If yesterday’s N&R front-pager perfectly illustrates that the so-called federal stimulus is a total joke:
And there was that bright spot in the job arena over at Housing Greensboro.
The burgeoning nonprofit has received more than $100,000 in stimulus funds to put toward renovations on local homes.
Although much of the work will be done by volunteers, the increased workload means director (director Gene) Brown will need a new person to fill out his staff of four full-time, one part-time and two Americorps staff members.
“It’s almost like it’s providing dual benefits,” Brown said. “It’s creating a job and in our case … we’re serving those in the community with these home repairs.”
While Housing Greensboro is a nonprofit organization, JLF president John Hood turns his attention to the main benefactor of federal stimulus money —– government. Hood maintains —– gasp — that North Carolina has too many public employees and that —-another gasp —- those employees who provide government’s core functions would benefit from a radical streamlining. Compensation and benefits would improve, and there’s much needed reform on the latter issue, considering the fact that “North Carolina has promised current public employees about $30 billion in health benefits when they retire that the state has made no preparations whatsoever to finance.”
Hood identifies Forsyth County Rep. Dale Folwell as the lone lawmaker who wants to address that problem.
