I think it is sensationalism to say that the errors on recovery.gov were a fraud or a sham ["Uncovering Obama's Stimulus Sham," usnews.com]. You have individuals reporting their congressional districts, and most just don't know them. So [Vice President] Biden is right to say, "Fix it." That is the best part of government transparency. When there is an error, everyone knows, and they can fix it. These issues exist in the private sector as well as the public sector. And the more we take issues like this and sensationalize them, the less government (right or left wing) is going to want to provide that visibility. So let's fix the data issues, and let's focus on the real problems. Individual projects not on budget or seemingly wasteful? That's a news story, and even a liberal like me wants that fixed. But we aren't fixing those problems when we're busy cooking up a story where there isn't one.
Comment by Adam Neary of NY
To say that many economists were and are in favor of Obama's stimulus is a pathetic attempt to rewrite history. I'm sure the economists are the same that praised the easy money policies under the Bush administration. And yes, Bush was one of the worst presidents since FDR, but let's be honest, Obama is carrying that torch quite well. He's been in office almost a year now, and he definitely owns the failed stimulus bill that actually contained very little infrastructure investment.
Comment by Joe of DE
Looking at the "non-existent" districts for North Carolina, some of them appear to be state house districts rather than Congressional districts. The reports also brought up the '00' districts, which, as a software engineer I would attribute to a formatting error rather than some 'fake' district. Another possibility is inaccurate human input of data, or a data entry form that doesn't allow for accurate entry. I'd accept the simple explanation over one of conspiracy or malice. Worth investigating further all the same.
Comment by Christopher W. of NC
What's worse is the economy will slip into a second recession because it's been propped up by all this so-called stimulus money (which is money the government doesn't have by the way). When the stimulus money disappears, the programs that have begun won't be able to sustain themselves when the states affected don't have the funds to continue these ludicrous plans.
Comment by Al of WI
You wish there were any scandals bigger than those of the previous administration, but there are none. Almost all economists were in favor of the stimulus package, and of course it did save and create jobs. Of course, it couldn't create more jobs than were lost due to the Bush administration's total failure. For you to blame this on Obama or Biden is just wrong and misleading.
Comment by Stan Fulbert of KS
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