That's Life
As a career professional, volunteer, mom, wife, and friend, I focus on the positive aspects of life, even when the road is rough getting there. Life is funny. How you treat others, how you handle situations, and how you live each day is your responsibility ... so are the outcomes.
To Whom This May Concern,
According to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 information posted on researchamerica.org, the state of Wisconsin was granted $141,056,206 to be spent on 297 projects within seven congressional districts. Continually focus is on influencing areas of the budget, which will encourage partnerships / building alliances with people and resource centers to increase jobs in our state. Given the large price tags per district listed below, how will the balance of these funds be allocated and to what projects? Thus far, how have these funds been dispersed? Who has been overseeing them to make sure they are being used for the purposes intended?
ARRA Project Funding by Congressional District
| District | # of Projects | Investment | Rank* |
| 2nd | 199 | $96,564,110 |
24 |
| 3rd |
3 |
$736,423 | 259 |
| 4th | 23 | $10,524,985 | 129 |
| 5th | 67 | $32,636,372 |
69 |
| 6th | 2 |
$220,432 | 306 |
| 7th | 2 |
$343,060 | 296 |
| 8th | 1 |
$30,824 | 336 |
| State Total | 297 | $141,056,206 | 17 |
There is a statement on the WI Department of Commerce website, "Wisconsin will strategically deploy $55 million in SEP-ARRA funds to support clean energy business development. Governor Doyle has directed that projects funded from SEP-ARRA dollars are both effective and enduring." With the recent "creative accounting" explanations of percentages of government spending, how can we trust the funds from ARRA have been allocated properly and to worthwhile programs to benefit the people in WI and not the pockets of lobbyist / CEOs / business investors for personal use or vacations?
The October 27, 2010 Forecasters' Club presentation on the Economic Outlook and Options for Fiscal Policy for the Congressional Budget Office sees unemployment above 8% until 2012. 250,000 jobs is a pretty aggressive plan. I would like to pose the same two questions the COB does in their report to better understand how the economic recovery & job creation plans are going to work for WI. "What sorts of fiscal policies would encourage greater economic activity and more employment? How can short-term fiscal stimulus be reconciled with the imperative to put fiscal policy on a sustainable medium-term and long-term path?"
I believe sometimes we are all too quick to say, "This is great," when the numbers and percentages are provided. Most people do not fully understand what the numbers or percentages being provided truly represent as far as the pool they came from. I hope everyone will start taking a stake in what our politicians are doing with the funds, which are supposed to be used to support the people, programs, and economic growth in WI. Stay informed and ask questions.
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