In fairness to the Obama Administration, I should state that I’m fairly sure Robert Gibbs would characterize this analysis as “calculator abuse.”
That said, these excerpts are from on article at: Opinion: Obama's federal government can weatherize your home for only $57,362 <em>each</em>
Obama’s federal government can weatherize your home for only $57,362 each
February 18, 2010
Who could forget the $5 billion in Obama administration stimulus money that was going to rapidly create nearly 90,000 green jobs across the country in these tough economic times and make so many thousands of homes all snuggy and warm and energy-efficient these very snowy days?
Well, a new report due out this morning will show the $5-billion program is so riddled with drafts that so far it’s weatherized only about 9,000 homes.
… ABC News reports that the General Accountability Office will declare today that the Energy Department has fallen woefully behind – about 98.5% behind – the 593,000 homes it initially predicted would be weatherized in the Recovery Act’s very first, very chilly year.
… It seems that the Pelosi-Reid stimulus plan that was so quickly cobbled together and was supposed to immediately pump so much money into the sagging economy last year included an 80-year-old legal provision requiring all federally funded projects to pay a prevailing wage to workers.
… So the Energy Department asked the Labor Department, which set out to calculate what a prevailing weatherization wage is in every single one of the more than 3,000 counties across these United States.
There were some other things to figure out. It seems the law also requires some kind of National Trust for Historic Preservation review for most homes before any contracts could be estimated to be negotiated to be signed to be let to be begun. And states like Michigan have two people assigned to such tasks.
… The Energy folks did tell ABC they’ve so far spent 522-million Recovery Act dollars on the program. So, let’s see, about 9,100 homes divided into that chunk of stimulation change to believe in is – gee! – about $57,362 worth of very expensive weatherstripping for each home fixed up so far.