Recovery.gov: track what we did on your dime

Yet another Barack Obama website has launched: recovery dot gov will track how the stimulus plan funds are being spent. There's very little actual information online now, but here's some random notes:

1. On the front page and at recovery.gov/?q=content/investments there are graphics that may give people the wrong impression about the allocation of funds, and that might have been intentional (who am I kidding? Of course it was intentional). The bar graph and the faux-zenn diagram depict "Tax Relief" as the largest graphic at $288 billion, followed by "State and Local Fiscal Relief" at $144 B, "Infrastructure and Science" at $111 B, and so on. Many people will probably concentrate on the largest graphic and not realize that the other graphics' amounts when added together are about 1.66 times larger. And, the "Tax Relief" is the only one with a footnote:

Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

2. I'm going to assume that their definition of those who are "Vulnerable" is rather broad and includes people who in other systems would be called "Oppressed".

3. The sidebar contains this helpful note; it's good to know these things:

This is your money. You have a right to know where it's going and how it's being spent.

4. The site links to a photogallery about the stimulus from White House photographer/iconographer Pete Souza.

5. A map shows how many jobs will be "created/saved" over the next two years; California's projected amount is 396,000 and no doubt a fair percentage of that will be jobs for illegal aliens.

6. The site includes a timeline that currently only has a few things included. In fact, there's nothing listed on it after July 2009: everything after that is blank. Not only that, but the timeline goes on for decades - all blank - even after 2012 (when the world is supposed to end).

7. They have an "About" menu containing an "Our Mission" entry, something that's more appropriate for private companies than governmental entities.

8. Jason Kottke will be shocked to learn that the site's current robots.txt file tries to prevent all spidering of the site, something that Google at least appears to be ignoring.

Comments

They must think we're all a bunch of simpletons.