely not the comedian!) Mr. Liddy took the job for $1.00 and no stock options to try and help out his country. Mr. Lynch was way out of line in his questioning of Mr. Liddy and should apologize. What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Lynch?

Second, this is $165 million, that's 6 zeros and 2 commas, not the trillions (12 zeros and 4 commas) that the bailout efforts and economic stimulus packages will cost the American taxpayers. This is just political grandstanding to deflect the interest of the press and public away from the massive spending the Obama Administration and Congress want to enact in the name of economic recovery. Politicos are very good at straining minnows and swallowing whales. It's called micromismanagement.

Third, were President Obama and Rep. Lynch both absent from law school the days contract law was taught? This was a pre-existing contract and failure to pay could have exposed AIG to lawsuits.


Fourth, will Timothy Geithner get his old job as Governor of the New York Federal Reserve Board back if he takes the fall for all this congressional hubris over $.0000165 trillion retention bonus that the original bailout bill allowed to go through in the first place?

I think Mr. Liddy should be given the chance to do what he said he will do in his recent letters to Treasury Secretary Geithner. Repay the bailout money and keep the good businesses of AIG intact and contributing to the USA economy. He was the CEO of Allstate, another large insurance company. He is offering all his experience for $1.00. He has a better chance of succeeding than any and all members of the house financial services committee could do. Remember, this committee repeatedly defended Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae right up until they went into conservatorship. How many of them work for $1.00. My educated guess is none,zip, goose egg, zero.