Reason 3: The Stimulus is full of Wasteful Projects

While we were told the stimulus bill would focus on rebuilding America’s infrastructure—mainly the roads and bridges—only 5% of the current bill goes to such projects. The rest of the bill goes to pet projects like:

• $400,000,000.00 for researching sexually transmitted diseases
• $200,000,000.00 to force the military to buy environmentally-friendly electric cars
• $34,000,000.00 to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
• $75,000,000.00 for a program to end smoking which, if successful will bankrupt the State Children’s Health Program Democrats are about to pass (SCHIP) that is paid for by cigarette taxes
• $650,000,000.00 for digital TV coupons
• $50,000,000.00 for the National Endowment for the Arts

These programs are just the 2008 version of the “ midnight basketball” program that derailed Bill Clinton’s attempt to ram through a “stimulus” bill in 1992. Despite that bill failing, the economy quickly recovered and the economic boom of the 1990s began.

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