Obama Releases $473 Million in Transport Funding to States

OntarioVanMan · Sep 3, 2012

IMO...this cash should have been used to pay down the debt?....

Obama Releases $473 Million in Transport Funding to States | Journal of Commerce

Money was set aside for appropriations between fiscal 2003 and 2006

The Obama administration on Friday made $473 million in funding originally allocated to earmark projects available to states.

The money was set aside for appropriations between fiscal 2003 and 2006, but the dollars weren't spent because of Obama's and Congress’s ban on earmarks. States must identify by Oct. 1 the projects — which can range from highway construction to port enhancements — for which they would use the funds.

“We are freeing up these funds so states can get down to the business of moving transportation projects forward and putting our friends and neighbors back to work,” Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

The move is part of Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative, an attack on the Republican-controlled House for not doing enough to boost the economy, ahead of the presidential election.

xiggi · Sep 3, 2012

This is the result of no earmarks legislation. Instead of congress deciding one person decides. As is often the case good intentions reap bad results.

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chefdennis · Sep 3, 2012

Vote buying, and nothing else....the funds were set aside yrs ago, but barry tied them up, now he is releasing them over his own ban just before the election.."look what I did for the states!!!"...Vote buying, nothing more...

OntarioVanMan · Sep 3, 2012

chefdennis said:
Vote buying, and nothing else....the funds were set aside yrs ago, but barry tied them up, now he is releasing them over his own ban just before the election.."look what I did for the states!!!"...Vote buying, nothing more...

I would suppose the distribution of these funds will look like who supports whom and how many votes it will buy them?

zero3nine · Sep 3, 2012

Pay down debt? With 473 million?

Hahahhahahahaha!

You were joking, right? The million is the new penny. The billion is the new dollar. Our debts are now expressed in TRILLIONS.

I don't think some people are grasping this!

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OntarioVanMan · Sep 3, 2012

zero3nine said:
Pay down debt? With 473 million?

Hahahhahahahaha!

You were joking, right? The million is the new penny. The billion is the new dollar. Our debts are now expressed in TRILLIONS.

I don't think some people are grasping this!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Oh I am grasping it.....It has to be paid down....and it won't be trillions at a time either...do some grasp that fact?......

Cutting spending will be in the millions and billions and it all adds up...somehow the inflow has to be more then the outflow....

xiggi · Sep 3, 2012

It has to start somewhere, millions add up to billions, billions to trillions.

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tenntrucker · Sep 3, 2012

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purgoose10 · Sep 3, 2012

zero3nine said:
Pay down debt? With 473 million?

Hahahhahahahaha!

You were joking, right? The million is the new penny. The billion is the new dollar. Our debts are now expressed in TRILLIONS.

I don't think some people are grasping this!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Gotta start somewhere. That's a pretty good start, besides where will we get more than that?? Ya gotta have money to pay off the debt.

moose · Sep 3, 2012

You guys needs to wake up. no matter what the Gov. do, the devalue of the $ will happen.
nothing wrong with that, if you are prepared. there might be some time left.

OntarioVanMan · Sep 3, 2012

moose said:
You guys needs to wake up. no matter what the Gov. do, the devalue of the $ will happen.
nothing wrong with that, if you are prepared. there might be some time left.

I would agree but can't....while a high dollar sounds good....it is also a PIA...on one hand since we are a consuming country it makes foreign goods more expensive, but on the other hand, what we do manufacture and what creates jobs is what matters....a low dollar is good for our exports....just ask Cat and JD and Case....going nuts with the low dollar...

chefdennis · Sep 3, 2012

I could agree with using it to pay the debt down..But the fact is we can't even pay the "interest" on the debt....lol, i mean we borrow from China so we can give them and the rest of the world "foreign aid"...

But wait, there is talk of ben starting the press again and printing more worthless green paper for QE3, or is it QE4...lol the QE they have already done worked so well, people can't remember which one of them did anything and how many of them there have been...LOL, doing the same thing 2-3 times to get the same non-performing results justifies doing it....I vaguely remember a saying about doing the same thing over and over getting the same result but thinking you will get a different is the defination of something, but i forget what it was...:/

OntarioVanMan · Sep 3, 2012

chefdennis said:
I could agree with using it to pay the debt down..But the fact is we can't even pay the "interest" on the debt....lol, i mean we borrow from China so we can give them and the rest of the world "foreign aid"...

But wait, there is talk of ben starting the press again and printing more worthless green paper for QE3, or is it QE4...lol the QE they have already done worked so well, people can't remember which one of them did anything and how many of them there have been...LOL, doing the same thing 2-3 times to get the same non-performing results justifies doing it....I vaguely remember a saying about doing the same thing over and over getting the same result but thinking you will get a different is the defination of something, but i forget what it was...:/

All this aid MUST stop....the good of the country and the debt should come first...you can't build a skyscraper on a bad foundation....you can't build a country on a bad foundation either....

Turtle · Sep 3, 2012

OntarioVanMan said:
“We are freeing up these funds so states can get down to the business of moving transportation projects forward and putting our friends and neighbors back to work,” Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

And of course, by "friends and neighbors", he means Mexicans.

And the occasional old fart with a clipboard.

OntarioVanMan · Sep 3, 2012

Turtle said:
And of course, by "friends and neighbors", he means Mexicans.

And the occasional old fart with a clipboard.

my, how you do go on with that clipboard thingee....LOL

piattteam · Sep 3, 2012

Agree! Stop ALL foreign aid-ALL!!!!

Then Stop all aid to illegals in the USA!

Stop paying for the chronic "don't want to works".

Enact a federal sales tax on purchases of NEW products/services (but end ALL other federal taxes- income, S/S, ALL) federal taxes.
By having a federal sales tax, everyone would pay toward the running of our great country - everyone, including the 49% of adult Americans not paying now. . . including illegals. . . including drug dealers. . . including thieves. . . all those NOT paying taxes now.
The rich would naturally pay more tax as they would buy more new stuff- Thereby making the jealous "the rich should pay more" folks happy.

Make earmarks illegal. Simple worded ONE ITEM bills- no hidden spending.

Stop fighting other peoples' wars.

We'd have our debt paid off in no time.

Turtle · Sep 3, 2012

OntarioVanMan said:
my, how you do go on with that clipboard thingee....LOL

I figure I can get a good six months, maybe a year out of that one.

skyraider · Sep 3, 2012

10 Million a Minute » Comeback America Initiative In 470 minutes, that money will be gone.

Humble2drive · Sep 3, 2012

OntarioVanMan said:
IMO...this cash should have been used to pay down the debt?....
.

No political mileage in that.

chefdennis said:
. .."look what I did for the states!!!"...Vote buying, nothing more...

Absolutely, and another stroke of genius from the Obama camp!
When your opponent has a gazillion more dollars than you it pays to maximize every advantage you can and this one seems to be paying off.

Remember, this money is not just being released willy nilly like the title may suggest. It must be approved from the top which means it can be directed toward those projects (earmarks actually) that offer the most political advantage equating to votes in the end.

The smartest thing would be to throw that money in to some of the key states like Ohio and Florida.
Here in my hometown of Jacksonville,FL the headlines credit the "We Can't Wait" initiative for expediting the deepening of the Jax port, allowing larger ships, more cargo and more jobs. That spells votes.
Same type of stories in Youngstown Ohio and other cities across America.

The funniest quote I came across:

"Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was asked on Friday about how his department found $470 million in unused funds so late in the year (the fiscal year ends Oct. 1). He said that the discovery was simply the result of “good staff work.”

Huh??*

davekc · Sep 3, 2012

Humble2drive said:
No political mileage in that.

The funniest quote I came across:

"Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was asked on Friday about how his department found $470 million in unused funds so late in the year (the fiscal year ends Oct. 1). He said that the discovery was simply the result of “good staff work.”

Huh??*