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Microsoft Benefits From Obama Stimulus Plan

by Administrator

Microsoft is one of the first companies in America to benefit from Barack Obama’s stimulus plan. This is drawing a bit of controversy for the simple reason that Microsoft, with $20 billion on hand, doesn’t seem like the type of company that needs a “handout” from Uncle Sam.

The new project is being called a bridge to nowhere.

Local planners allotted $11 million of $214 million awarded to the region to help pay for a highway overpass in Redmond, Washington, connecting one part of Microsoft’s wooded campus with another. The world’s largest software maker will contribute almost half of the $36.5 million cost. Other federal and local money will pay the rest.

Groundbreaking on the project is expected to start in June.

“I’m sure Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates could finance this out of pocket change,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Subsidizing an overpass to one of the richest companies in the country certainly isn’t going to be the best use of our precious dollars. It’s a bridge to Microsoft.”

This is one more example of the types of earmark projects that leave the average citizen scratching his head, marveling at the inefficiency of government.