Stimulate This! - Small Town Asks for $2Mil Per Resident in Stimulus $$

Luckily we know that all the responsible politicians are against pork-barrel spending, and John McCain and Barack Obama are both on record as taking stands against it. So we probably don't need to look into Edwardsville, Alabama's bid for almost $2Mil per resident in stimulus cash any further.

I mean, $375 Million for a town of 194 residents sounds like a lot of money, but our government must have it's reasons to entertain ideas like this. I mean, a town in rural Alabama wouldn't propose that our federal government spend money irresponsibly, would it? And our leaders in Washington would certainly only entertain the most necessary of projects and ideas when they're talking about STIMULUS cash, right?

Hmm, let's look at a few things that are included in Edwardsville's request for stimulus cash.

- Solar powered lights for 194 people : $3.5 Million
- Recharging stations for golf carts and electric vehicles no one has : $620,000
- Water pipes to generate solar energy : $50 Million
- Vineyards in an area that cannot grow grapes : $9 Million
- A railroad, presumably to shuttle the 194 residents around: $37 Million
- A renewable energy museum : $32 Million

- And that still leave a couple hundred million to spread around!

The fact that this sort of insanity is even being proposed gives us an idea of why bailouts and stimulus packages are bad ideas. In fact, it illustrates why government spending is irresponsible and silly, and sometimes even grandiose and delusional.

With a poverty rate approaching 1/3 of the town, they're probably just getting used to having their hand out. Someone needs to teach the community of Edwardsville, Alabama the value of hard work and how to be self-sufficient. Apparently they can get industrious when they are encouraging the government to let them help themselves to other peoples' money, but in the meantime no one in the town has a job.

If they put half effort into business and capitalism and commerce that they do into trying to gorge themselves at the government trough, who knows where the town could be?

I guess the upside is that at least we'd know where this money was going, which would be a huge improvement over the hundreds of billions of dollars still unaccounted for from the first bailout in September. You remember, the one that John McCain suspended his campaign against pork-barrel spending to push through.

We're in deep, folks. Our pocketbooks - and those of our children for generations to come - are open and no one can stop these modern-day robber barons in Washington from reaching in and taking what they want.

US News & World Report Article Here