Summertime Blues

by Will Compernolle According to the Chicago Tribune, a new Congressional report called “Summertime Blues” shows stimulus funding has gone to buy iPods for high school students, cell phones for smokers trying to quit, and advertising for the stimulus itself. While the stimulus has been defended as an endeavor to spur job creation, no jobs were...

by Will Compernolle

According to the Chicago Tribune, a new Congressional report called “Summertime Blues” shows stimulus funding has gone to buy iPods for high school students, cell phones for smokers trying to quit, and advertising for the stimulus itself.

While the stimulus has been defended as an endeavor to spur job creation, no jobs were created on a $1 million expenditure to buy iPod Touches for students in Utah meant to be loaded “with educational applications that teachers hope will motivate students. Such applications include guides to identify trees, leaves and bird calls.”

Another project singled out in the report is a $498,000 grant to a unit of the American Legacy Foundation, which will provide BlackBerry Curve smart phones to Washington residents trying to quit smoking. The predominately low-income smokers who receive the phones may call a hotline or use the phones’ software capabilities to help with their addiction. Two jobs will be created by the program, a spokesman said.

The stimulus was passed without much time for people to observe what was actually included in it. With such haste and little transparency, wasteful spending should come as no surprise to the average taxpayer. With more transparency and openness about what the government is actually spending money on, taxpayers can have the opportunity to scrutinize projects like these and cut wasteful spending at a time when it is desperately needed.

To read the entire article, click here.