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According to an article in today’s Denver Post (See Lunches, schooled) several Colorado public school lunch ladies are learning how to cook healthier. The Post says
Thanks to federal stimulus dollars and Colorado Health Foundation funding, Colorado could be the first state where leaders from every school district learn to cook from scratch.
Thanks to “federal stimulus dollars?” Sure, that’s the accepted newspeak term. It would be more accurate, however, to say “thanks to money borrowed on behalf of your unborn grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” lunch ladies are learning how to cook. “Federal stimulus dollars” are treated by too many Americans as if they were magic beans that cost nothing and provide unlimited bounty.
Unfortunately, their ain’t no beanstalk and there ain’t no golden goose at the top of it.
From today’s Denver Post
The federal government reported Friday that Colorado created or saved 8,094 jobs through grants, loans and contracts funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Problem is, the figure is wrong, according to an analysis of recovery.gov data by The Denver Post.
For example,
Although a Colorado Springs Head Start program reported it had created or preserved 269 jobs, the real number was three, according to an interview with a program manager.
But do not worry. Those figures on the cost of nationalized health care are sure to be accurate.
Furthermore,
. . . figures for stimulus awards in Colorado, as with an earlier data release, are inconsistent, inaccurate or incomplete so far.
But do not worry. The data in your medical records under nationalized health care will be fine.
“You’ve got compliance issues and you have data-quality issues,” said Michael Balsam, an executive with Onvia, a Seattle company tracking stimulus spending.
But do not worry. These issues of basic competence will not affect nationalized health care.
None of this matters, however, because there is an upside!
Some economists and researchers said the government deserves credit for passing the stimulus package, no matter what numbers eventually are documented.
“We’re down 100,000 jobs compared to a year ago, so if this effort has done anything to save some jobs, to keep some people working, that’s good, that’s the upside,” said Gary Horvath, marketing analyst at the Colorado Leeds School of Business.
Mr. Horvath now carries the banner for the fine academic tradition of the University of Colorado most recently carried by Ward Churchill.
Mr. Horvath uses the “if it saves just one person, it’s all worth it” logic. This line of thought results in the conclusion, reached here by Horvath, is that no matter the cost, if ANY good arises, then it was money well spent.
So, when the Pentagon buys a $5 hammer for $1000, there is an upside. The Pentagon got its hammer.
And we get nailed.
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