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Old 07-09-2009
TheHighForester TheHighForester is offline
Secretary of Defense

 
Member Since: Aug 2008
Location: Hohenwald
Posts: 2,187

United_States     Tennessee

Re: Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08

There is indeed somethi8ng quite odd about the distribution of these funds.

Quote:
The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average. The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34.
Two and a half times as many counties which supported McCain were included in the program.

The truth, of course, can be found in the old saw: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." The truth is that the article does not give us enough information to make a conclusive judgment. We are not given population figures. We are not told exactly what programs were addressed in this early distribution of "stimulus" funds. If much of the money was spent on programs to retrain the unemployed, for example, that would require more money to be spent in depressed urban areas--areas that supported Obama. If most of the money were spent to upgrade suburban golf courses, then we would have expected more money to go to areas which supported McCain.

The article, and the obvious intention of the submitter to imply wrongdoing by the administration, simply confirm that Alexander Pope was right on target when he wrote:

A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Drink deep, or taste not, the Pierian Spring.
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