February 18, 2009

That's a lot of "Other"

The new government web site Obama promised - the one that will eventually allow people with a lot of time on their hands to track every dollar being spent as part of the stimulus package - was launched yesterday. You can find it at Recovery.gov.

I find it amusing that, at least for the time being, there's a category marked "Other" that represents $8 BILLION. I guess when the dollar amounts get that small, it makes sense to lump them all in together.

I also find it amusing that the site copy tells us that "this is your money." Kind of makes me want to ask for some of it in the form of a check made out to me, instead of however they've seen fit to spend it.

I do not find it amusing that every goddamn TV commercial I've seen for the last three weeks (casual dining and automakers seem to be the worst offenders) is promoting sales and special deals by calling them "stimulus packages." I guess it could be worse - they could be playing off of the conflict in Iraq by declaring "war on high prices" or something.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

would you spend your stimulus check on those chocolate coated candies in the Apple, by chance?

jon & i were talking the other night about how the $250 check for each person on medicare (i think) would really help the economy a lot. really get things kick started. what is the point of that, exactly?! i can't imagine how much $ that is in total that the gov't is 'giving away.' i'm certainly not sold on this idea, but i won't watch the $ being spent, either. can't do it.

Your escalator operator said...

I'm too dumb to comment on the policy implications of the checks for Medicare recipients; however, I can say that your idea to spend stimulus money on jelly grahams is most brilliant.

Anonymous said...

you're a genius.
hey! if the senators didn't read the stimulus pkg. before signing it into law, i certainly don't expect you to!