Sunday, April 5, 2009

My Piece of the Stimulus Pie??

With all this talk of stimulus money being thrown around by the federal government I have decide it is my duty to try to get my piece of the pie, and seeing how my con artist skills are not up to par and I do not have a small businesses in my control, I think my best shot is in the job market. The national Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has promised to generate thousands of new "green" jobs and since I am soon to be an unemployed college graduate it seems that I should take advantage.
So first step. Find out where the money is being thrown. The department of energy provides this overview of the allocation of the stimulus funds. The DOE is in charge of $32.7 billion of stimulus money, $16.8 billion of which is in the energy efficiency and renewable energy category. Texas in particular will receive more than $750 million. That $750 million is split pretty evenly between weatherization, the state energy program and energy efficiency and conservation. This still doesn't provide a clear picture of where to go to get my piece of the pie. The Department of Energy will allow local authorities to decide where the money gets placed. The DOE shows how the money is divided between local municipalities here. So after all this, what am I going to do I think I need to get on over to Houston to see if I can get some of that $22 million that is getting spent. Now if only I knew someone throwing out jobs like the government is throwing out money.

5 comments:

John Saville said...

whoops no sources,here they are.
http://www.energy.gov/recovery/index.htm
http://www.energy.gov/texas.htm
http://www.energy.gov/7126.htm

gully said...

"If the government is going to piss away money, it's our job to stand in the stream"

Windy said...

Did you find any information regarding exactly how the money will be spent, specifically in regard to energy efficiency? For example will more people be hired on at any particular agencies, etc. to help with the anticipated growth in programs,etc?

SC_Tang said...

Yeah, Houston will be a great choice, I have to agree with you.....I think building energy management system company will be an awesome choice for time like this. When the economy is bad, everyone is out to save a penny.

Abhinav Sharma said...

I remember Dr. Webber talking about the time frame in which the stimulus money is to be spent. The money allocation is done on the basis of the research project proposals. I think its like 30days for the proposal submission and next 60 days for proposal evaluation and then a couple of months for the fund package release. Do correct me if I am wrong on the above.

The result of this quick release of money is that the organizations (provided with funds) start hiring. However, this quick job market boost is temporary. If the projects dont turn out to be futuristic large scale, then again the same problems would arise again.

So to conclude, we have definate growth. But it might be temporary, depending on the future prospects of the project. The intentions are wise, and the benefits are long term.
I think some more time should be given on making and evaluation of proposals so that right decisions are made always.