However, on my own initiative, I tracked down North Carolina’s numbers, and the data was quite interesting. For example, take North Carolina’s 37^th Congressional District, where two jobs were created or saved with about $4 million. Or take the 14^th District where 0 jobs were created or saved with $180,000. Of course the problem here is that North Carolina only has 13 Congressional Districts. But even disregarding that, $4 million for two jobs?

Source: www.recovery.gov

This reveals several things. First, it shows that all of the claims made by the Obama administration about how they’ve created or saved so many jobs are false. At best they are gross exaggerations, at worst they are outright lies. This of course calls in question all the numbers put forth by the Administration. Things like the unemployment statistic announced by the Labor Department should be viewed with considerably more scrutiny after this rather shameless attempt to delude the American people.

Also, how exactly does one quantify a “saved job”? This, of course, is another attempt by the Administration to inflate its accomplishments (or lack thereof) and to sell the supposed success of the stimulus package.

What’s also interesting is where the money is being spent. Districts represented by Democrats received $3,219,725,447 or 86.11% of the money allotted to North Carolina. Districts represented by Republicans received $591,809,554 or 13.75% of the money allotted to North Carolina, despite making up 46% of the Congressional delegation. The money is being spent disproportionately in Democratic districts. One could interpret this as an attempt to buy off these districts and ensure that they stay solidly blue. But of course, it would take a really cynical person to think that.

Perhaps what most reveals that the stimulus package is not what we’re told it is, is the fact that the unemployment rate continues to rise. It currently resides at 10.2%; well above the 8% ceiling the American people were promised.

Pork

The allocation of North Carolina’s share of the pork from the $787 billion stimulus bill has begun! In fact, in February the governor appointed North Carolina’s very own czar to dictate the allocation of the $6 billion given to the Old North State. Czar Dempsey Benton is the director of the Office of Economic Recovery and Investment and charged with properly distributing the stimulus dollars.

This raises some interesting questions. There does not appear to be any sort of legislative check or any check at all on Czar Dempsey. The governor unilaterally created his office and, he was unilaterally chosen by the governor without input from the General Assembly or the citizens of North Carolina to be the director. This is a most undemocratic move and one of questionable constitutionality. This is also a rather troubling state of affairs, given that he has unchecked control over $6 billion of taxpayer money. Moreover, given the state government’s blatant corruption and waste in areas that are “checked and balanced,” consider how much greater is the opportunity for corruption and waste in an area that is not subject to these safeguards. It is a circumvention of the legislative process and flies in the face of the basic founding of this country.

There is already some evidence of waste in the Czar’s kingdom. He has allotted $76,000 to an urban forestry project in Durham. The project involves removing 29 trees along a downtown street and replacing them with 103 new ones, with a projected cost of $575 per tree planted. The costs associated with this project are unusually high, particularly the costs associated with the planting of the new trees. The trees typical for such a project usually run at about $100 each. So, then the remainder of the budget must be spent on labor, leaving labor costs at about $475 per tree, which is ridiculous.

Cooked Pork

What this illustrates is the danger and cost of giving one person so much power and removing the legislative branch from the picture. Czar Dempsey is running about the state spending money on a whole slew of pet projects at exorbitant costs to taxpayers.

Of course, the irony of the whole situation is that this supposed “stimulus” has accomplished nothing. The latest statistics from the Labor Department indicate an increase rather than a decrease in unemployment. The official statistic has risen to 9.8%, but when factoring in those who have given up looking for work (discouraged workers) or are involuntarily working part-time the statistic is 17%. Unemployment among the young (ages 16-24) alone stands at 25.9%. We have been asked to surrender our traditional forms and modes of government in return for nothing.

The first is that employers are shedding far fewer temp employees than in months prior.  The temp employment market normally precede normal employment markets, so the fact that the temp market is stabilizing is a good indication that a recovery is in the offing.

The second is the front page article in today’s paper reporting that Cadbury rejected an acquisition bid by Kraft. The recent burst of activity on the mergers and acquisitions front is always a good sign and indicates that the recession is on its way out.  The Kraft bid follows Disney’s purchase of Marvel, JBS’s bid for Pilgrim’s Pride (to make it the second largest meat company in the world), and Baker Hughes $5.5 billion purchase of BJ Services to consolidate its oil- and gas-field services operations.

M&As mean that there is no longer a liquidity problem as banks are willing to extend credit to these corporations to make these purchases, but, equally important, they mean that business are confident and optimistic about the future.  The economy will stabilize and employment will increase.

All of this no thanks to the stimulus package or any action on the part of the Obama Administration.  We’ve spent only 10% of the $787 billion package (~$78.7 billion), yet the economy is now recovering.  In fact, according to the head of the Federal Reserve in Dallas, the recession is over.

So, think about it. The economy is recovering before any major overhaul of the financial sector, before nationalizing health care, and before a substantial portion of the stimulus package was spent.  We can conclude that we could have achieved the same results of the $787 billion stimulus package with a stimulus package of $78.7 billion, avoiding such a gargantuan increase in the national debt and the requisite pain and suffering for our posterity.

Or maybe, just maybe, we can conclude the recovery isn’t related to the stimulus package at all, and the Keynesians have been wrong all along…