California Stimulus Funding Map
By Barry Ritholtz - November 10th, 2009, 5:30PM
I am sitting in the Upper Class Lounge of Virgin in San Francisco International airport, waiting to be called for my flight (more on my airline experience later).
What could be more appropriate while I wait than to take a look at how California, trashed though it is financially, is deploying Federal stimulus money.
The interactive map is pretty damn slick:
>
click for wicked cool map app
chart courtesy of California Stimulus Map, design by stamen
>
Hat tip Flowing Data
November 10th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
If you’ve had a cocktail, you might find this amusing.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/doctor_note_required_to_read_this_xUd1QgPrRNwN7MXlX9BkKP
November 10th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Barry,
California became a state in 1850, at which time:
– The people had no electricity
– The state had no money
– Almost everyone spoke Spanish
– There were gunfights in the streets
So basically nothing has changed except back then the women had real breasts and the men didn’t hold hands.
(From a Maxine cartoon.)
November 10th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Calif just reported that October income and corp tax receipts were up 7.1% That’s before the increased withholding fyi.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I am imagining that your flight commentary is “there is no glamour to flight” it has degenerated to something equivalent to Greyhound. Our stewardesses had the friendliness of the toll booth operator.
I also was in Newport Beach a couple weeks ago on business and found that the H1N1 flu has made people paranoid, rude, and afraid in the airport, on the plane, and in lines. On the way out and on the way back, a person was moved to a different spot on the plane b/c of fear of the germs…
November 10th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Upper Class Lounge? Where do the commoners wait? =P
Gotta love those British terms.
November 10th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
f411. You misunderstand. “Upper Class”, which Internationally is a very good Business Class product, was a typicla Richard Branson irreverant anf tongue-in-cheeck nomenclature whcich directly addressed and poked fun at the very point you making.
Incidentally, I’m not sure what their Domestic lounges are like (Probably not that good because they don’t have much to compete with?) but, Internationally, the Upper Class lounges are the best out there. Including freshly cooked breakfasts served at your seat. In general, unlike the US carriers, Virgin provides excellent service on International longhauls, although the Asian carriers (Cathay Pacific, Thai International, Malaysian, Singapore etc) remain in a class of their own IMHO.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Perhaps the next shoe to drop at the Too Big To Fail club – the average maturity of $2 trillion in bank debt rated by Moody’s Investor Service has fallen from 6.6 years to 3.2 years.
So banks are borrowing at shorter maturities and paying lower interest rates while increasing the systemic risk that they will be unable to refinance in another financial crisis as their huge inventory of short term debt rolls and comes due.
I wonder who they will turn to if this happens? But no need to set up an insurance fund until after the crisis because we can always impose a new value added tax on the middle class to bail us out.
It is going to take a miracle for us to get out of this mess in one piece.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Dang, map doesn’t work for me.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Wow – a few random clicks on the map and what jumps out at me is the dominance of school districts as recipients of the funding. No doubt this will provide raises for do-nothing administrators, or buy new computers for kids who can’t read.
So much for rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure…
November 11th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
The biggest share of spending from the federal economic stimulus package has gone to pay teachers, in Oregon and elsewhere.
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/11/09/news/doc4af861a28e272766498619.txt
Teachers 1, Infrastructure 0.
Stimulacrumus.