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What is a hoax?
Quite simply put, a hoax is a deliberate deception. There are a million different reasons why one person would want to deliberately deceive another. Usually it involves profit of some sort. Its impossible to say when the first hoax was perpetrated, but hoaxing, trickery, and lying have been part of humanity since time immemoriam. This site aims to expose the hoaxes, and to keep you better informed as to the common methods used by hoaxers, tricksters, con-men, and thieves, so you can avoid being duped yourself.
Editorial: Pros and cons to ditching stimulus road signs
According to an Augusta Chronicle story published late last week, the Georgia Department of Transportation no longer is requiring contractors to erect signs noting that a given road project is funded with federal stimulus dollars. The new directive reverses the DOT's earlier requirement that contractors place two signs at every stimulus-funded project.
Continue reading the rest of "Editorial: Pros and cons to ditching stimulus road signs" by Athens Banner-Herald
A Georgia DOT spokeswoman told the Augusta newspaper the change was being made in connection with comments made to the DOT by state residents.
"Many Georgians have commented that this money (for the signs) would be applied to more pressing needs. They are correct. The department will use the savings to create and save more jobs through the stimulus projects," the spokeswoman said.
At first glance, that seems to be a good point. According to the Chronicle's report, the signs cost about $1,500 apiece, with an additional $100 allocated for installation. Thus, placing two signs at a project site would cost $3,200. According to the Georgia DOT Web site, 256 stimulus-funded projects have been certified for Georgia. Installing signs at those projects would cost more than $800,000, certainly a significant amount of money.
But take a closer look. An $800,000 outlay would provide enough money for just a few dozen jobs paying $20,000 annually, assuming that an employer would use other dollars to cover benefits for those employees. And, those jobs would provide only temporary employment.
In this economy, for the people who might get those jobs, it certainly would be better than not being employed. And in that limited, albeit important, sense, the DOT's decision to drop its requirement for posting signs makes good fiscal sense.
But what's being lost in that bargain? Certainly, the people who are footing the bill for the stimulus-funded projects - which is to say all taxpaying
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