Wondering why $787 Billion in Stimulus funds isn't translating into jobs for Americans? This might be part of the reason.
As we warned here and here, a new study confirms that yes indeed, Stimulus funds are being given to foreign companies, offshore, with no restrictions.
Of the $1.05 billion in clean-energy grants handed out by the government since Sept. 1, 84 percent – a total of $849 million – has gone to foreign wind companies. Spanish utility company, Iberdrola S.A., alone has collected $545 million through its American subsidiary.
There are quite a bit of conflicting reports of a second stimulus in the works.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was “imprecise” when he said President Barack Obama’s advisers are considering a second stimulus measure, his spokesman said today.
Locke, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, said: “If there is to be another stimulus -- and that’s being hotly discussed and very seriously considered within the administration as well as members of Congress -- it needs to be very targeted, very specific and we need to be very mindful of the deficit as well.”
Kevin Griffis, a Commerce Department spokesman, said in a telephone interview after Locke spoke that the secretary was referring to “all the different job-creating measures being considered” by lawmakers rather than a single stimulus measure.
Ya know that meager, token Buy American clause in the Stimulus? Well, surprise, surprise, of course they are still out to kill it. So here comes Canada, now seeking an exemption in order to bid on U.S. contracts.
In USTR Kirk: Deal With Canada On 'Buy American' Not Yet Sealed, of course our U.S. trade representative is trying to subvert a clause passed by Congress and ship U.S. taxpayer stimulus money off to Canada, instead of U.S. manufacturers. It appears the new plan is to just give U.S. manufacturers priority, uh huh in contract bids.
We already know Stimulus money has been used to offshore outsource jobs and now we have a new tactic to avoid the meager Buy American clause....waivers.
As local governments race to spend stimulus money, many are seeking exemptions from the law’s “Buy American’’ restrictions, which were intended to prevent taxpayer money from ending up in foreign pockets.
The administration has granted waivers for goods as varied as steel for public housing projects, high-speed Internet equipment, and Auburn’s manhole covers, which have heavy-duty hinges to help withstand the town’s heavy truck traffic.
The US economy will feel a substantial boost from the Obama administration’s emergency spending package over the next few months, says Christina Romer, a senior White House official, who has warned against tightening monetary and fiscal policy before recovery is well established.
We are going to get some serious oomph from the stimulus, there is the inventory cycle and I believe there is some pent-up demand by consumers.
It's a farce, it stinks of politics and big special interests. - Dewey Swank of Kalispell's Swank Enterprises.
Swank is referring to the way Obama's Stimulus Bill is squeezing out national, local and regional businesses in favor of special interest and very large multinational corporations for Stimulus dollars.
Remember how the Stimulus was supposed to create local jobs?
Montana's Billings Gazette has one plain talking, calling it as it is report on Stimulus funds being given to special interests and large multinational corporations. Literally local and smaller firms are squeezed out. They cannot even get in to bid. No wonder our taxpayer money is going offshore to create jobs in.....India and China.
States hit hardest by the recession received only a few of the government's first stimulus contracts, even though the glut of new federal spending was meant to target places where the economic pain has been particularly severe.
USA Today reviewed details in the Federal Procurement Data System and this is what they found:
Tell us something we don't know. Bloomberg is reporting the first up for any Stimulus contracts are those with Lobbyists:
At first glance, SmartSpark Energy Systems looks like a lot of technology startups. It raised $6 million in venture capital, employs 24 people and doesn’t make any money.
What sets the company apart: It has two teams of lobbyists.
The first jobs of the federal clean-energy stimulus plan are here -- and they’re for lobbyists. SmartSpark is part of a stampede of technology companies hiring insiders in Washington and state capitals to gain influence. They’re vying for a piece of last month’s $787 billion stimulus package.
Yesterday supposedly the U.S. start market bounced on the news the China economy was getting a stimulus.
But is it a hollow hurrah?
Buried in the WSJ is a blurb mentioning investors fears of insolvencies in China and how due to Chinese bankruptcy laws, they will not be able to recover a thin dime.
Here is what Roubini had to say on the Chinese stimulus:
Do we really want our Stimulus money, U.S. taxpayer money going to India? Well, if they let IBM get at it we assuredly will.
As the economy continues to reel from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and jobless claims amass in droves, creating jobs for American workers has become a focal point of American recovery. As the stimulus money is being doled out, one notorious outsourcer has developed a media campaign to get stimulus money for smart grid technologies.
IBM announced that is planning to seek a portion of the $2.5 billion that was set aside to stimulate broadband rollouts for rural America. Smart grid systems deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy and cost. This electricity network is being promoted by numerous governments as a way to address energy independence and global warming.
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