Gee, Who Knew? Another Boneheaded ‘Job Creation’ Plan Failed

This is all so predictable. It would be funny if they weren’t destroying economic prosperity for present and future generations.

The New York Times: President Obama’s plan to create jobs and rein in energy costs through a steep increase in funds for weatherization of low-income homes has so far borne little fruit, with many of the biggest states meeting less than 2 percent of their goals to date, the Department of Energy’s inspector general said in a report issued Tuesday.

The inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, called the lack of progress “alarming.” Far into the nation’s winter heating season, the program for the most part has neither saved energy nor put people to work, he wrote.

“The job creation impact of what was considered to be one of the department’s most ‘shovel ready’ projects has not materialized,” the report said.

The report, issued a year after passage of a fiscal stimulus bill that created the weatherization program, comes as Congress moves toward passing a second bill meant to stimulate employment. Republicans and Democrats have been arguing over whether last year’s legislation made enough of a difference to justify its cost and whether the second will add enough jobs in time to help jumpstart the economy.

Quick action on weatherization was doomed by bureaucratic delays and by the recession itself, the inspector general’s report said, as spending cuts caused by the economic downturn forced states to trim personnel expenses.

Many states either furloughed the state employees who would administer such programs or instituted hiring freezes that prevented state offices from processing additional work — even though the federal government would have paid the additional salaries, the report found.

Does anyone out there still trust these lying knuckleheads with your health care? Good grief.

Via memeorandum