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  Friday, September 03, 2010  * Business Advocacy * Political Issues and Videos Register Login 
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Excellent Lesson In Economics

     An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class.

     That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

     All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

     After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

     But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

     When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

     The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one will try or want to succeed.

      Could not be any simpler than that ...

Political Issues & Videos

Where is Your Grand Kids' Money Going Today?

The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009“

 Infrastructure Improvements

-          $7.2 billion for Broadband to increase broadband access and usage in unserved and underserved areas of the Nation, which will better position the U.S. for economic growth, innovation, and job creation. 

-          $2.75 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to secure the homeland and promote economic activity, including $1 billion for airport baggage and checkpoint security, $430 million for construction of border points of entry, $210 million for construction of fire stations, $300 million for port, transit, and rail security, $280 million for border security technology and communication, and $240 million for the Coast Guard.

-          $4.6 billion in funding for the Corps of Engineers.

-          $1.2 billion for VA hospital and medical facility construction and improvements, long-term care facilities for veterans, and improvements at VA national cemeteries.

-          $3.1 billion for repair, restoration and improvement of public facilities at on public and tribal lands.

-          $4.2 billion for Facilities Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization to be used to invest in energy efficiency projects and to improve the repair and modernization of Department of Defense facilities to include Defense Health facilities.

-          $2.33 billion for Department of Defense Facilities including quality of life and family-friendly military improvement projects such as family housing, hospitals, and child care centers.

-          $2.25 billion through HOME and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program to fill financing gaps caused by the credit freeze and get stalled housing development projects moving.

-          $1 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program for community and economic development projects including housing and services for those hit hard by tough economic times.

-          $1 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation to provide clean, reliable drinking water to rural areas and to ensure adequate water supply to western localities impacted by drought.  

 

Transportation

This morning, the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) participated in a stakeholders conference call with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood where some of the conference report information was detailed.

-          $27.5 billion is included for highway investments

   o        30% is suballocated

   o        3% transportation enhancement set-aside off top number

-          $8.4 billion for investments in public transportation. 

-          $1.5 billion for competitive grants to state and local governments for transportation investments. 

-          $1.3 billion for investments in our air transportation system. 

-          $9.3 billion for investments in rail transportation, including Amtrak, High Speed and Intercity Rail.

-          States will have 120 days to obligate 50% of funding and 100% must be obligated within one year

-          DOT has a TIGER team (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) to provide transparency and accountability

 

Public Housing

-          $4 billion to the public housing capital fund to enable local public housing agencies to address a $32 billion backlog in capital needs -- especially those improving energy efficiency in aging buildings.

-          $2 billion for full-year payments to owners receiving Section 8 project-based rental assistance. 

-          $2 billion for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes. 

-          $1.5 billion for homeless prevention activities, which will be sent out to states, cities and local governments through the emergency shelter grant formula.

-          $250 million is included for energy retrofitting and green investments in HUD-assisted housing projects.

 

Environmental Clean-Up/Clean Water

-          $6 billion is directed towards environmental cleanup of former weapon production and energy research sites. 

-          $6 billion for local clean and drinking water infrastructure improvements.

-          $1.2 billion for EPA’s nationwide environmental cleanup programs, including Superfund.

-          $1.28 billion to support $3.8 billion in loans and grants for needed water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas.

 

Science

-          $1 billion total for NASA.

-          $3 billion total for National Science Foundation (NSF).

-          $2 billion total for Science at the Department of Energy including $400 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E).

-          $830 million total for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).  

 Investments in Health include:

 -          $19 billion, including $2 billion in discretionary funds and $17 billion for investments and incentives through Medicare and Medicaid to ensure widespread adoption and use of interoperable health information technology (IT).  This provision will grow jobs in the information technology sector, and will jumpstart efforts to increase the use of health IT in doctors’ offices, hospitals and other medical facilities.  This will reduce health care costs and improve the quality of health care for all Americans.  

-          $1 billion for prevention and wellness programs to fight preventable diseases and conditions with evidence-based strategies.

-          $10 billion to conduct biomedical research in areas such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and stem cells, and to improve NIH facilities.

-          $1.1 billion to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NIH and the HHS Office of the Secretary to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different health care services and treatment options.  


Investments in Education and Training include:

-          $53.6 billion for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, including $39.5 billion to local school districts using existing funding formulas, which can be used for preventing cutbacks, preventing layoffs, school modernization, or other purposes; $5 billion to states as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures in education; and $8.8 billion to states for high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education and for modernization, renovation and repairs of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities.  

-          $13 billion for Title 1 to help close the achievement gap and enable disadvantaged students to reach their potential.

-          $12.2 billion for Special Education/IDEA to improve educational outcomes for disabled children. This level of funding will increase the Federal share of special education services to its highest level ever.

-          $15.6 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant by $500.  This aid will help 7 million students pursue postsecondary education. 

-          $3.95 billion for job training including State formula grants for adult, dislocated worker, and youth programs (including $1.2 billion to create up to one million summer jobs for youth).  


Investments in Energy include:

-          $4.5 billion for repair of federal buildings to increase energy efficiency using green technology. 

-          $3.4 billion for Fossil Energy research and development.

-          $11 billion for smart-grid related activities, including work to modernize the electric grid.

-          $6.3 billion for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Grants. 

-          $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program. 

-          $2.5 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy research.

-          $2 billion in grant funding for the manufacturing of advanced batteries systems and components and vehicle batteries that are produced in the United States. 

-          $6 billion for new loan guarantees aimed at standard renewable projects such as wind or solar projects and for electricity transmission projects. 

-          $1 billion for other energy efficiency programs including alternative fuel trucks and buses, transportation charging infrastructure, and smart and energy efficient appliances.

 

Help for Workers and Families Hardest Hit by the Economic Crisis includes:

-          $21 billion in COBRA premium assistance provides a 65% subsidy for up to nine months to help workers who lose their jobs keep health coverage.

-          $19.9 billion for additional Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly Food Stamps, to increase the benefit by 13.6 percent. 

-          Child Care Development Block Grant: $2 billion to provide quality child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families who increasingly are unable to afford the high cost of day care. 

-          Head Start & Early Head Start:  $2.1 billion to allow an additional 124,000 children to participate in this program, which provides development, educational, health, nutritional, social and other activities that prepare children to succeed in school. 

-          State and Local Law Enforcement:  $4 billion total to support law enforcement efforts.

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