By Adam Bitely
We are nearing the end of August, and the end of what was dubbed the “Recovery Summer” by the Obama Administration. This was supposed to be a time where all Americans would experience the “most active Recovery Act season yet”, where “the American people will get to see first-hand the Recovery Act dollars being put to work in their communities” according to Joe Biden’s press office. It is nearly the end of summer and all Americans must be wondering where the “recovery” is?
While laying out the top priorities of the activity that will be seen through the “Recovery Summer”, the administration remained vague, choosing not to lay out major goals of any sort. For instance, these were the top examples of projects that would be performed throughout the summer:
• “Highway Projects: There will be 6 times as many highway projects underway in July 2010 as in July 2009 – projects will surge from 1,750 last summer to over 10,000 this summer.
• “Clean and Drinking Water: This summer over 2,800 clean and drinking water projects will be underway versus just over 100 last summer – more than 20 times as many.
• “Home Weatherization: This summer, 82,000 homes will be weatherized versus 3,000 last summer – 27 times as many homes this summer as last.
• “National Parks: This July, nearly 800 projects will be underway at national parks versus just over 100 last July – 8 times as many this summer.”
In the same press release highlighting all of the good stuff that billions of taxpayer dollars would be spent on, there was not a single mention of how money jobs would be “created or saved” by the “Recovery Summer” activity. The Obama administration chose to focus on a year-end goal of 3.5 million jobs without noting whether or not this net figure on jobs would be “created or saved”.
The administration touts programs, but lacks substance behind them. There is little information available to even suggest that the programs have had any positive effect on the economy. Even further, the map that was intended to detail the success of “Recovery Summer” is void of any meaningful information.
In an effort to highlight “Recovery Summer” activity, the Obama administration created a fancy interactive map to highlight local projects that are taking place. But one look at the map paints a different story than the press releases would lead you to believe.
Just take a look at some quick facts on the map:
• The “Recovery Summer” interactive map job estimates have not been updated since March 31, 2010. That means that there has not been a single update on jobs created during the entire “Recovery Summer”.
• Only the continental 48 states are shown on the map. While there is a link to “recovery” information for Alaska, only 31 states have information to display. Stand out states that have nothing to display: Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, and Indiana.
• If you click on California, you will notice only 6 “recovery act” programs in the state! Surely there has to have been more than that, considering that Virginia is reporting 4 such projects on the map. Harry Reid has no information to campaign on if he was to research his state on this map.
Not only has the “Recovery Summer” been a murky initiative to look in to, the information put out by the administration creates an even hazier picture.
We are just beginning our investigation into the “Recovery Summer” and will be posting content frequently on our findings at NetRightDaily.com.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com
