Media Matters worried about credit not money
Submitted by Worth Blog
Written by VASS
I find it interesting that when the question of how the $787 billion of the stimulus package is being spent, the argument from many liberal sources is to attack who is getting proper credit about these facts. Not that the spending is in no way connected to stimulus. Not that the places the money is going are places the public was never told about or hinted at by politicians.
Take for example the report by Bill Hemmer of Fox News on the 23rd. Media Matters, a liberal leaning organization that often attacks Fox News jumped on the report. They stated that all the information comes from the Republican Majority Whip’s website. They went on and on that Fox News did not state that this very public information supposedly came from Republicans.
But my point is who cares, if the information is true. Media Matters made it very clear that the $61.9 million reporter Bill Hemmer spoke about was factual. They even noted that another 9 projects are highlighted at Washington Watch Report. So there is no question that my money, and your money, is being spent as was reported.
Let’s not divert attention from the facts. Had President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or Senator Harry Reid mentioned that our money was going to go to pay for a homeless program where there is no homeless problem or programs, that we would be paying to build a skateboarding park, that we would line streets with art, and/or fund plans for future programs that have no start dates or even a defined probability of existence, they would have never gotten support.
That’s $61.9 million dollars of money we will never see again. Not one dollar of it is going to create new jobs. These are not projects that will help families stay in their homes, or keep their businesses running. We were told that the stimulus package would keep America out of a depression that loomed on our back. I dare any politician to explain how a skate park in a city with a multi-million dollar deficit will help in a long-term manner. Or how funding a program that does not exist will save someone’s home.
So do you care who found out about all this wasted money, or do you care about the wasted money itself. If Fox News was lying about the money, Media Matter would be perfectly sound in attacking Fox. But when the President is asking for more money in his budget than ever before in the world – a budget that will nearly triple the national debt by the most generous estimates – shouldn’t our focus be on where he is spending that money. Because ultimately you and I will be paying for every dollar spent.
Think of it this way. If the Stimulus package had 10% less waste than it has right now, that would be an extra $260 in the pocket of every man woman and child in America right now. That’s 65% of all the money that will go to the Average American from the Stimulus package. That’s maybe $50 million dollars in interest payments that could be saved. That’s enough money to feed 3 people for 1 month at least.
Do I care that a Republican, or a Democrat, noticed that literally food is being taken out of the mouths of American citizens? No I don’t. Do I care that someone isn’t getting full credit on issues that can be found in a simple Google search? Nope, not when the fact is that our money is being burned.
So the next time a liberal or Democrat want to tell you how great a job President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress is doing, ask them what is in the stimulus package and how it is going to keep anyone working. I’d love to hear the answers.
