Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Ca. hoist with its own petard on stimulus spending

Mercury News: Calif. watchdog: Historic reviews slow stimulus

Remember how the Governator was begging the Feds for stimulus money? Remember how California found out it was leaving half a TRILLION dollars on the table EACH YEAR because of excessive regulation?

Well, to borrow a parlance of a certain pastor of a certain president, California's chickens have come home to roost.

The Obama Administration approved California's bailout stimulus money, funding "public works" projects and postponing California's inevitable collapse.

Only problem is, California's excessive regulation, bureaucracy, and red tape is holding up the approval of the projects.
Dozens of construction projects funded with federal stimulus money are being delayed in California because the office that oversees historic preservation is overwhelmed with applications, the state's stimulus watchdog said Monday.

Of course, the other issue is the recent budget cuts (the real ones, not the fake ones) have reduced staffing in these offices.
The state Office of Historic Preservation ... is just one of many agencies that must sign off on construction projects before they can begin.

California's bureaucracy puts it in dire financial straits, an infusion of money arrives to help the state stay afloat, and the money is held up by bureaucrats.

It's almost poetic.

Title and story from HotAir

1 comment:

NotClauswitz said...

I Love it!! Like ol' Willy Brown said, (H/T Insty) "80 percent of the state, county and city budget deficits are due to employee costs."