Lies, Lies and More Damn Lies About Effectiveness of Stimulus

The Obama administration crowed about what the effects of the stimulus plan were going to be. The world would be a more green, wealthy and happier place once we pushed that baby through.
Here we are 100 days later and we are neither wealthier or happier but may be a little, tiny bit greener. Here's Tapper:

The project is described by the Obama administration this way:

"Using $27 million of Recovery Act funding, a public housing development in Washington, D.C., the Regency House, has undergone a green retrofit. As part of this upgrade, the building installed solar panels, a 'green' roof, a rainwater collection system, energy-efficient lighting as well as water conserving toilets, showerheads, and faucets. The greening of this building will allow the Regency House to save money in energy costs, while lessening their impact on the environment."

In reality, the work done on the Regency House that was funded by the stimulus package amounted to $59,000 in parts and labor, according to Dena Michaelson, director of public affairs for the Washington DC Housing Authority.

...In addition, though the White House's "100 Days, 100 Projects" entry for the Regency House work lists "solar panels, a 'green' roof, a rainwater collection system, energy-efficient lighting as well as water conserving toilets, showerheads, and faucets" as what was done as "part of the upgrade," the only parts funded by the stimulus were the solar panels, at a cost of $45,000, and the rainwater collection system, at a cost of $14,000.

I wrote that the stimulus was a bad idea but since it was inevitable, the money should be highly concentrated on construction because it would benefit the most people:

$4.19 billion would pay for a lot of roads and dozens of schools. Just as an example, I was recently working on a $32-million dollar combination middle/grammar school for ages pre-K through 8th. That project is employing 9 different construction trades encompassing about 70-90 workers making good, union wages. Add to that engineers and management and you're looking at another 10 people making upper-middle class wages. Now add to that the people who are ancillary site workers--surveyors, cleaning people, street sweepers, etc. Now add to that the service suppliers like the port-a-potty guy, the roach coach guy, the office cleaners, etc. Now add to that the suppliers who supply windows, doors, steel, roofing materials, mortar mix, fuel and a million other things. Add it up and you have 120-150 people directly associated with the job with double that still to work after this phase is completed including floor guys, finish electricians, HVAC guys, painters, sprinkler guys, etc. All those jobs on a job contracted at $32-million.

Instead, the money was spread to ACORN and other idiotic causes where it will not stimulate anything. The construction industry was pumped for the money and was looking to jump in but instead was left broken-hearted by The One.

History will show that this was the single largest money grab and scam against the American people in history. I suspect we'll see some serious perp walks happening when the government gets serious about finding out where this money is really going.