Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Feeding Frenzy Known As Sandy Relief

By, Chris Rossini
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Judas Christie is getting high fives.

Andrew Cuomo has record approval ratings.

The dynamic duo are on fire. And now they're about to bring home the bacon as well...$60 billion worth of Federal Chum!

How can a bankrupt government give out 60 cents, let alone $60,000,000,000?

No worries. They're Bernanke Bucks...and they're just as good as gold.


So the Governors from NY and NJ are getting their feed. But there are plenty of other sharks in the water who have picked up the scent of Bernanke Bucks.

BuzzFeed has a great rundown. Here are some highlights:
The Senate has quietly tucked hundreds of millions of dollars to fund parochial needs into a $60 billion supplemental spending measure ostensibly aimed at aiding victims of Hurricane Sandy...

Like $2 million for the Smithsonian to repair roofs and other buildings damaged during the storm...

...the supplemental includes more than $8 million in money for cars, furniture and office equipment for the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies...

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich successfully included $150 million in spending for fisheries in Alaska, New England, and the Gulf of Mexico that would assist communities reliant on the fishing industry.
Yes, you read that correctly...The scent of federal chum reached Alaska!
Begich also included an additional $56.8 million in spending to help clean up debris from the 2011 tsunami that crippled Japan.

...the Senate included $336 million for an Amtrak program that has been in the planning stages for years.

...$110 million in Safe Water Drinking Act Grants; $4 million for the Kennedy Space Center; $58 million in funding for private forestland owners to replace damaged trees; and $62 million for repairs to NOAA facilities and aircraft and weather forecasting equipment...
The point of this post is not that we need to elect the right people, make the government more efficient ... blah ... blah ... blah.

The point is, that while Americns are at home, discussing what great Governors Christie & Cuomo are, and watching concerts put on by Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and others...the reality of the situation is much different.

The American taxpayers are, yet again, getting torn to shreds by the very sharks that they worship.

Americans want federal aid?

The sharks will give it to them. And they'll give it to them good and hard:


2 comments:

  1. "Americans want federal aid?"

    "The sharks will give it to them. And they'll give it to them good and hard"

    H.L. Mencken FTW.

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  2. While I agree that some of Hayek's great appeal stems from his compromises to the welfare state as opposed to the strident Mises, other factors include:

    1. Hayek's work was available in the English and Mises' work was only translated from German much later.

    2. Hayek worked at the prestigious LSE and later at the University of Chicago while Mises was academically inaccessible during many of his productive years.

    3. Hayek won the Nobel Prize, which constitutes a prestigious credential that makes his ideas safe to mention. Obviously this is connected to #1 and 2, especially considering Hayek's work on business cycle theory and the calculation problem were based upon Mises' work and insights, but it is what it is.

    We all agree that Mises should be getting more recognition, but I'll take Hayek over Friedman, Laffer, etc.

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