Obama unveils his jobs plan - he will put you to work installing new light bulbs

[Ling Ling 22]

so what is next after we've changed every light bulb in america?

We'll have a brighter future

i vote for emptying every trash can next.

They don't allow us to vote for emptying the trash can. They only allow us to vote to keep the old trash, or bring in new trash.

[Teacher Mark 53]

so what is next after we've changed every light bulb in america?

We'll have a brighter future

Good one.

[Teacher Mark 53]

We should use less efficient bulbs. That way we can build more power plants staffed with Americans.

That's right. And it should be illegal to use any settings on your PC that allow the it to hibernate when you aren't using it for 15 minutes. We're putting coal minors miners out of work.

The only Country that still had minors working in coal is China! Sorry Dalegg, I couldn't resist!

I am stunned that "this" is what people are suppose to draw confidence from.

While I certainly am no Obama supporter, I do have a very big stake in his success, as does everyone related to the housing market.

But there was one spot of humor; When he pointed out that our Govt has the highest energy bill of any country...... Well Yeah! Our Government is HUGE and apparently getting ready to get even bigger.

What Country did he think would have a bigger Gov't (and energy bill to match) than the USA?

For someone who has such a huge stake in his success, you sure are willing on hop on anything that is perceived as a mistake. Your siggy says it all.

It's not a "mistake".

A mistake is when I pick up your car keys because they look like mine.

What we have here is nothing short of inventing ways to spend tax dollars on Gov't... none-the-less.

My reservations concerning Obama dealt more on social issues, I thought he might get smart people together and get the economy moving but it looks like I had more areas to be concerned about with him than I knew~!

However, he is not even in office yet and might still have some useful plans to come so let's wait and see (hope) that lightbulbs are not the essence of his "get America back to work" program.

We're in agreement there.

[NickD 202]

Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won't just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

So..why don't they just have the existing maintenance crews go down to Lowes, pick up what they need, and replace them one afternoon? I guess a better question might be why haven't they done that already?

We replaced all of our bulbs. We didn't make a big project out of it and we didn't bring in extra workers. They just gave us a bulb and we replaced it. Took about 30 seconds.

Who gave you a bulb? Paid five bucks for a 100 watt equivalent CFL made in China with an American name on it, damn thing only lasted three months. Took it back to the store, told me I have to contact the manufacture with their toll free number. I didn't do that, would probably have to pay ten bucks to ship it back.

They are a pain in the a$$, in areas like my basement or garage, when I have to run out there to find a tool, takes them as long as tens minutes to warm up to reach full brilliance so I can see anything, where before would only switch on a conventional incandescent bulb with instant light for only about 15 seconds, so where is the energy savings? Can't dim the damn things so in other areas either blinded, or can't see at all, in the house, they are ugly, would have to spend thousands to get rid of all my fixtures and you are not suppose to use them in totally enclosed fixtures.

They are a hazard to manufacture, one reason why we don't make any semi-conductors in this country due to the major cost of cleaning up all the acids required, much easier to dump them on the streets so babies can be deformed in other countries. They contain mercury that requires extreme special processing, not suppose to toss them in a trashcan where they can break, but drive clear across town to a recycling station. With the combination of rare earth metals, mercury, would be a complete ###### to recycle these things.

Totally totally stupid, and what is more stupid than that, DOT redid eight miles of highway into our town, use to be a 55 mph road, now a four lane divided road with a speed limit of 35 mph. Every hundred feet mounted dual mercury vapor lamps, damn road is brighter at night during the day, and what in the hell does my vehicle have headlamps for? One reason is so I will get a ticket if I fail to turn them on that is easy to do since the road is brighter at night than during daylight hours.

Saw a picture postcard at our local airport, Wisconsin at Night, the picture was pitch black, BS, this state like many others lights up like a Christmas tree at night, billions of lights on that nobody is using. If I ain't using a lamp in my home, it gets switched off.

Other major crimes against consumers is the elimination of our FTC with nothing but BS on the appliances in energy conservation and outright lies on HP of motors, use to specify the efficiency of these things, but made dirt cheap, run red hot, and work better as space heaters than electric motors. And most of the ####### we buy today will only last about five minutes, forget about repairing it, one replacement part costs twice as much as you paid for the damn thing in the first place.

Yes, I am concerned about my electrical usage, our rates have tripled in the last three years, really getting screwed royally. And my natural gas bill went up 22% per therm value because the demand increased in November from October. I don't have to go to a dark alley to get robbed, can do that at home. While electric and gas are all domestically produced, the prices we pay keep up with OPEC that doesn't have a damn thing to do with our own domestic supplies. But here we have OPEC going way down, and domestic supplies going way up.

[kaydee457 13]

Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won't just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

So..why don't they just have the existing maintenance crews go down to Lowes, pick up what they need, and replace them one afternoon? I guess a better question might be why haven't they done that already?

We replaced all of our bulbs. We didn't make a big project out of it and we didn't bring in extra workers. They just gave us a bulb and we replaced it. Took about 30 seconds.

Who gave you a bulb? Paid five bucks for a 100 watt equivalent CFL made in China with an American name on it, damn thing only lasted three months. Took it back to the store, told me I have to contact the manufacture with their toll free number. I didn't do that, would probably have to pay ten bucks to ship it back.

They are a pain in the a$$, in areas like my basement or garage, when I have to run out there to find a tool, takes them as long as tens minutes to warm up to reach full brilliance so I can see anything, where before would only switch on a conventional incandescent bulb with instant light for only about 15 seconds, so where is the energy savings? Can't dim the damn things so in other areas either blinded, or can't see at all, in the house, they are ugly, would have to spend thousands to get rid of all my fixtures and you are not suppose to use them in totally enclosed fixtures.

They are a hazard to manufacture, one reason why we don't make any semi-conductors in this country due to the major cost of cleaning up all the acids required, much easier to dump them on the streets so babies can be deformed in other countries. They contain mercury that requires extreme special processing, not suppose to toss them in a trashcan where they can break, but drive clear across town to a recycling station. With the combination of rare earth metals, mercury, would be a complete ###### to recycle these things.

Totally totally stupid, and what is more stupid than that, DOT redid eight miles of highway into our town, use to be a 55 mph road, now a four lane divided road with a speed limit of 35 mph. Every hundred feet mounted dual mercury vapor lamps, damn road is brighter at night during the day, and what in the hell does my vehicle have headlamps for? One reason is so I will get a ticket if I fail to turn them on that is easy to do since the road is brighter at night than during daylight hours.

Saw a picture postcard at our local airport, Wisconsin at Night, the picture was pitch black, BS, this state like many others lights up like a Christmas tree at night, billions of lights on that nobody is using. If I ain't using a lamp in my home, it gets switched off.

Other major crimes against consumers is the elimination of our FTC with nothing but BS on the appliances in energy conservation and outright lies on HP of motors, use to specify the efficiency of these things, but made dirt cheap, run red hot, and work better as space heaters than electric motors. And most of the ####### we buy today will only last about five minutes, forget about repairing it, one replacement part costs twice as much as you paid for the damn thing in the first place.

Yes, I am concerned about my electrical usage, our rates have tripled in the last three years, really getting screwed royally. And my natural gas bill went up 22% per therm value because the demand increased in November from October. I don't have to go to a dark alley to get robbed, can do that at home. While electric and gas are all domestically produced, the prices we pay keep up with OPEC that doesn't have a damn thing to do with our own domestic supplies. But here we have OPEC going way down, and domestic supplies going way up.

Welcome to "green world" where the greenies ignore all you've mentioned and more to champion technologies that are "clean', or "free", etc.

They never once want to discuss what they're going to do with all those batteries they're going to stuff into those Hybrids, nor how much energy they consume on charging, what's the efficiency of the storage system, etc......How about all the materials used in their manufacture, and how much energy is used to make them and what goes up the factory smokestack during manufacture......

Of course Solar is "free" except that you have to mortgage your home to buy a couple of panels......Oh, and again let's ignore all the energy expended in their manufacture that goes up the factory smokestack!

Most of these "efficient" sources aren't efficient at all but rather just displace the source of fuel. Instead of using oil, or gasoline you're using coal to charge batteries, batteries that are very expensive......

[AlHayatZween 2]

Within 48 hours you will have a nice pair of overalls, a great ladder, keys to a federal building, and a shItload of light bulbs. You probably could sneak a few for yourself without anyone knowing too

Sounds better than my current job... at least i'd get to wear overalls?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

We won’t do it the old Washington way. We won’t just throw money at the problem. ...We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. .,......by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century school

Firstly, the bits in red sure sound like the old way of 'throwing money' at problems.

Secondly, linking hospitals to the net has fuque all to do with 'economic recovery'.....and as far as schools being lacking, HOW BOUT PAYING TEACHERS A LITTLE MORE? But yeah, lightbulbs...that's fuqin brill

You forgot this bit - the UK operated a similar plan a few years ago. It doesn't guarantee good use of the money - given that the State is essentially looking at a budget cuts if they don't spend all of the money that's allocated to them. What tends to happen (as happened in the UK) is that the surplus ends up getting spent on pointless, frivolous projects - like resurfacing roads that were resurfaced 3 months ago; or in the case of the UK - building even more roundabouts.

So its nice saying that they lose the money if they don't spend it - but in practice that will never happen.

Edited December 8, 2008 by Paul Daniels

[Danno 1,228]

We won’t do it the old Washington way. We won’t just throw money at the problem. ...We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. .,......by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century school

Firstly, the bits in red sure sound like the old way of 'throwing money' at problems.

Secondly, linking hospitals to the net has fuque all to do with 'economic recovery'.....and as far as schools being lacking, HOW BOUT PAYING TEACHERS A LITTLE MORE? But yeah, lightbulbs...that's fuqin brill

You forgot this bit - the UK operated a similar plan a few years ago. It doesn't guarantee good use of the money - given that the State is essentially looking at a budget cuts if they don't spend all of the money that's allocated to them. What tends to happen (as happened in the UK) is that the surplus ends up getting spent on pointless, frivolous projects - like resurfacing roads that were resurfaced 3 months ago; or in the case of the UK - building even more roundabouts.

So its nice saying that they lose the money if they don't spend it - but in practice that will never happen.

You highlighted this very good, anyone who has worked for the fed. Govt. might know this very well too.

When you have money in your budget unspent, the word comes down to spend it!

Lest they cut your budget amount the next time.

---------

Blowing all this money on light bulbs and replacing AC units which are still perfectly good but don't have the latest ser rating is crazy.

The comparison to Ikes Interstate roadway system seems to only point out the vast difference between investing money in a program that

A. served a national interest.

B. Opened up untold communities to new possibilities in business.

c. Provided for the national defense

That money spent way back then has been payed back in tax revenue untold times over.