Obama Launches Stimulus Tracking Site
[i][u]By Kevin Parrish, published on February 18, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Source: Tom's Guide US [/u]
[b]Want to know what the government is doing with all that "stimulus" money? Recovery.gov is your one-stop nugget of governmental spending glory.[/b]
This week President Barak "The Man" Obama greets the nation with a serious yet placid smile not from every television set mounted in America, but from computer screens displaying the newly launched recovery.gov website. Obama speaks with a clear certainty from an introductory video, explaining the purpose of the website and how the government will reveal every aspect of stimulus spending within its pages in the coming months. The website stands as a testimonial to Obama's promise to make the government more transparent and less wasteful.
"The size and scale of this plan demand unprecedented efforts to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending," he says. "Instead of politicians doling out money behind closed doors, the important decisions about where taxpayer dollars are invested will be yours to scrutinize."
According to the website, $288 billion dollars will fall into the tax relief abyss, a considerable chunk out of the overall $789 billion set aside by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, freshly signed by the new President as of today. $144 billion dollars goes towards state and local fiscal relief, whereas Infrastructure and Science will take $111 billion of that investment combined. The government plans to spend around $81 billion to protect the "vulnerable," whereas the American health care system will only see $53 billion. The site also says Energy will eat up another $43 billion, and the final $8 billion will go towards a mysterious "other" category (see pole-dancing comment).
A scrolling timeline at the bottom shows when viewers can expect updated information. As of March 3, federal agencies will begin to report their use of the stimulus funds. By May 3, all federal agencies are to make Performance Plans publically available, and according to the website, recipients of Federal funding supposedly report the use of those funds on July 15. This is what Obama calls "accountability and transparency," revealing all because it's the taxpayers' money put in use, and they have the right to know how those dollars are being spent. "Learn what steps we're taking to ensure you can track our progress every step of the way," says the website.
Part of the government's new stimulus package involves investing $7.2 million into the broadband Internet infrastructure, aiming to improve broadband access to those living in "unserved and underserved" areas. $11 billion will also be used to overhaul the power grid, modernizing the system to allow consumers the ability to see the price of power they're purchasing. However, according to the website, taxpayers can log onto the site and actually report via the SHARE YOUR STORY section on whether if the Recovery Act is actually working, or if some other measure needs to fall through.
And although the website is a positive gesture in part of President Obama and the American government, it's easy to slip into the shoes of a conspiracy theorist and wonder if every dime spent will find its way onto the website. It's highly unlikely, but in turn President Obama seems to be a man on a mission to bring the nation back on its feet, so perhaps the website is legitimate after all.[/i]
(Adding note: mistakes in spelling are the author's, and not mine. this is a direct post. appropriate credit given.)