Stimulus // Current TV

Obama to reveal $300 billion stimulus

But will he play hard ball and get it through Congress? Mr. President, you have... more

lazloman
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9 months ago
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4 comments

Three Charts To Email To Your Right-Wing Brother-In-Law

NationofChange Dave Johnson Campaign for America's Future / Guide Published:... more

Buckeye_Bill
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9 months ago
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63 comments

CHART OF THE DAY: Government Jobs from STIMULUS $ Led To Perry’s Economic Boom

Despite being one of the loudest critics of President Obama's stimulus, Perry... more

LOrion
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10 months ago
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Do-It-Yourself Dollars program created to stimulate the US economy

Washington, DC -- The US Treasury Department is introducing a program designed to... more

mbalton
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10 months ago
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1 comment

It looks like the stimulus worked after all

Conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin has a chart he's fond of that... more

regroce
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10 months ago
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73 comments

"Why Austerity and Not Stimulus?"

Bob Pollin Pt5: Main objective of austerity is to demolish the welfare state and... more

COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
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10 months ago
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Economic Stimulus

Sometime this year, we taxpayers will again receive another 'Economic... more

JFunnell
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1 year ago
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Yet Another Waste of Stimulus Money

There is a proposed project called "Atlanta Streetcar" that is being funded... more

Chopstick
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1 year ago
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1 comment

Just Another Stimulus Failure?

Unless something drastic happens between now and the vote on President Obama’s... more

joeeddy
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1 year ago
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Obama administration gives billions in stimulus money without environmental safeguards

In the name of job creation and clean energy, the Obama administration has doled out about $2 billion in stimulus money to some of the nation's biggest polluters while granting them exemptions from a basic form of environmental oversight, a Center for Public Integrity investigation has found.
The administration has awarded more than 179,000 "categorical exclusions" to stimulus projects funded by federal agencies, freeing the projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Officials said they did not consider companies' pollution records in deciding whether to grant the waivers. They said that creating jobs quickly was an important part of the stimulus plan, and that past environmental violations should not disqualify a company from pursuing federal contracts for unrelated projects.

The projects include:

- An electrical-grid upgrade project in Kansas led by Westar Energy, the state's largest coal-burning utility, which settled a major air pollution case by paying half a billion dollars in penalties and remediation costs. The Energy Department granted the NEPA waiver to Westar's project, funded by a $19 million stimulus grant that was approved on the same day the settlement became official. Westar considers its "smart grid" project to be "our basic,standard, above-ground upgrade," said Brad Loveless, the company's environmental director. "From everybody's perspective, there really wasn't the potential for smart grid to have environmental problems."

- A wind farm project in Texas, as well as an electrical-grid upgrade project in five additional states, undertaken by Duke Energy. The department granted the NEPA waiver to both Duke projects, funded by a combined $226 million in stimulus grants, even as the energy corporation continues its decade-long defense against two of the largest air pollution cases involving coal utilities in the nation's history. "We're basically adding communication infrastructure on top of what is already there so it is not disturbing the environment," Duke's Paige Layne said.

- A project to create clean-burning biofuel from seaweed led by chemical giant DuPont, which received $8.9 million in stimulus funds in February. That amount nearly equals the environmental fine DuPont paid in 2005 for hiding the dangers of its toxic chemical known as C8 from federal regulators for two decades. In a statement, DuPont stressed that it "has not applied for an environmental exclusion" for its project, but rather is "following the necessary process set forth by the Department of Energy." It concludes, "Each project that we work on includes, by our own policy, a comprehensive and individualized product stewardship program."In the name of job creation and clean energy, the Obama administration has doled out... more