Just read a story about stimulus dollars and the weatherization of homes.
There is a provision in the stimulus bill that allows for money to be spent on the weatherization of homes. Also in the bill is a decades old stipulation that federally funded projects must pay " a prevailing wage to workers."
What is the prevailing wage for weatherization? Seem as if no one knows.
The Energy Dept. didn't know so they asked the Labor Dept. The Labor Dept. didn't know, so they began to accumulate data to calculate the prevailing wage of weatherization in more than 3000 counties in the United States.
This of course took many months and millions of dollars. There is also consideration to historically significant buildings in some states/cities. Studies had to be done to decide if any of the homes were indeed historical and if so then extra money was spent to weatherize within the individual area's historical guidelines. This also took many months and millions of dollars.
So far 522 million dollars have been spent on this project alone. 9100 homes have been weatherized. That averages out to about $57,362.00 per home.
That's correct, you heard me...
FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS !!!
FIFTY SEVEN THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED, SIXTY TWO DOLLARS PER HOUSE.
A new CNN poll indicates that 3 out of 4 Americans believe much of the stimulus money has been wasted.
