Stimulus Bill labels $246 million for Hollywood wasteful (I AGREE!)

[Paul James Savarese]

(CNN) -- On Monday, House Republican leaders put out a list of what they call wasteful provisions in the Senate version of the nearly $900 billion stimulus bill that is being debated:

 

One of the items on the list...

 

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.

 

My thought is that this IS a waste! Think of all the Hollywood crap that gets funding and all the Independent quality that never sees the light of a projector! What are your thoughts...?

[Scott Fritzshall]

I don't think "crap" or "quality" should be tied to where movies come from; if anything, independant filmmakers probably create a higher volume of crap than Hollywood simply by virtue of having more productions. On the topic of the Stimulus Bill, my opinion is that Republicans automatically oppose anything that isn't tax cuts, or has anything to do with funding the Arts, but this sort of stuff does help to keep/create jobs just like the rest of the bill, so I think it could be a good idea. I'd also need to see the actual text of the bill to see whether those tax cuts would go specifically to "Hollywood" producers, or if that's just sloppy journalistic shorthand for "people who make movies, no matter where the money comes from."

[Walter Graff]

Any part of the stimulus bill os a waste so don't feel bad. Just more money that will do nothing for the economy. Politicians don't learn from history, just repeat it.

 

Here is some of the additional waste:

 

$2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

 

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.

 

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

 

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

 

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

 

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

 

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.

 

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.

 

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

 

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

 

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

 

• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."

 

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.

 

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

 

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

 

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.

 

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

 

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.

 

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

 

• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.

 

• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.

 

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

 

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.

 

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

 

• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

 

• $850 million for Amtrak.

 

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.

 

• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

 

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.

 

• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

[Paul James Savarese]

I don't think "crap" or "quality" should be tied to where movies come from; if anything, independant filmmakers probably create a higher volume of crap than Hollywood simply by virtue of having more productions. On the topic of the Stimulus Bill, my opinion is that Republicans automatically oppose anything that isn't tax cuts, or has anything to do with funding the Arts, but this sort of stuff does help to keep/create jobs just like the rest of the bill, so I think it could be a good idea. I'd also need to see the actual text of the bill to see whether those tax cuts would go specifically to "Hollywood" producers, or if that's just sloppy journalistic shorthand for "people who make movies, no matter where the money comes from."

 

I agree. "crap" or "quality" have nothing to do with it, that's a matter of opinion and my opinion is that Hollywood makes terrible movies with one gem making it through the cracks every blue moon. But with all the revenue that Hollywood makes on overpriced ticket sales should disqualify them from bailout taxpayer money.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Paul James Savarese

[Stuart Brereton]

Any part of the stimulus bill os a waste so don't feel bad. Just more money that will do nothing for the economy. Politicians don't learn from history, just repeat it.

 

Here is some of the additional waste:

 

$2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

 

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.

 

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

 

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

 

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

 

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

 

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.

 

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.

 

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

 

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

 

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

 

• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."

 

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.

 

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

 

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

 

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.

 

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

 

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.

 

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

 

• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.

 

• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.

 

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

 

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.

 

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

 

• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

 

• $850 million for Amtrak.

 

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.

 

• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

 

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.

 

• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

 

I have no idea what any of that has to do with cinematography, but thanks for posting.

[Walter Graff]

I have no idea what any of that has to do with cinematography, but thanks for posting.

 

The list I posted also included the movie film waste - A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film. Thought I'd share the rest of the special interest "stimulus" waste

[Paul James Savarese]

The list I posted also included the movie film waste - A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film. Thought I'd share the rest of teh special interest "stimulus"

 

Thank you for sharing. Looking over the list really is scary. Republican or Democrat; what the hell are they thinking? This makes me enraged! $21,000 in taxes from my salary this year is a waste.

[Walter Graff]

Thank you for sharing. Looking over the list really is scary. Republican or Democrat; what the hell are they thinking? This makes me enraged! $21,000 in taxes from my salary this year is a waste.

 

So much for Obama and transparency. He did use that term about 3000 times in the election didn't he? He also said that part of his new work towards transparency was to reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. He said that he "will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days." But the first bill Obama signed into law as president -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- got no such vetting. In fact, the Congressional Record shows that the law was passed in the Senate on Jan. 22, 2009, passed in the House on Jan. 27, and signed by the president on Jan. 29. So only two days passed between the bill's final passage and the signing with no review by the American populous.

 

Sorry folks, Washington has new talk, but it's the same film in a different wrapper. Get ready for a very rough ride.

[Brad Grimmett]

But with all the revenue that Hollywood makes on overpriced ticket sales should disqualify them from bailout taxpayer money.

You're right, they should give that money to the banks instead, or maybe AIG, and then those companies can give million dollar bonuses to more people and continue to manipulate oil prices so we can pay more for gas. That's a good plan...

 

Seriously though, why not? The majority of the bailout money has been wasted, so they may as well give a little to Hollywood to spend too. Although a better use of that money would be nationwide tax breaks for film production.

[Stuart Brereton]

So much for Obama and transparency. He did use that term about 3000 times in the election didn't he? He also said that part of his new work towards transparency was to reduce bills rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. He said that he "will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days." But the first bill Obama signed into law as president -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- got no such vetting. In fact, the Congressional Record shows that the law was passed in the Senate on Jan. 22, 2009, passed in the House on Jan. 27, and signed by the president on Jan. 29. So only two days passed between the bill's final passage and the signing with no review by the American populous.

 

Sorry folks, Washington has new talk, but it's the same film in a different wrapper. Get ready for a very rough ride.

 

Once again, can't seem to find the Cinematography link...

 

This isn't a political forum, nor is it exclusively American. If you must rant and rave, how about using the Off Topic forum?

[Scott Fritzshall]

Any part of the stimulus bill os a waste so don't feel bad. Just more money that will do nothing for the economy. Politicians don't learn from history, just repeat it.

 

Here is some of the additional waste:

 

...

I think that most of those items are a pretty good idea. Things like the $6B to make federal buildings "green" will create or preserve thousands of jobs in the short term- design, manufacturing, construction, etc, and will help to reduce government spending in the long term. $1.2B for "youth activities/jobs" sounds pretty great as well, and could be really useful. $850M for Amtrak is not nearly enough in my opinion, it should probably be more like 100x that to start us towards being a country with more well-developed and useable public transit, and away from relying on cars so much.

[Paul James Savarese]

Once again, can't seem to find the Cinematography link...

 

This isn't a political forum, nor is it exclusively American. If you must rant and rave, how about using the Off Topic forum?

 

The thread was started with regard to Hollywood, where many CINEMATOGRAPHERS are employed, so it directly effects them. If you don't want to be apart of the discussion then move on buddy.

[Brad Grimmett]

The thread was started with regard to Hollywood, where many CINEMATOGRAPHERS are employed, so it directly effects them. If you don't want to be apart of the discussion then move on buddy.

Why the hostility? The post he was referring to had absolutely nothing to do with cinematography or the initial topic. I agree with Stuart. If he wants to dispense his political beliefs he should do it somewhere else.

[Stuart Brereton]

The thread was started with regard to Hollywood, where many CINEMATOGRAPHERS are employed, so it directly effects them. If you don't want to be apart of the discussion then move on buddy.

 

 

Yes, it was started with regard to Hollywood. since then, however, it has degenerated into a critique of the Obama administration's financial stimulus package. In fact only the first two posts mention anything to do with Hollywood.

 

If you want to talk cinematography, fine. If you want to talk politics do it somewhere else.

[Paul James Savarese]

Why the hostility? The post he was referring to had absolutely nothing to do with cinematography or the initial post. I agree with Stuart. If he wants to dispense his political beliefs he should do it somewhere else.

 

Didn't mean to come off that way, I apologize Stuart.

[Guest]

(CNN) -- On Monday, House Republican leaders put out a list of what they call wasteful provisions in the Senate version of the nearly $900 billion stimulus bill that is being debated:

 

One of the items on the list...

 

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.

 

Where's the tax break to buy HD tape?

 

Will that have to be Kodak stock made in the USA or can they buy Fuji film? Many of the provisions in the stimulus bill include "buy American" clauses. Which of course will only prompt retaliation from America's biggest trading partners, Japan, Canada, the EU. Making the recession even worse, just like what happened in the 1930s.

 

R,

[Taggart A Lee]

AS long as it brings back 5245.

[Gus Sacks]

killed

 

IMDb

[Paul James Savarese]

$246 isn't going to make or break Hollywood funding. They should just make another Spiderman and they make that in two weeks. Or A-list actors can do their part and get paid $10 million instead of $20 million per movie. This poop pisses me off that it's even mentioned on imdb in a way that we should feel bad. :angry:

[Scott Fritzshall]

$246 isn't going to make or break Hollywood funding. They should just make another Spiderman and they make that in two weeks. Or A-list actors can do their part and get paid $10 million instead of $20 million per movie. This poop pisses me off that it's even mentioned on imdb in a way that we should feel bad. :angry:

Funding has actually dried up a lot in the past few months, and it's becoming more difficult to make films as a result. Fewer films means fewer jobs; fewer jobs means even fewer people participating in the economy; fewer people participating means economic recovery is even slower. That's the whole point of all of those "wasteful" provisions: they're not just handouts, they actually keep things flowing properly in places it's been stagnating. The recession is probably going to start hitting our industry pretty soon, and a lot of us, myself included, may be finding it increasingly difficult to stay employed. So keep getting upset about actors' salaries I guess, if it makes you feel better.

[Scott Fritzshall]

I should add that I think the amount of money actors get paid is sometimes absurd as well, and I would hope that if it starts to become an issue, that highly-paid actors would accept less money in order to keep the movies being made, but that's one single factor in this whole issue, and if you make a living from the film industry or aspire to, I would think that you would want keep everything rolling. It sucks that it's come to this, but I think it's acceptable to have a portion of my taxes go to making sure we all still have jobs.

[Paul James Savarese]

Funding has actually dried up a lot in the past few months, and it's becoming more difficult to make films as a result. Fewer films means fewer jobs; fewer jobs means even fewer people participating in the economy; fewer people participating means economic recovery is even slower. That's the whole point of all of those "wasteful" provisions: they're not just handouts, they actually keep things flowing properly in places it's been stagnating. The recession is probably going to start hitting our industry pretty soon, and a lot of us, myself included, may be finding it increasingly difficult to stay employed. So keep getting upset about actors' salaries I guess, if it makes you feel better.

 

Thanks for the breakdown on how the economy works. Maybe Hollywood should start making lower budget films and get creative in the interim which would lead to better dvds that people would spring for. It's not the economy that is driving dvd sales lower, nobody wants to pay for poop.

[Stuart Brereton]

Thanks for the breakdown on how the economy works.

 

What is it with your attitude? If you can't be polite to other people involved in a conversation, then go elsewhere.

[Scott Fritzshall]

Thanks for the breakdown on how the economy works. Maybe Hollywood should start making lower budget films and get creative in the interim which would lead to better dvds that people would spring for. It's not the economy that is driving dvd sales lower, nobody wants to pay for poop.

Dude, Alvin and the **(obscenity removed)**ing Chipmunks made enough money that they're making a sequel. I'd love to see money spent on good movies as much as you would, but the reality is that a huge amount of the population has absolutely terrible taste and loves lowest-common-denominator trash. As much as I'd love to say otherwise, people do actually want to see stuff like that. There are a lot of factors in why DVD sales have gone down, and the quality of movies (as subjective as such a thing is) probably doesn't play a significant part. We can have a whole separate discussion about what's wrong with Hollywood (plenty!). I get the feeling that you're angling this as an Independent vs. Hollywood production sort of thing, and we can have that discussion as well, but this is going to start hurting you as well. You aren't immune from this just because you think you make better movies than we do.

 

Edit: haha it doesn't let me swear, that's cute.

Edited February 4, 2009 by Scott Fritzshall

[Guest]

killed

 

IMDb

 

Hollywood can certainly try and get the money put back in, but it will be a PR debacle for them. All the public hears about is actors getting paid tens of millions to be in movies. They don't really appreciate the thousands of middle class Americans working behind the camera.

 

This reminds of what happened a few years back when the Canadian gov't was going to subsidize Canadian NHL teams. Even people in hockey mad Canada freaked out. Cut the players multi million dollar salaries first, was the rallying cry.

 

And rightly so!

 

The Canadian gov't shelved the idea.

 

R,