How is Economic Stimulus Money Spent?

Back when the economic stimulus package was passed in February, money was set aside for various projects designed to help with job creation. And there have been a lot of good jobs provided. My cousin was able to get a needed paid internship over the summer with a government installation, thanks to the stimulus. My brother’s father-in-law is benefiting from a stimulus-job. However, even though a great deal of the money is going to provide jobs in clean energy, infrastructure and more, there is also money going to projects that are kind of…weird.

CNN Money offers 7 of the oddest places for stimulus money:

1. $51,500 spent on water safety mascots (go Bobber the Water Safety Dog!) and robots.
2. $455 for ice machine rentals and 300 bags of ice in order attempt to fix a replacement pin at a dam in Illinois. It didn’t work, so the ice was made available to people at the dam.
3. $8,223 to purchase a golf cart. That the National Park Service can use to put oyster shells around DeSoto National Memorial. But the shells and the golf cart were purchased locally.
4. $2,655 for a reach in freezer at a courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas.
5. $24.3 million for various ham products. Most of the ham, though, went to help stock food pantries across the country.
6. $73,150 for office furniture. This furniture was bought for new employees at the Arvado, Colorado Energy Department office. The chairs came from the UNICOR program — where prisoners make the chairs.
7. $3.3 million for lawyers who can help support the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturers Loan Program.

Image credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers