As $800,000+ of the stimulus money goes to teaching South Africans how to wash their penises, here in the US $111 million was spent on creating 55 jobs in Los Angeles. And it’s not even clear if there were 55 jobs actually created, since the city controller phrased it in terms of “created or retained” (emphasis added):
The Los Angeles City Controller said on Thursday the city’s use of its share of the $800 billion federal stimulus fund has been disappointing.
The city received $111 million in stimulus under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) approved by the Congress more than year ago.
“I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million,” says Wendy Greuel, the city’s controller, while releasing an audit report.
Where did $2 million per job go?
The audit says the numbers were disappointing due to bureaucratic red tape, absence of competitive bidding for projects in private sectors, inappropriate tracking of stimulus money and a laxity in bringing out timely job reports.
Daniel Mitchell also points out,
But this calculation is incomplete because it doesn’t measure how many jobs would have been created if the money had been left in the productive sector of the economy. Moreover, it’s also important to consider long-term costs such as the fact that Los Angeles now has more overhead, which will exacerbate the city’s fiscal problems.
How about the rest of the stimulus?
Via Liberty Pundits, Washington profited especially from the stimulus (why am I not surprised?)
More than $3.7 billion of stimulus contracts, grants and loans have gone to recipients in the District of Columbia and two adjacent congressional districts—Maryland’s 8th District and Virginia’s 8th District. That amounts to nearly $2,000 for every resident—nearly three times the national average, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of reports filed by recipients.
And that’s how the bread is buttered, 2010 version.
