I had my 103 year old brick house insulated today because the current incentives made it such a good deal. There were 3 guys working here all day and they left with about $2000. That federal money totally stimulated economic activity at my house. Looks like I might be further stimulated later this summer to get rid of one of my clunkers and into a new vehicle. Still assessing that one.
There is stuff like that going on all over this country right now and it is having a positive affect on the jobless rate. It's just that the mess your guys left behind is much greater than most people anticipated.
While we're talking, happy 4th! Gonna do some shooting, catch some fireworks and a small town parade and spend some time above 10,000 feet in a tent with my baby and my dog. I love America!
Good to hear from you again! I'll leave alone your assessment of whose mess this is and just go on to the 4th.
Sounds like a wonderful holiday for you. I'll be working at the shoe store all afternoon, which is almost as fun as shooting and fireworks and a parade and camping. Happy 4th!
If Boehner is still looking, send him on over to my house and I'll put him in touch with Solomon. I'm pretty sure that he and his A+ crew headed over to the Irish Snug for a beer after they were done in my incredibly stifling-hot attic. So Boehner can also check with the crew at The Snug (which I stimulate on my own volition quite regularly) to verify if anything is trickling down. See, that's how tickle down and stimulus REALLY WORKS - on the demand side.
I realize you R's don't get this, so I'm typing as slow as I can. Please let me know what part of this you don't understand. Since due to your team's lax regulation I'm out about half of my net worth over the last year, I'm holding on quite tightly to what I have left. This stimulus has encouraged me to free from my holding two thousand of my most precious dollars, so Solomon (not a made up name) can get a beer, and Betty (not a made up name) can keep serving tables at The Snug... Stimulus, indeed.
I'm a smart, highly educated and skilled guy and you know what I say? More stimulus, please!
I talked to a guy at church who is in construction, and he said white male contractors can't seem to get any stimulus money. It's all going to minority businesses. So a couple of them have put their businesses in their wife's name, and now they're getting work. It was either do that or go belly-up.
Oh yes, the plight of poor, put upon white Christian men. It sure is tough to be me. Surely no one is as put upon and without opportunity as me and my fellow white Christian males in America.
The crew at my house didn't seem to be minority, and the people in the office seemed 100% Old West over the phone, ma and pa style.
I have a good friend who is a general contractor in St. Paul, and he's doing stim-related work - he' popular with medical researchers at the U of Mn and they're feeling good enough about their prospects to remodel due in part to medical research stimulus. He's not a minority, though I think he's of German ancestry in a mostly Norwegian area. As a good Norwegian myself that always bugged me about him.
According to that study you're conducting, we've we've now proven that bias is not out of control as I have twice as many stories citing no bias.
I did look up stim-related contracting preferences this morning - as a contractor to DoD I do care deeply about such things and I diligently follow up on most every point a blogger raises. There is nothing in the Recovery Act that changes any existing Federal laws or regulations in place dedicated to establishing or fostering the growth of women- or minority-owned businesses. It will be pretty easy to put numbers to where the stim is going, and no one executive or party will be able to run the table to cover up any craziness that would deviate from this stated goal. I'm sure there are people with legitimate gripes about minority preferences. I'm also sure that there are many people who are hyper-sensitive and vocal about perceived biases right now.
government, stimulas related work = two guys dig a hole and get a government check. Then 3 guys fill that same hole and get a government check.
Unemployment rate is tipping 10%, is that what you call "having a positive affect on the jobless rate", paw? It's positive if the objective is to continue adding to the ranks of the unemployed.
Oh yes, the plight of poor, put upon white Christian men.
Strike the "Christian." I didn't bring that up. You did.
The minority/women-owned business may be more of a factor here in So. Cal., where jumbo loans can be as hard to get as a shooting star but are necessary. This same man (who I am willing to concede could be hyper-sensitive about bias against his white self) said he's got a (non-stimulus) contract to build a house for a guy with a 780 credit score. Unfortunately, the guy can't get a loan, because it would be a jumbo.
Perhaps in your area, credit is more readily available, so the good effects of that are spread across the whole diversity spectrum, even white males. I don't discount your experience, but at the same time, I don't discount what the guy at church has said about his experience.
One other thing he said about stimulus money for insulation is that it's not available for blown-in insulation (too expensive). It's only being spent on blanket insulation (is that the right term?), which is cheaper but MUCH less effective than blown-in.
Just so you know, I'm of part-German ancestry and nothing Scandanavian. It could explain a lot for you...
I provided a real-world example of stimulus opening my bank account and keeping a crew of guys busy, and provided a very reasonable example explaining how my money might help a waitress buy a pair of shoes, which just might help out Skye Puppy. Please provide statistically significant examples of holes being dug up and then refilled. For extra credit explain how people digging a hole do not have a job and why you discount whatever happens when they spend that money.
Far from digging holes, my house, which will be here for hundreds more years, is now far more efficient. That is good for me, good for my community, and good for people 200 years from now who just might have a need for the coal that otherwise would have been wasted. See, you don't even have to think about global climate change to see that encouraging me to insulate my house has positive social outcomes.
In Skye Puppy's second response, she admits that stimulus is keeping people from going belly-up. Maybe you two need to have a chat.
Finally, it's just plain nuts to think that our gigantic, complicated global economy can be turned in a period of months, and anyone who tells you that is manipulating you.
11 comments:
I had my 103 year old brick house insulated today because the current incentives made it such a good deal. There were 3 guys working here all day and they left with about $2000. That federal money totally stimulated economic activity at my house. Looks like I might be further stimulated later this summer to get rid of one of my clunkers and into a new vehicle. Still assessing that one.
There is stuff like that going on all over this country right now and it is having a positive affect on the jobless rate. It's just that the mess your guys left behind is much greater than most people anticipated.
While we're talking, happy 4th! Gonna do some shooting, catch some fireworks and a small town parade and spend some time above 10,000 feet in a tent with my baby and my dog. I love America!
Paw,
Good to hear from you again! I'll leave alone your assessment of whose mess this is and just go on to the 4th.
Sounds like a wonderful holiday for you. I'll be working at the shoe store all afternoon, which is almost as fun as shooting and fireworks and a parade and camping. Happy 4th!
If Boehner is still looking, send him on over to my house and I'll put him in touch with Solomon. I'm pretty sure that he and his A+ crew headed over to the Irish Snug for a beer after they were done in my incredibly stifling-hot attic. So Boehner can also check with the crew at The Snug (which I stimulate on my own volition quite regularly) to verify if anything is trickling down. See, that's how tickle down and stimulus REALLY WORKS - on the demand side.
I realize you R's don't get this, so I'm typing as slow as I can. Please let me know what part of this you don't understand. Since due to your team's lax regulation I'm out about half of my net worth over the last year, I'm holding on quite tightly to what I have left. This stimulus has encouraged me to free from my holding two thousand of my most precious dollars, so Solomon (not a made up name) can get a beer, and Betty (not a made up name) can keep serving tables at The Snug... Stimulus, indeed.
I'm a smart, highly educated and skilled guy and you know what I say? More stimulus, please!
Happy 4th everybody!
Paw,
I talked to a guy at church who is in construction, and he said white male contractors can't seem to get any stimulus money. It's all going to minority businesses. So a couple of them have put their businesses in their wife's name, and now they're getting work. It was either do that or go belly-up.
Oh yes, the plight of poor, put upon white Christian men. It sure is tough to be me. Surely no one is as put upon and without opportunity as me and my fellow white Christian males in America.
The crew at my house didn't seem to be minority, and the people in the office seemed 100% Old West over the phone, ma and pa style.
I have a good friend who is a general contractor in St. Paul, and he's doing stim-related work - he' popular with medical researchers at the U of Mn and they're feeling good enough about their prospects to remodel due in part to medical research stimulus. He's not a minority, though I think he's of German ancestry in a mostly Norwegian area. As a good Norwegian myself that always bugged me about him.
According to that study you're conducting, we've we've now proven that bias is not out of control as I have twice as many stories citing no bias.
I did look up stim-related contracting preferences this morning - as a contractor to DoD I do care deeply about such things and I diligently follow up on most every point a blogger raises. There is nothing in the Recovery Act that changes any existing Federal laws or regulations in place dedicated to establishing or fostering the growth of women- or minority-owned businesses. It will be pretty easy to put numbers to where the stim is going, and no one executive or party will be able to run the table to cover up any craziness that would deviate from this stated goal. I'm sure there are people with legitimate gripes about minority preferences. I'm also sure that there are many people who are hyper-sensitive and vocal about perceived biases right now.
government, stimulas related work = two guys dig a hole and get a government check. Then 3 guys fill that same hole and get a government check.
Unemployment rate is tipping 10%, is that what you call "having a positive affect on the jobless rate", paw? It's positive if the objective is to continue adding to the ranks of the unemployed.
Oh yes, the plight of poor, put upon white Christian men.
Strike the "Christian." I didn't bring that up. You did.
The minority/women-owned business may be more of a factor here in So. Cal., where jumbo loans can be as hard to get as a shooting star but are necessary. This same man (who I am willing to concede could be hyper-sensitive about bias against his white self) said he's got a (non-stimulus) contract to build a house for a guy with a 780 credit score. Unfortunately, the guy can't get a loan, because it would be a jumbo.
Perhaps in your area, credit is more readily available, so the good effects of that are spread across the whole diversity spectrum, even white males. I don't discount your experience, but at the same time, I don't discount what the guy at church has said about his experience.
One other thing he said about stimulus money for insulation is that it's not available for blown-in insulation (too expensive). It's only being spent on blanket insulation (is that the right term?), which is cheaper but MUCH less effective than blown-in.
Just so you know, I'm of part-German ancestry and nothing Scandanavian. It could explain a lot for you...
Janice,
I provided a real-world example of stimulus opening my bank account and keeping a crew of guys busy, and provided a very reasonable example explaining how my money might help a waitress buy a pair of shoes, which just might help out Skye Puppy. Please provide statistically significant examples of holes being dug up and then refilled. For extra credit explain how people digging a hole do not have a job and why you discount whatever happens when they spend that money.
Far from digging holes, my house, which will be here for hundreds more years, is now far more efficient. That is good for me, good for my community, and good for people 200 years from now who just might have a need for the coal that otherwise would have been wasted. See, you don't even have to think about global climate change to see that encouraging me to insulate my house has positive social outcomes.
In Skye Puppy's second response, she admits that stimulus is keeping people from going belly-up. Maybe you two need to have a chat.
Finally, it's just plain nuts to think that our gigantic, complicated global economy can be turned in a period of months, and anyone who tells you that is manipulating you.
German!
Well at least you're not Swedish. Then there'd really be fireworks.
So which of your neighbors paid for all those great incentives that went into fixing your house? Did it provide new jobs?
Sara,
You're more than welcome to visit and leave a comment anytime.
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