Report: Los Angeles spent $70 million in stimulus funds to create 7.76 jobs

[Ares]

A new piece of evidence has emerged in the debate over the effectiveness of President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, and it's not good for Democrats. According to two newly released audits performed by the Los Angeles controller, L.A. spent enormous portions of the $594 million in stimulus funds it received on projects that created or saved just a handful of jobs. All told, the audits — available here and here [pdf] — examined $111 million in stimulus spending by the city's Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works, and found that the money went to projects that created or retained just 54 jobs. That works out to roughly $2 million per job.

The $71 million that went to the Department of Public Works, which funded 15 road-surfacing and similar projects, was projected to save or create 238 jobs. But according to the audit, the money created just 7.76 jobs — or slightly more than $10 million per new job — and saved 37.7 (the fractions are a result of calculating the number of jobs by hours worked). The Department of Transportation's $40 million created or retained just nine jobs, the audit found.

In a press release accompanying the audits [pdf], L.A. Controller Wendy Greuel said the job numbers were underwhelming. "I'm disappointed that we've only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million in [stimulus] funds," Greuel said. "With our local unemployment rate over 12 percent, we need to do a better job cutting the red tape and putting Angelenos back to work."

The audit didn't find any misspent funds or waste. But the breakdown of how some of the money was spent seems to indicate efficiency was not exactly the order of the day for project managers. The Department of Transportation, for instance, spent $9 million to install new LED lightbulbs in traffic lights at 1,800 intersections. Less the $228,000 in labor costs associated with the project, that's nearly $5,000 per location to change lightbulbs. Another project spent $4 million to install 65 new left-turn arrows, averaging more than $61,500 per arrow.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100917/bs_yblog_upshot/report-los-angeles-spent-70-million-in-stimulus-funds-to-create-7-76-jobs

[Apparition]

It's old news but it shouldn't be surprising and it was probably dismissed because the bureaucrats and career politicians are so accustomed to this kind of inefficient management.

[Dogman]

Not meaning to go off track, (maybe?) But this story fits in a way (to me anyway)

While I was stationed in Thailand I lived in a bungalow off base for most of my time there. And there was a road project on one of the main streets of Ubon that I watched over several months. A couple of dump trucks dumped several loads of dirt on the side of the street and then a bunch of workers made one big pile out of all the dirt. Then as the days passed, I saw a bunch of guys with shovels and bamboo baskets slowly move dirt from the first pile and made another pile of dirt a few hundred feet from the first! They moved that dirt also from one side of the street to the other and every time it was to a different place. And the size of that pile seems to have never changed! This went on for at least six months and I DEROS(ed) out of country and returned state side, having never see them USE that dirt, Other than move it around.

It kinda reminds me of government jobs in the usa.

[Fullpower]

No need to waste dirt, Here in the modern economy, we just move dollars around in large piles.
Also, due to modern technology, there is no need for shovels, rakes, and strong backed laborers, CAPITAL is shuffled around digitally, by keyboard now.
The modern CAPITALIST does not dirty his hands with inky paper.

[Apparition]

No need to waste dirt, Here in the modern economy, we just move dollars around in large piles.
Also, due to modern technology, there is no need for shovels, rakes, and strong backed laborers, CAPITAL is shuffled around digitally, by keyboard now.
The modern CAPITALIST does not dirty his hands with inky paper.



I'd say it's more of a crony capitalist system considering that it's mostly the well-entrenched politicians and corporatists colluding instead of allowing market forces to function.

[Dogman]

Not meaning to go off track, (maybe?) But this story fits in a way (to me anyway)

While I was stationed in Thailand I lived in a bungalow off base for most of my time there. And there was a road project on one of the main streets of Ubon that I watched over several months. A couple of dump trucks dumped several loads of dirt on the side of the street and then a bunch of workers made one big pile out of all the dirt. Then as the days passed, I saw a bunch of guys with shovels and bamboo baskets slowly move dirt from the first pile and made another pile of dirt a few hundred feet from the first! They moved that dirt also from one side of the street to the other and every time it was to a different place. And the size of that pile seems to have never changed! This went on for at least six months and I DEROS(ed) out of country and returned state side, having never see them USE that dirt, Other than move it around.

It kinda reminds me of government jobs in the usa.


No need to waste dirt, Here in the modern economy, we just move dollars around in large piles.
Also, due to modern technology, there is no need for shovels, rakes, and strong backed laborers, CAPITAL is shuffled around digitally, by keyboard now.
The modern CAPITALIST does not dirty his hands with inky paper.



Hot Dam !

I wrote my story from over there thinking make work jobs. But the analogy you are making .....Fit's to a "T".
Thank you Fullpower for helping me see this. ;)