Despite the cozy relationship that this Administration has with Caterpillar it has awarded it's first agricultural contract for new machinery to rival John Deere.
In his promise to "work smart and make government work smart", President Obama has chosen John Deere to build new machinery needed for the Tax Stimulus Plan.
"We have had a lot of proposals that involved new design and manufacturing, that would only push up the cost of the equipment needed. The good folks at John Deere have come up with a plan to inexpensively modify an old piece of equipment with readily available parts. This is American ingenuity at work, and the kind of forward thinking all of us need to be doing!"
When asked what he thought of the first test run with the prototype the President stated:
"Actually I just kind of teared up looking at it".
John Deere has renamed it's 1941
Manure and Compost Spreader and promised to retro fit all existing equipment as a way of helping this Administration "Work Smart for the American People".
What we will see with the Tax Stimulus Plan;Workers who make less than $75,000 a year (or married couples who make $150,000 or less) will receive $400 tax credits in 2009 and 2010. Those who make more will receive reduced amounts. But instead of mailing out checks, as the Bush administration did with its stimulus plan last year, the government will withhold a little less --
leaving average workers with perhaps $8 extra per week.Health insurance subsidies for the unemployed could also have a direct effect, but even with the federal help many may find it hard to afford continued coverage.
Workers who lose their jobs must arrange with their employers to continue the coverage and must pay the premiums themselves -- a hefty outlay even
with the government now picking up 65% of the cost for nine months for individuals earning up to $125,000 a year ($250,000 for couples). Of course
we have already extended the length of time that benefits can be collected.The federal government will deliver $54 billion in aid to cash-strapped states, with some of the money available to prop up state budgets, help maintain services and
keep employees on the job.
Other money could help
keep teachers and day-care workers on the payroll. That alone could save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide, Democrats say.
Counties, cities and municipalities that receive a chunk of stimulus money are expected to green-light so-called shovel-ready projects, using workers and equipment that otherwise might sit idle. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has projected that such projects could yield 1.6 million jobs by the end of next year.
It is pretty obvious that 'creating and saving' jobs means government jobs!
This is known in the business world as more overhead.
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