If you get mad easily about Big Government wasting stimulus money…don’t read this…

[Coronita]

So… you were told that the “economic stimulus” we taxpayers are being forced to pay for was going to help save the economy by creating jobs… So how exactly are some of our local governments doing in with the stimulus payments towards creating jobs?????

…….Well, look no further than Los Angeles… LOL LOL LOL.. How can anyone with a straight face possibly defend something like this….

Heh heh…As the saying goes. That’s the different between for profit companies that work on revenue and public sector that has a nice guarentee “budget” or sometimes “over-budget”…

…But hey, those LED-based traffic lights definitely look cool!!!!

La La La La La La La La///

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100917/bs_yblog_upshot/report-los-angeles-spent-70-million-in-stimulus-funds-to-create-7-76-jobs

A new piece of evidence has emerged in the debate over the effectiveness of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, and it’s not good for Democrats. According to two newly released audits performed by the Los Angeles controller, L.A. spent enormous portions of the $594 million in stimulus funds it received on projects that created or saved just a handful of jobs. All told, the audits — available here and here [pdf] — examined $111 million in stimulus spending by the city’s Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works, and found that the money went to projects that created or retained just 54 jobs. That works out to roughly $2 million per job.

The $71 million that went to the Department of Public Works, which funded 15 road-surfacing and similar projects, was projected to save or create 238 jobs. But according to the audit, the money created just 7.76 jobs or slightly more than $10 million per new job and saved 37.7 (the fractions are a result of calculating the number of jobs by hours worked). The Department of Transportation’s $40 million created or retained just nine jobs, the audit found.

In a press release accompanying the audits [pdf], L.A. Controller Wendy Greuel said the job numbers were underwhelming. “I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million in [stimulus] funds,” Greuel said. “With our local unemployment rate over 12 percent, we need to do a better job cutting the red tape and putting Angelenos back to work.”

The audit didn’t find any misspent funds or waste. But the breakdown of how some of the money was spent seems to indicate efficiency was not exactly the order of the day for project managers. The Department of Transportation, for instance, spent $9 million to install new LED lightbulbs in traffic lights at 1,800 intersections. Less the $228,000 in labor costs associated with the project, that’s nearly $5,000 per location to change lightbulbs. Another project spent $4 million to install 65 new left-turn arrows, averaging more than $61,500 per arrow.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/16/los-angeles-official-disappointed-city-used-stimulus-funds/

More than a year after Congress
approved $800 billion in stimulus funds, the Los Angeles city controller has released a 40-page report on how the city spent its share, and the results are not living up to expectations.

“I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million,” said Wendy Greuel, the city’s controller. “With our local unemployment rate over 12 percent we need to do a better job cutting red tape and putting Angelenos back to work.”

According to the audit, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works spent $70 million in stimulus funds — in return, it created seven private sector jobs and saved seven workers from layoffs. Taxpayer cost per job: $1.5 million.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation created even fewer jobs per dollar, spending $40 million but netting just nine jobs. Taxpayer cost per job: $4.4 million.

Greuel blamed the dismal numbers on several factors:

1. Bureaucratic red tape: Four highway projects did not even go out to bid until seven months after they were authorized.

2. Projects that were supposed to be competitively bid in the private sector went instead went to city workers.

3. Stimulus money was not properly tracked within departments

4. Both departments could not report the jobs created and retained in a timely fashion..

“I would say maybe in a grade, a B- in creating the jobs,” Greuel told Fox News. “They have started to spend those dollars but it took seven months to get some of those contracts out. We think in the city that we should move quickly and not in the same usual bureaucratic ways.”

[SD Transplant]

thanks for posting this FLU. I’ve read about it on Friday and could not believe the stupidity. All I have to say that this nonsense will be long lived due reality kicking in at some point in the future (short term is not the case, hence, long term with more pain)…..

P.S. I just got back from looking at some houses ( even thou I can’t believe some call them that…more like shacks)….it looks that I’ll rent for a looonngggggggg time

[SD Transplant]

thanks for posting this FLU. I’ve read about it on Friday and could not believe the stupidity. All I have to say that this nonsense will be long lived due reality kicking in at some point in the future (short term is not the case, hence, long term with more pain)…..

P.S. I just got back from looking at some houses ( even thou I can’t believe some call them that…more like shacks)….it looks that I’ll rent for a looonngggggggg time

[SD Transplant]

thanks for posting this FLU. I’ve read about it on Friday and could not believe the stupidity. All I have to say that this nonsense will be long lived due reality kicking in at some point in the future (short term is not the case, hence, long term with more pain)…..

P.S. I just got back from looking at some houses ( even thou I can’t believe some call them that…more like shacks)….it looks that I’ll rent for a looonngggggggg time

[SD Transplant]

thanks for posting this FLU. I’ve read about it on Friday and could not believe the stupidity. All I have to say that this nonsense will be long lived due reality kicking in at some point in the future (short term is not the case, hence, long term with more pain)…..

P.S. I just got back from looking at some houses ( even thou I can’t believe some call them that…more like shacks)….it looks that I’ll rent for a looonngggggggg time

[SD Transplant]

thanks for posting this FLU. I’ve read about it on Friday and could not believe the stupidity. All I have to say that this nonsense will be long lived due reality kicking in at some point in the future (short term is not the case, hence, long term with more pain)…..

P.S. I just got back from looking at some houses ( even thou I can’t believe some call them that…more like shacks)….it looks that I’ll rent for a looonngggggggg time

[Eugene]

To me this looks like misleading accounting with the intent to make the government look bad.

For example, people whose jobs were saved because of $70 mln in DPW spending obviously did not earn $1.5 million/year. Where is the money? Two thirds of the DPW stimulus budget involved street resurfacing projects. There are substantial costs associated with these projects, in addition to direct labor costs, (e.g. equipment rental and raw materials) and you can’t say that spending money to buy asphalt and rent heavy equipment does not create jobs. Were all these jobs counted correctly? I bet they weren’t.

About those traffic lights. Notice that the cost quoted is ‘per location’. At a typical intersection, there are at least eight normal traffic lights (x3 or 4 light bulbs each), + pedestrian traffic lights. One traffic-light-sized LED light bulb can cost on the order of $100. So $5000 per intersection, including labor, seems reasonable. Again, where does most of the money go? To light bulb manufacturers. Those are probably located in the United States because of the ‘buy American’ provision in the stimulus bill (Republicans wanted to take it out, but failed). Did anyone count jobs saved and created in the company that produced and supplied light bulbs, and in the company that produced raw materials for those light bulbs …? Evidently not.

[Eugene]

To me this looks like misleading accounting with the intent to make the government look bad.

For example, people whose jobs were saved because of $70 mln in DPW spending obviously did not earn $1.5 million/year. Where is the money? Two thirds of the DPW stimulus budget involved street resurfacing projects. There are substantial costs associated with these projects, in addition to direct labor costs, (e.g. equipment rental and raw materials) and you can’t say that spending money to buy asphalt and rent heavy equipment does not create jobs. Were all these jobs counted correctly? I bet they weren’t.

About those traffic lights. Notice that the cost quoted is ‘per location’. At a typical intersection, there are at least eight normal traffic lights (x3 or 4 light bulbs each), + pedestrian traffic lights. One traffic-light-sized LED light bulb can cost on the order of $100. So $5000 per intersection, including labor, seems reasonable. Again, where does most of the money go? To light bulb manufacturers. Those are probably located in the United States because of the ‘buy American’ provision in the stimulus bill (Republicans wanted to take it out, but failed). Did anyone count jobs saved and created in the company that produced and supplied light bulbs, and in the company that produced raw materials for those light bulbs …? Evidently not.

[Eugene]

To me this looks like misleading accounting with the intent to make the government look bad.

For example, people whose jobs were saved because of $70 mln in DPW spending obviously did not earn $1.5 million/year. Where is the money? Two thirds of the DPW stimulus budget involved street resurfacing projects. There are substantial costs associated with these projects, in addition to direct labor costs, (e.g. equipment rental and raw materials) and you can’t say that spending money to buy asphalt and rent heavy equipment does not create jobs. Were all these jobs counted correctly? I bet they weren’t.

About those traffic lights. Notice that the cost quoted is ‘per location’. At a typical intersection, there are at least eight normal traffic lights (x3 or 4 light bulbs each), + pedestrian traffic lights. One traffic-light-sized LED light bulb can cost on the order of $100. So $5000 per intersection, including labor, seems reasonable. Again, where does most of the money go? To light bulb manufacturers. Those are probably located in the United States because of the ‘buy American’ provision in the stimulus bill (Republicans wanted to take it out, but failed). Did anyone count jobs saved and created in the company that produced and supplied light bulbs, and in the company that produced raw materials for those light bulbs …? Evidently not.

[Eugene]

To me this looks like misleading accounting with the intent to make the government look bad.

For example, people whose jobs were saved because of $70 mln in DPW spending obviously did not earn $1.5 million/year. Where is the money? Two thirds of the DPW stimulus budget involved street resurfacing projects. There are substantial costs associated with these projects, in addition to direct labor costs, (e.g. equipment rental and raw materials) and you can’t say that spending money to buy asphalt and rent heavy equipment does not create jobs. Were all these jobs counted correctly? I bet they weren’t.

About those traffic lights. Notice that the cost quoted is ‘per location’. At a typical intersection, there are at least eight normal traffic lights (x3 or 4 light bulbs each), + pedestrian traffic lights. One traffic-light-sized LED light bulb can cost on the order of $100. So $5000 per intersection, including labor, seems reasonable. Again, where does most of the money go? To light bulb manufacturers. Those are probably located in the United States because of the ‘buy American’ provision in the stimulus bill (Republicans wanted to take it out, but failed). Did anyone count jobs saved and created in the company that produced and supplied light bulbs, and in the company that produced raw materials for those light bulbs …? Evidently not.

[Eugene]

To me this looks like misleading accounting with the intent to make the government look bad.

For example, people whose jobs were saved because of $70 mln in DPW spending obviously did not earn $1.5 million/year. Where is the money? Two thirds of the DPW stimulus budget involved street resurfacing projects. There are substantial costs associated with these projects, in addition to direct labor costs, (e.g. equipment rental and raw materials) and you can’t say that spending money to buy asphalt and rent heavy equipment does not create jobs. Were all these jobs counted correctly? I bet they weren’t.

About those traffic lights. Notice that the cost quoted is ‘per location’. At a typical intersection, there are at least eight normal traffic lights (x3 or 4 light bulbs each), + pedestrian traffic lights. One traffic-light-sized LED light bulb can cost on the order of $100. So $5000 per intersection, including labor, seems reasonable. Again, where does most of the money go? To light bulb manufacturers. Those are probably located in the United States because of the ‘buy American’ provision in the stimulus bill (Republicans wanted to take it out, but failed). Did anyone count jobs saved and created in the company that produced and supplied light bulbs, and in the company that produced raw materials for those light bulbs …? Evidently not.

[ucodegen]

Three comments on the LED traffic lights.
1) They use a small fraction of the energy that the normal ones do. Portland OR. replaced theirs, payback on cost was under 3 years. There are some energy ‘rebates’ tied to replacing the incandescent traffic lights with LED – don’t know the specifics on it. The reduction in energy costs ends up being a ‘recurring savings’ with a payout of about 33% on cost after the 3 year period due to energy savings alone.
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=111737
2) The LED lights last a lot longer than the incandescent (claimed 3x as long – they must be stressing the LEDs, because it should be longer. I hope they are using a heat sink in the mounting for the LEDs). This cuts the yearly maintenance cost in a third.
3) Not all LED traffic light lamps are made in the US.

Eyeballing the costs. 4 way intersection, 2 assemblies per direction – 3 lamps each : 24 bulb assemblies – approx $100/per lamp = $2,400 in material. The $5000/per may be high, but it is near the ballpark. It could be the ‘fat lazy union-workers’ ;-P who pad up the bill with slow bulb changes – though I see that labor costs are taken out of the $5000/intersection.

[ucodegen]

Three comments on the LED traffic lights.
1) They use a small fraction of the energy that the normal ones do. Portland OR. replaced theirs, payback on cost was under 3 years. There are some energy ‘rebates’ tied to replacing the incandescent traffic lights with LED – don’t know the specifics on it. The reduction in energy costs ends up being a ‘recurring savings’ with a payout of about 33% on cost after the 3 year period due to energy savings alone.
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=111737
2) The LED lights last a lot longer than the incandescent (claimed 3x as long – they must be stressing the LEDs, because it should be longer. I hope they are using a heat sink in the mounting for the LEDs). This cuts the yearly maintenance cost in a third.
3) Not all LED traffic light lamps are made in the US.

Eyeballing the costs. 4 way intersection, 2 assemblies per direction – 3 lamps each : 24 bulb assemblies – approx $100/per lamp = $2,400 in material. The $5000/per may be high, but it is near the ballpark. It could be the ‘fat lazy union-workers’ ;-P who pad up the bill with slow bulb changes – though I see that labor costs are taken out of the $5000/intersection.

[ucodegen]

Three comments on the LED traffic lights.
1) They use a small fraction of the energy that the normal ones do. Portland OR. replaced theirs, payback on cost was under 3 years. There are some energy ‘rebates’ tied to replacing the incandescent traffic lights with LED – don’t know the specifics on it. The reduction in energy costs ends up being a ‘recurring savings’ with a payout of about 33% on cost after the 3 year period due to energy savings alone.
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=111737
2) The LED lights last a lot longer than the incandescent (claimed 3x as long – they must be stressing the LEDs, because it should be longer. I hope they are using a heat sink in the mounting for the LEDs). This cuts the yearly maintenance cost in a third.
3) Not all LED traffic light lamps are made in the US.

Eyeballing the costs. 4 way intersection, 2 assemblies per direction – 3 lamps each : 24 bulb assemblies – approx $100/per lamp = $2,400 in material. The $5000/per may be high, but it is near the ballpark. It could be the ‘fat lazy union-workers’ ;-P who pad up the bill with slow bulb changes – though I see that labor costs are taken out of the $5000/intersection.

[ucodegen]

Three comments on the LED traffic lights.
1) They use a small fraction of the energy that the normal ones do. Portland OR. replaced theirs, payback on cost was under 3 years. There are some energy ‘rebates’ tied to replacing the incandescent traffic lights with LED – don’t know the specifics on it. The reduction in energy costs ends up being a ‘recurring savings’ with a payout of about 33% on cost after the 3 year period due to energy savings alone.
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=111737
2) The LED lights last a lot longer than the incandescent (claimed 3x as long – they must be stressing the LEDs, because it should be longer. I hope they are using a heat sink in the mounting for the LEDs). This cuts the yearly maintenance cost in a third.
3) Not all LED traffic light lamps are made in the US.

Eyeballing the costs. 4 way intersection, 2 assemblies per direction – 3 lamps each : 24 bulb assemblies – approx $100/per lamp = $2,400 in material. The $5000/per may be high, but it is near the ballpark. It could be the ‘fat lazy union-workers’ ;-P who pad up the bill with slow bulb changes – though I see that labor costs are taken out of the $5000/intersection.

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