Stimulus Report Card Gets a Failing Grade

From Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:

Stimulus Report Card Gets a Failing Grade

Yesterday, on the 200th day since its enactment, Vice President Joe Biden defended the President's $787 billion economic "stimulus." First, he said it was "to bring relief to those hardest hit by the recession." But an analysis by ProPublica found that there's "no relationship between where the money is going and unemployment and poverty."

The Associated Press reports that distribution of the funds was guided more by politics than need. The New York Times adds that the "transparency" promised by President Obama is practically nonexistent, with most federal agencies failing to report lobbying contacts. Biden's next standard was "to jump-start the economy by giving assistance to states."

On the day the "stimulus" was enacted, the national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent -- today it is 9.7 percent. At least 16 states have unemployment rates of over 10 percent.

Joe Biden's final measure was "to reinvest in existing infrastructure and lay a platform for the economic growth in future in energy, education and health care." The spending "targets" read more like a rap sheet than an investment in the future. Funds went to "bail out" such things as shows about perverts and to run porn films, courtesy of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Other funds potentially went to house sex offenders and predators in Florida and the mob in the New York City area. Vice President Biden might see the stimulus bill as a success, but by his own standards it has been a very expensive failed experiment.