God save us from the well-meaning

The stimulus bill “includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis,” President Obama promised when he signed the bill into law on Feb. 17. “As a whole, this plan will help poor and working Americans.”

But FOXNews.com has analyzed data tracking how the stimulus money is being given out across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and it has found a perverse pattern: the states hardest hit by the recession received the least money. States with higher bankruptcy, foreclosure and unemployment rates got less money. And higher income states received more.

We mean well! Really we do! We tried real hard! It isn’t our fault it didnt’ work!

Those are the cries/excuses/rationalizations of the Perpetual Do-Gooder, who is always ready to do good–as long as they can find/force someone else to foot the bill.

Those of us connected to the Real World know that part of the learning process is to dissect one’s failures in an attempt to learn from them. In this case, why did the money go to the “wrong places”? There seems to be some disagreement. An unknown Congressional staffer says

“The stimulus bill is designed to help those who have been hurt by the economic downturn…. Do you see disparity out there in where the money is going? Certainly,” a Democratic congressional staffer knowledgeable about the process told FOXNews.com. “The people to talk to are in the administration…The administration is deciding where [the money] flows.”

OK. So what is the administration’s explanation?

An Obama administration official told FOXNews.com that “it is not as simple as looking where the money goes. You could have someone who lives in Maryland and works in Virginia and they are benefited from money given to the Virginia firm even though they live in Maryland” She also noted that it didn’t really matter who got the money because “giving out money is good for everyone. If you give the money to an old person, they will spend it and that will create more jobs.”She also said that Congress was responsible for deciding where the money would go. “We didn’t write the bill. We let Congress write the bill,” she said.

So, really it isn’t anyone’s fault. We mean well! Really we do! We tried real hard! Let us have another chance and we can do better! Yes We Can!

The chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriation Committees, Senator Dan Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Congressman David Obey, D-Wis., have already opened the door for a second stimulus plan this year. Obey and Inouye have both indicated that a second bill might be needed if the economy didn’t improve fast enough, and Obey is on record saying that more money should have been included in the bill. Neither politician’s office was willing to provide any on the record comments.

Change that will drive us all into the poor house.