Happy second birthday American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka “the “stimulus”)! Let’s see if your second year was better than your first…

Timeliness. Lawmakers promised the stimulus would have a very quick impact on the economy. Then-House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), in an MSNBC interview on Feb. 11, 2009, said improvements would been seen in as little as a week: “If we pass this package by Friday afternoon, I’m convinced that by Friday next week, you’ll begin to see some positive stuff coming out of it…”

Grade: C-. At the two-year mark, only 78.7 percent ($619.1 billion) of the stimulus funds had been paid out (90 percent of the tax benefits; 80 percent of the entitlements; and 65 percent of the contracts, grants and loans).

Since the stimulus was supposed to be a two-year program, we have to give an “F” for timeliness.

Unemployment. In selling the stimulus, former White House senior advisor David Axelrod said told NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Feb. 15, 2009, “[W]ithout it that’s where we were looking — double-digit unemployment …” The jobless rate was 8.2 percent at the time. And on MSNBC on Feb. 12, 2009, And former Director of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer said the President’s goal for the stimulus was to create 3 million to 4 million jobs.

Grade: D. Since the bill was signed in February 2009, the U.S. has lost a net total of nearly 2.6 million jobs (the country has lost jobs in 16 of the 23 months since the stimulus was enacted). The unemployment rate hit 10.1 percent in October 2009, but has remained under 10 percent since then (it was 9 percent in January 2011). In 2009 the White House released a paper outlining the number of jobs that would be created or saved in each state. In the last year, 42 states have added jobs. To compare the predictions to the current statistics on job creation in your state, click here.

Transparency. As a spending package that ranks among the all-time largest budget items, Americans were promised the stimulus would be “transparent and accountable.” The administration even built a slick website to help track the funds.

Grade:  C-. Not much has changed here. The White House’s website is still up and running.

Preventing Waste. At the bill’s signing ceremony, President Obama said, “With a recovery package of this size comes a responsibility to assure every taxpayer that we are being careful with the money they work so hard to earn.”  So he put Vice President Biden in charge of combating stimulus waste.

Grade: D. We’re going to let one fact speak for itself here. In November 2010, the panel in charge of rooting out waste and fraud in the stimulus held a meeting on its assigned topic…at the super luxurious Ritz Carlton resort in Phoenix, Ariz. At a time when Americans are still canceling family vacations to make ends meet, and when the federal government was running a $1.3 trillion deficit, this is hardly prudent.

“Doh!” This phrase is commonly yelped when one loses a phone, an earring or a set of keys. Marylanders may do a double “doh!” when they learn their state’s Department of Human Resources lost 42,000 state-owned items over the past decade. What’s the cost-of-loss for Maryland taxpayers? It’s estimated to be an astonishing $27.5 million.

The Washington Examiner detailed an audit of the Maryland Department of Human Resources’ inventory.

The audit, completed by Maryland’s independent Office of Legislative Audit, found that the Department of Human Resources:

Lost $9.6 [in] million federal funding for a program that keeps children out of foster care in fiscal 2009. The agency failed to submit proper paperwork to the federal government, and the state had to pick up the tab through its general fund.

Bought $850,000 of computers without asking the state for permission or opening the purchase to a competitive bid process, which is legally required for procurements worth more than $5,000, according to [Maryland Legislative Auditor] Myers. The auditors reject the agency’s argument that the purchase was authorized under an existing contract.

Failed to ensure that $30 million in grant expenditures and $6.1 million in legal expenditures were properly spent.

Gave 22 employees “unrestricted access” to a database used to provide people with public assistance including food stamps, foster care payments and child support payments — which totaled $753 million in fiscal 2009.

Additionally, The Washington Examiner reported:

In an auditors’ test of 47 pieces of equipment at the agency worth $64,000, 14 items totaling $24,000 were not recorded in the inventory records.

Prior to the completion of the audit, “There were no procedures to investigate and resolve missing items; rather, the items were simply noted in the inventory records as ‘not found,’” the audit stated.

31,000 of the 42,233 missing items have been recovered, according to Nancy Lineman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Resources.

Simple oversight could have prevented the unnecessary loss of $27.5 million taxpayer funded items. Other states take notice — poor oversight will no longer be tolerated. It’s time to get inventories into tip-top shape in order to trim budget gaps.

We recently told you Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) crossed the aisle to sign on to S. 245, a bill that would cut federal spending to 20.6% of the economy (just above the historic average) over the next decade. Of critical note: this bill addresses not only discretionary spending, but also one of the largest entitlements and key drivers of future debt (Social Security)…and one of the most politically difficult to reform. Sen. McCaskill said of the risk involved in signing on to the bill:

“If this bill is distorted and twisted, it could cost me my Senate seat, but it’s a price I am willing to pay…. Getting control of spending is very, very hard, but we have to do it and we have to do it now.”

Newly elected Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) also recently unveiled a plan (S.162) to cut $500 billion from the federal budget this year by reducing spending in several programs, and eliminating others altogether. Sen. Paul’s plan would cut $42 billion from the food stamp program, and eliminate the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The plan has been criticized for its relatively small cuts to defense spending.

Not to be outdone by their Senate counterparts, House Republicans are also, ostensibly, busy pushing for spending cuts. The House rules package included a 5-percent cut to congressional budgets, only to be one-upped by a self-imposed 9-percent cut by – believe it or not — the House Appropriations Committee. “This is the beginning of a serious and sustained effort to cut government spending,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Among the spending-cut bills proposed in the House last month:

First, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, details several proposals in his Cut Unsustainable and Top-heavy Spending (or “CUTS”) Act (H.R. 235). These include cutting spending by $153 billion over five years by reducing by 15 percent White House and congressional budgets; reducing the federal workforce by 200,000, and imposing a three-year pay freeze across federal agencies, according to the Washington Post. Among CUTS’ other savings proposals are ending unemployment insurance payments to those with more than $1 million in assets, slowing the growth of foreign aid by 10 percent for development and humanitarian assistance, and eliminating grants to large- and medium-sized hub airports.

Brady cited Republicans and Democrats on the President’s deficit commission who “agreed these cuts need to be made.” He likened the federal government to an American business, saying, “There’s not a business in America that’s survived this recession without rightsizing its workforce, without having to become more productive with fewer workers. The federal government can’t be the exception.”

The Republican Study Committee [RSC] — which represents two-thirds of House Republicans, including almost 75 freshman – also proposed a package of cuts (H.R. 480) they claim would slash $125 billion from non-defense discretionary spending in this fiscal year, return spending to 2006 levels in the years after that, and achieve $2.5 trillion in savings over the next decade. Some of the savings in this bill include: $30 billion from immediately selling off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; $16 billion in cuts to federal assistance of state Medicaid costs; decreasing the federal subsidies of Amtrak, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the National Endowment for the Arts; eliminating high-speed rail funding; and cutting $40 billion in so-called “stimulus” funds (even for projects that have already begun).

Finally, House Republican leadership last week revealed a plan to cut spending this year, as was expected. Regrettably, the plan would only cut $30 billion, rather than the $100 billion they’d promised prior to last year’s election.

We at Public Notice heartily applaud these Members’ efforts to be part of the solution. However, while all of these bills address various spending programs, none take as comprehensive an approach as is required to make real progress toward spending and debt reduction.

So while we will continue to highlight – and to applaud, as appropriate – Members’ ideas for spending cuts, we know that: 1) simply introducing a bill doesn’t change anything; and 2) trimming around the edges isn’t enough to get our fiscal house in order. The entire budget must be addressed, and quickly.

We hope the recent flurry of “spending cut” bills will translate into real, significant spending reform when the President proposes, and Congress writes and acts to implement, the nation’s budget for the new year.

An investigation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD]  – a government agency charged with helping provide housing to needy Americans – found widespread internal failures ranging from negligent oversight to theft and corruption.

ABC News joined with the Center for Public Integrity to investigate the $26-billion-per-year federal agency, which oversees more than 3,000 public housing agencies across the nation. The following is a sampling of the report’s findings:

New London, Conn residents, aided by a pro-bono law firm, became so frustrated by substandard living conditions that they went to court to demand that a judge name a receiver to manage their property. They submitted photographic evidence that an entry door had been shackled with chains and their floors littered with rodents, urine, and blood.

But investigations last summer uncovered allegations that the then-Philadelphia Housing Authority’s executive director had spent lavishly on parties that included belly dancers, and had used more than $500,000 in housing authority funds to secretly settle claims accusing him of inappropriate sexual advances with female employees.

Elias Castellanos, chief financial officer of the long-troubled New Orleans Housing Authority—used taxpayer money to buy a million dollar mansion in Florida, with a Lamborghini and BMW parked out front.

The public housing authority in Chattanooga, Tenn. was cited by the inspector general for doling out about $600,000 in employee bonuses, cost-of-living increases and severance awards in 2008 while on the brink of financial collapse.

Investigators also found an estimated 2,000-3,000 registered sex offenders living in subsidized housing, courtesy of taxpayers, in violation of HUD’s own rules.

To see this waste with your own eyes, click here and watch from 1:07-8:20

The level of waste and horrific mismanagement on behalf of HUD is unacceptable. Are these failures a result of incompetence or fraud? According to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, “it’s a little bit of both.” Intentional or not, Americans simply cannot allow – nor can we afford — this kind of government waste to go unnoticed for an entire decade.

At this past Sunday’s 68^th Annual Golden Globe Awards, actors and filmmakers strutted around in diamonds and clinked glasses to honor, well, themselves. No expense was spared for the lavish celebration; however, this is not always the case when it comes to film production. Hollywood is making bank, but unfortunately, it’s costing unassuming American taxpayers along the way.

The following is an outline of how Iowa’s mismanagement of film tax credits has sparked closer scrutiny of the credits nationwide, as reported by the L.A. Times:

Iowa’s corruption scandal, the largest of its kind in the country, is drawing nationwide attention as a prime example of how some state tax credit programs — especially those that lack financial controls — are vulnerable to abuse.

New Mexico’s newly elected Republican governor, Susana Martinez, has called for slashing the state’s tax credit as much as 40%, citing the state’s budget priorities. Nick Paleologos, head of the Massachusetts Film Office, resigned last month in a cost-cutting move. Wisconsin stripped most of the funding for its film program in 2009 after a report by a state agency raised questions about money the state paid for “Public Enemies,” the Universal Pictures gangster movie starring Johnny Depp.

Iowa rapidly expanded its film credit program in 2007, developing one of the most aggressive tax incentives in the country, one that was touted by the local film office as “half-priced” filmmaking.

But former Gov. Chet Culver suspended the film program in 2009 after an internal audit found irregularities, including filmmakers using tax credit funds to purchase a Land Rover and other luxury vehicles for themselves.

The audit found that $26 million of nearly $32 million in tax credits were awarded improperly, either because the productions did not qualify for the credits or producers did not submit required documentation.

Among the examples cited in the report: Cornfield Productions, producers of the mystery movie “Peacock,” starring Ellen Page and Susan Sarandon, received $3.2 million in tax credits for a film that had a $9.5-million budget. The audit found that about $4.6 million in expenditures from the 2010 release should not have qualified.

Taxpayers cannot afford to foot the bill for filmmakers’ luxury vehicles, let alone $26 million for unqualified tax credit awards. Iowa was used and abused by Hollywood giants.  Hopefully, lessons will be learned and states will take a closer look at tax credit programs to ensure costs don’t outweigh benefits.

Here’s a roundup of this morning’s must-read budget and economic stories:

CBS News notes that the national debt has reached $14 trillion for the first time ever. It took only seven months for the debt to increase from $13 trillion to $14 trillion.

The New York Times looks at the $100 billion in spending cuts House Republicans have proposed. If achieved, the $100 billion decrease would take federal discretionary spending levels back to fiscal year 2008 levels, as Republicans promised in the campaign.

The editorial and op-ed pages are full of commentary about whether or not to cut federal spending, and if so, by how much. The Wall Street Journal, Orange County Register, Washington Monthly, Rich Lowry, Joseph Stiglitz, and Charles Kadlec all weigh in.

In addition to government waste, Politico says incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) will take a look at how regulations affect businesses.

e21 and National Review take a look at then-Sen. Obama’s 2006 vote and speech against raising the debt ceiling.

Bloomberg says President Obama is considering former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley for a top post at the White House, possibly chief of staff or director of the National Economic Council. The Wall Street Journal highlights another possible personnel change: President Obama may bring in Ron Bloom to be the White House manufacturing policy guru. Bloom was one of the chief architects of the auto bailout.

We’ve previously reported on the egregious waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars by Bell, California city officials.

But as reported by The Canadian Press, city officials had been even greedier than previously thought.

Residents of the scandal-plagued city of Bell gasped in shock and disbelief as state auditors told them their political leaders mismanaged tens of millions of dollars of the modest city’s money, using much of it to pay themselves enormous salaries.

The auditors spoke at a hearing called by state Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, who said he wanted to give residents of the working-class city of 40,000 a full accounting of what had happened.

Some 300 residents sat quietly Monday night in a school auditorium, listening politely as auditors from the state Controller’s office said Bell officials had collected $6.8 million over the past three years by doing such things as illegally raising their property taxes, sewer assessment fees and business license fees.

Lydia Barrios, who has lived in Bell for more than 30 years, told The Canadian Press: “I was shocked. It’s absolutely outrageous. They were just paying each other with our money.”

The fraud went unnoticed for several years by city council members, who failed to dutifully watch over the city’s treasury.  The Canadian Press noted that the situation in Bell came to light when The LA Times published a piece regarding salaries of Bell city officials after viewing the officials’ salaries via a California Public Records Act request. Part of the meeting on Monday highlighted the procedures to make public records requests.

This outrageous situation should encourage all citizens to take a closer look at their own governing officials, on all levels, to ensure they are governing responsibly.

The outrageous waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars (about $5.5 million per the last audit) by city officials in Bell, California, thrust the city into the national spotlight.

But Bell is, sadly, far from the only place in America where government officials are acting irresponsibly. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, an audit of the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS) showed shocking abuse of benefits by state agency directors and administrators.

The audit uncovered that state officials have been ‘double-dipping’ by coming out of retirement in order to receive a paycheck in addition to the pension payments they’re already receiving.  And these state officials are holding onto other taxpayer-funded perks as well: state-owned vehicles, state-provided housing, cell phones and their coveted authority.

The following, excerpt from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, details how the APERS abuse occurred:

Because of the growing practice of the retirees returning to their former jobs and drawing two checks, legislators last year changed the law to widen the retirement period from 30 days to 180 days. That law took effect July 1, 2009.

But the practice of public employees receiving pensions and salaries at the same time has been a source of contention since last summer when it was revealed that several elected county officials had declared themselves “retired” but hadn’t left office.

While more news of government waste is far from a good thing, at least these people  — who are intentionally abusing the trust and money of the very people they are there to serve — are finally getting held to account. Now that’s a trend we can get behind.

An audit report of Bell, California – the west coast’s poster child for irresponsible city government – outlines that gross waste, fraud and abuse, combined with a shocking lack of oversight, cost the city’s taxpayer’s more than $5.5 million.

Below is an excerpt of today’s Los Angeles Times look at the report; please click here to read the entire article.

Bell’s former Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo and two other top officials got a portion of their lucrative compensation by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a fund that was supposed to be used to provide housing for low-income residents, according to a state audit released Wednesday.

The audit of the Bell Community Redevelopment Agency also found that the city wrongly spent about $180,000 of the affordable housing funds on cellphones, car washes, car batteries and landscaping while City Council members — charged with overseeing the agency’s budget — failed to provide “any meaningful oversight.”

“Public money dedicated to increasing affordable housing and maintaining local roads were instead used as a self-indulgent slush fund to pay for excessive salaries, perks and other unlawful expenses,” said state Controller John Chiang, whose office prepared the report.

The audit is the second report issued by Chiang to conclude that council members, despite earning nearly $100,000 for their part-time work, failed repeatedly to watch over the city’s treasury and created an environment ripe for fraud, waste and misappropriation of public money.

Price fluctuations for the metals currently required for coin composition have made the cost of producing coins more expensive than their legal denominations.

For years the estimated costs of production for the penny and nickel have been 1.8¢ and 9¢, respectively.

With a forecasted federal deficit of $1.47 trillion for this year, it is clear spending cuts are necessary.

An estimated $150 million could be saved annually and put a dent into the debt with changes to current coin compositions.

Why not save some money by making money it on the cheap? Most taxpayers and coin collectors would not mind.

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Oct. 18 (UPI) — There is no time for further political turmoil in Somalia, the U.N. special envoy to the troubled African nation said.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.

The Government’s newly released Waste Strategy fails to show any meaningful leadership on waste, the Green Party said today.

The Government’s newly released Waste Strategy fails to show any meaningful leadership on waste, the Green Party said today.

The Government’s newly released Waste Strategy fails to show any meaningful leadership on waste, the Green Party said today.

The Government’s newly released Waste Strategy fails to show any meaningful leadership on waste, the Green Party said today.

The Government’s newly released Waste Strategy fails to show any meaningful leadership on waste, the Green Party said today.

The Government’s newly released Waste Strategy fails to show any meaningful leadership on waste, the Green Party said today.

Retail mogul Philip Green issues damning report on U.K.’s inability to capitalize on scale of state.