I’ve talked about the efficiency of our government before, but I’m starting to see it play out in real time. Right before my very eyes.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also referred to as the stimulus bill, is showing up all across the Nation. And if you pay attention, you’ll realize how lousy a deal it really is.

On a trip to the in-laws this weekend, we ended up taking a detour through the backroads of a sleepy little town due to the removal and replacement of the towns one and only intersection. Sponsored of course by the ARRA.

Six weeks ago we made the same trip and took the same detour. At that time they working on the project for two weeks.

It’s clear to me that this is a government sponsored job simply because it’s taking so long. Any project funded through local means would have been done weeks ago.

This is but one clear example of how inefficient our government is with money. Little projects like this have popped up all over and they’re costing us millions a piece when they should be measured in hundreds of thousands.

Category: Finance Tags: ARRA, government, spending, stimulus

President Obama has turned down Arizona Governor Jan Brewers request for a meeting regarding the Arizona Immigration policy, and says he has no plans to meet with her in the future.

Brilliant.

Rather than try and work with the Governor and the rest of the State representatives on policy that the majority of Americans agree with, he’s going to continue blasting the bill, and bringing foreign leaders in to follow suit.

All the while neither he nor Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano have read the bill (by her own admission).

Talk about poor leadership skills.

Category: Politics Tags: Arizona Immigration Bill, leadership, Napolitano, Obama

BP is set to try a top kill tomorrow on the MC252 well in the Gulf.

Effectively, a top kill consists of injecting heavy fluids under high pressure down into the well bore. The weight of those fluids (i.e. the “head”) counters the pressure of the oil and gas coming up the well bore, and the end result is a “kill”.

Then, BP can come back in with cement and permanently plug the well.

The key is that the fluid you’re injecting needs to be very heavy. Drilling fluid is typically used; it’s used on the drilling process for the exact same purpose, to contain fluids in the well bore.

The other requirement is that you must be able to inject that heavy fluid under enough pressure to initially overcome (or overpower, if you will) the opposing pressure of the oil and gas condensate coming the pipe.

Good luck BP. I’m excited to see if this works. It’s never been done in deep water.

Category: Energy, Oil & Gas Tags: BP, oil spill, top kill