Your Money At Work

Here is a selection of of what California will get under the stim-u-lator focused on infrastructure and education; there are other areas too like tax-cuts, but the below items mission-critical (in my opinion):

• $2.6 billion in highway funding that could also be used rail and port infrastructure
• $1.1 billion for investments in mass transit
• $444.8 million to address the backlog of drinking water and clean water infrastructure needs
• $4.6 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities
• $82.7 million for Head Start to prepare children to succeed in school
• $1.2 billion for Special Education Part B State Grants to help improve educational outcomes for individuals with disabilities
• $74.2 million in education technology funds to purchase up-to-date computers and software and provide professional development to ensure the technology is used effectively in the classroom
• $1.6 billion for Title I Education for the Disadvantaged to help close the achievement gap and enable disadvantaged students to reach their potential

Go-bama! What do we say about these conservative Governors who threaten not to take funds from the stimulus plan? Imagine their middle-class contituents, worried about a job or family, and told that the rest of the country to benefit from Federal tax-dollars accept you. Hmm... this does not seem like a particularly astute vote-getting strategy. In fact, it sounds plane stupid which, I might suggest, consistent with Republican rich-tax-cut-and-spend-blah-blah-blah agenda these last eight years (note that I say "Republican agenda" and not "Republicans" since I have been warned by several family Republicans whom I respect to curtail any direct attacks. Fair enough.)

1950s post-card from the State of California.