$18 million facelift

$17,948,518 to be exact. That’s a facelift number that would make Joan Rivers blush (if the blood vessels in her face still worked that way).

As part of the stimulus package, a website was required to be created so that taxpayers could monitor the debt as it piled up day by day. That website is Recovery.gov. The website is operational; it’s fancy; in fact it’s far more complex and costly than this very website you’re reading right now (hard to believe, I know).

All Recovery.gov really needs to be is a couple of headlines and then a downloadable Excel file with all the stimulus spending data in it (Visicalc or Lotus 1-2-3 files for MAC users).

Instead, and as further proof that government shouldn’t be trusted with much more than changing a toilet paper roll, the GSA announced yesterday that they’ve awarded an $18 million contract to revamp the Recovery.gov website.

“Recovery.gov 2.0 will use innovative and interactive technologies to help taxpayers see where their dollars are being spent,” said James A. Williams, Commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. “Armed with easy access to this information, taxpayers can make government more accountable for its decisions.”

Memo to Mr. Williams- thank you for letting us see where our dollars are being spent- $18 million on a website. That’s clarity. I can only hope that “Moderate and/or Fake Conservative Voter 2.0″ will vote a Republican into office in 2012.

You’re welcome.