Today's roundup of stimulus coverage:
Large government contractors are getting a disproportionate share of stimulus funding, Government Executive's Robert Brodksy reports. According to the magazine, "17 of the largest government contractors have won more than $1.6 billion in Recovery Act contracts — more than all small businesses combined." Data obtained from USAspending.gov showed that those same 17 firms earned nearly $68 billion in government contracts in 2008.
Small-business owners certainly believe the stimulus is not reaching them, according to a July survey. The St. Louis Business Journal reports that just 3 percent of such owners believe the stimulus has had a positive impact on their companies. The survey was commissioned by the National Small Business Association, which warns that the stimulus package will lead to higher taxes in the future.
Stimulus money for kinky porno? The National Endowment for the Arts gave $50,000 in stimulus money to the Frameline film house in San Francisco, which recently showed a film billed as "underground kinky art porno horror," Fox News reports. Fox quotes David Williams of Citizens Against Government Waste, who argues that the NEA's funding decision is "nonsense" and that it demonstrates "why the stimulus should never have been done in the first place." An NEA spokeswoman defended the agency's grant-making process, and the director of Frameline said the $50,000 grant was not intended to support any program in particular. "It's to be used for the preservation of jobs at our media arts nonprofit organization over the next year during the economic downturn," said the director, K.C. Price.
Stimulus money is paying fishermen in Washington State $4.6 million to harvest lost nets, CNN reports. Some 40 fishermen will retrieve nets that have been lost or abandoned in Puget Sound, where they pose a threat to marine life, as well as boats and scuba divers. According to CNN, the nets number in the thousands, and some are larger than a football field.
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