SIGN UP - IT'S FREE!
SEARCH FSM
| National Debt Clock |
A million seconds pass in 12 days.
A billion seconds pass in 31 years.
A trillion seconds pass in 31,688 years!
January 11, 2010
Exclusive: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up! (1/11/10)
Whenever you think general incompetence by those who purport to serve by the consent of the governed can’t get any worse, think again:
“Obama's Green Jobs Program: $135,294 Per Job” (Investors.com, 1/8/10)
The White House announced Friday the awarding of $2.3 billion in tax credits — the money comes from last year’s stimulus bill — to companies to create “green jobs.”
The announcement was rather obviously timed to counter the news that the nation lost 85,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stayed at 10% — bad news for an administration that once promised to hold unemployment to 8% by the end of 2009.
So the administration sought to change the tune by talking about all those green jobs in the pipeline.
“Building a robust clean-energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future — jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced,” President Obama said Friday.
Yes, but getting these jobs is burning a hole in the national wallet. The problem is that even advocates like Obama concede that these programs are not very cost-effective in creating jobs.
Obama says the grants will create 17,000 cleantech jobs. Well, get out your calculator. $2.3 billion for 17,000 jobs equals $135,294 per job. (And that’s not including the eventual interest on this deficit spending). Those green jobs had better pay well over six figures to justify that expense.
Not to worry, the administration has a plan to solve this, too. It wants Congress to approve another $5 billion for “tens of thousands” more green jobs.
(original article here)
Ever wonder why it’s called the “Friday news dump?” Now you know. And if the new “green jobs” being promised really pay that well, tell us where we can sign up.
“'Wellness' Provision in Health Care Bill Meets Protest” (ABC News, 1/10/09)
Incentives within the U.S. Senate health care bill designed to encourage healthy lifestyles unfairly target the poor, elderly, overweight and disabled, and could be exploited by insurance companies for financial gain, advocacy groups claim.
Dozens of health, justice, and disability organizations have signed a letter urging senators to remove a provision in the health care reform bill that would allow insurers to provide reimbursements or incentives to workers who meet certain fitness goals laid out in workplace wellness programs.
In rewarding healthy people for making good choices, those who don't meet fitness goals would be unfairly penalized, the groups said.
(read entire article here)
Well, auto insurance companies often give incentives to drivers who don’t have accidents on their records and penalize those who do. Where’s the outrage over that?
But these advocacy groups miss the point entirely: What business does the government even have “allowing” private insurance companies what they may or may not do as far as how they run their business? And what business does the government have in telling Americans that they must have a health insurance policy that meets government standards – or else?
None whatsoever.
Brought to you by the editors and research staff of FamilySecurityMatters.org.
Reader Comments: Submit Your Comment (0) | Sign Up for FSM Updates!
