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Recovery.gov To Get $18 Million Redesign

Posted by timothy on from the rube-goldberg-economic-logic dept.

barbarai notes a report by ABC News's Rick Klein: "For those concerned about stimulus spending, the General Services Administration sends word tonight that $18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site. "Recovery.gov 2.0 will use innovative and interactive technologies to help taxpayers see where their dollars are being spent," James A. Williams, commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, says in a press release announcing the contract awarded to Maryland-based Smartronix Inc. according to the ABC news blog."

11 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. cash4cronies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    $18 mil for a website and in a total coincidence the contract goes to a company run by people who have given tens of thousands of dollars to house majority leader Steny Hoyer (D)

    1. Re:cash4cronies by ShakaUVM · · Score: 5, Interesting

      >>This is just another example of a fundamental flaw in how campaign finance works in the US, and the current party in power shares the culpability with the prior party in power.

      Out of curiosity, since corporations can't vote, why should they be allowed to donate money to campaigns at all?

    2. Re:cash4cronies by BCW2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Proves what I have said for years: Party doesn't matter, they are all crooks and only worthy of our contempt!

      You can not come up with a website complicated enough to justify an $18 million price tag!

      Every member of Congress who voted for Spendulous without reading it should be recalled or impeached!

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
    3. Re:cash4cronies by MozeeToby · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Most large corporations rely on Political Action Committees to raise money which is then donated to one of two groups.

      1) Politicians who support that business sector, geographical area, or tax breaks. I really don't have a huge problem with that, essentially this is individuals donating money to people who will work to improve conditions for the business they work for. Though I would prefer to see a system where you can only donate if you can vote in the election, with the current situation of national and multinational interests that may not be possible. For example, the company I work for has offices all over the US but the main office is in Iowa, if taxes go up in Iowa that would effect all the employees no matter where they work.

      2) Politicians who are willing to grant 'favors' in exchange for contributions. This is where the real problems begin. Pork barrel spending, pet projects, and downright bribes. The only way I can foresee this going away is to make all campaign contributions anonymous which at best would be an accounting nightmare. Either that or outlaw PACs and other groups that pool contributions into a single fund, but there would be nothing to prevent an unofficial system from springing up to replace them.

    4. Re:cash4cronies by jmorris42 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So which is it?

      > Party doesn't matter,

      and

      > Every member of Congress who voted for Spendulous without reading it should be recalled or impeached!

      You do know how the votes went on Porkulus, right? Or could you be bothered to actually, ya know, know what the hell you are talking about?

      Porkulus got zero Republican votes in the House and three RINOs in the Senate. Senator Arlen Specter received so much heat from his vote he finally came out of the closet and became the moderate Democrat he has always voted as. Senators Collins and Snowe are both from Maine, and aren't really Republicans in any modern meaning of the word. So yes, Party did matter.

      I'm with ya as far as wishing a pox on both their houses, but it is for very different reasons. Democrats are essentially an enemy of liberty these days, period. Republicans are wishy washy, unprincipled and frightened of their shadows. However, except for the old country club Republicans and east coast RINOs, most Republicans would like to do the right thing, at least when first elected.... but they need some balls... and to avoid the temptations of Washington. That is an easier problem to fix than making Democrats not be evil.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
    5. Re:cash4cronies by Jawn98685 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      When somebody tells you that a corporation is considered a person, that person is talking out of their ass.

      Actually, no. They might well be citing established case law, including SCOTUS decisions, that very clearly bestow personhood on corporations.

      Here is your reading assignment... http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/personhood/

    6. Re:cash4cronies by Golias · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, he probably with me and is shocked because no one is bitching about the administration, no bid contracts, millions of dollars being spent and payoffs to those responsible for the contract.

      I guess maybe if haliburton or cheney was a name in the story, everyone would be pissed.

      Yep. I maintain that it is THE LEFT, after working so hard to elect Obama, who should be most pissed off at him right now. On economics, foreign policy, and even civil liberties, he's doing nearly everything which we were all supposed to be so enraged at Bush over, and in many cases, taking things farther.

      As a libertarian, I kind of expected him to keep ballooning the federal spending and ruin what's left of the tattered economy which Bush left him. Right on schedule there, and I don't feel let down about it because I never had my hopes up.

      What I find disappointing is that the unlawful detentions without trial, the wire-taps, the cronyism, the pointless foreign warmongering & gunboat diplomacy, the war on drugs, the denial of gay rights, the staged Q&A sessions, etc. etc. etc. ... all chug along with as much momentum as ever.

      But hey, we (the taxpayers) now own a shitty car company, so I guess there's that.

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  2. This is idiotic by alexborges · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Whomever is purchasing this is a plain idiot: there is NO WAY a site costs that much.

    I mean, guys, the horrid system for paying taxes in Mexico is only two million more expensive than what they are attempting here and hey, the mexican system sort-of works (it has to: gov only takes taxes through the site nowdays).

    That one is also hugely overpriced, but also my country has very poor transparency in government spending: we expect this kind of things to happen here in thirdworldland: are you guys heading this way?

    If so, as a fellow citizen of the world, I bid you: TURN AROUND NOW.

    Demand, regardless of partisanship, to know exactly how and in what is all that and all other money being spent.

    Demos did it very well with halliburton (and now THATS money: 20 mil is chump change for those guys), reps should drive this one to the last consequences accordingly: without a vigilant opposition, democratic governments cannot be called that anymore.

    --
    NO SIG
  3. Death and Taxes Poster by WillAdams · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For that kind of money they could put a copy of the ``Death and Taxes'' poster:

    http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/

    in almost every schoolroom and courtroom and courthouse in the country.

    William

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
  4. Re:WTF? by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 3, Interesting
    A $75K/yr employee takes home $6250 monthly (pre-tax). Putting that in my surepayroll account nets me this:

    Monthly Gross pay: $6,250.00
    Direct Deposit Total $4,971.24
    Employee Taxes $1,278.76
    Employer Taxes $721.88
    Processing Fees $46.80
    Amount Electronically Transmitted $7,018.68

    This doesn't include the $1200/month in health insurance costs I pay on single workers, or up to $2500-$3000/month I pay for married workers with a family. Throw in our 401k fees (all that the business shoulders) as well as the 401k match, and it gets pretty close to the number I specd pretty fast. Try to not come off as such a tool next time.

  5. Re:The Definition of "Design" by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Remember, this is the kind of process they would bring to health care.

    Ok, this is oftopic but I'll respond anyway, just because I've lost friends because they had no health care. You may be right and they may fuck it up royally, but just because government does something doesn't always mean they do it badly. They only do it badly if the people they hire to do it are incompetent.

    My city's government (Springfield) owns our power company, CWLP (whose manager, Todd Renfrow, is a dead ringer for Mr. Burns; do a google image search). We have the cheapest and most reliable electricity in the state. The problem isn't bad government, the prpoblem is bad PEOPLE in government. It took five days to get water to the Superdome because Bush hired an incompetent crony to run FEMA. Had we a competent President who appointed people for skillsets rather than good old buddies, Katrina wouldn't have been the clusterfuck it was.

    But when you elect people to government who think that government is always the problem and never the solution, you're not going to have very good government.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!