This is magnificent:
ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida officials are investigating an unemployment agency that spent public money to give 6,000 superhero capes to the jobless.
Workforce Central Florida spent more than $14,000 on the red capes as part of its “Cape-A-Bility Challenge” public relations campaign. The campaign featured a cartoon character, “Dr. Evil Unemployment,” who needs to be vanquished.
Florida’s unemployment agency director asked Monday for an investigation of the regional operation’s spending after the Orlando Sentinel published a story about the program. State director Cynthia Lorenzo said the spending appeared to be “insensitive and wasteful.”
Workforce Central Florida Director Gary J. Earl defends the program, saying it is part of a greater effort to connect with the community. The agency says it served 210,000 people during its last fiscal year, placing nearly 59,000 in jobs.
(Via Division of Labour.)
As the DoL blogger says, it reminds me of the old Milton Friedman saying that people tend to be a lot less prudent if they are spending other people’s money.
On a flippant note, the point about capes reminds me of that hilarious, Ayn Rand-style character (the designer with the bobbed black hair and East European accent) from The Incredibles, who insisted that for any true superhero, capes were a no-no. They get trapped into the air intakes of jet engines, etc. It pays to be careful.
Look for a husband/wife/cousin who makes/sells capes, is my advice.
I can’t speak to jet intakes, but I can attest that it is very difficult to dance wearing a cape!
Edna mode. No
capes
Ahhh The Incredibles… best cartoon (so far) of the 21st Century,
Does the world need that many superheroes? Do they have to come up with a different name before getting a cape? And what if some of them turn bad- would they be de-cape-italised? And if some of them get lucrative teevee contracts and/or a comic deal, will they repay the cost of the cape?
The public wants to know, now!
The very term *super*heroes is inherently elitist and therefore politically incorrect, as it biases the world against all the other not-so-super plain-vanilla heroes, and even the mediocre and piss-poor heroes. Furthermore, it is wrong to single anybody out as a hero without making sure everybody in the audience has received their very own “You are a hero too!” certificate just to make sure nobody’s feelings are hurt.
Quite right, Mike! I’ll bet that’s how supervillains are made!
PfP, dead right. It’s not waste, someone got the $14,000 and someone else was paid to hand out the capes.
Mike Lorrey, I think that’s pretty much the film’s point. The villain, Syndrome, plans to sell super hero kit to everyone, saying “When everyone’s special, no one is.”
It’s a waste to be sure, but capes? Who wears capes these days? If this agency was just dead-set on spending the money on some kind of wearable item, why not t-shirts or hats or a hoodie or something?
Capes. He should be fired just for that decision alone.
If we’re suddenly going to be knee-deep in superhero(in)es, I claim first rights to the name ‘Nice Guy’! I came out of the phone booth five years ago. I had discovered that my talent was the ‘nice-guy’ effect- i can turn even nymphomaniacs into lifelong lesbians by talking to them for five minutes! (you’re a nice guy, but… I’m a lesbian!) I figure I’m helping keep human numbers manageable, since lesbians don’t breed, but I don’t expect my own comic or tv show out of it!
Any other Semi-heroes out there?
I’d much rather be a supervillain, the pay is much much better. They always have the nicest vehicles, swankiest secret lairs, hottest girlfriends, the best lines, and sweetest weaponry.
In fact, given this fact, I think that the superhero cape freebie is actually a secret guvmint plot to turn thousands of people into bigger losers than they already are.
My guess would be that this was the least damaging activity the welfare state engaged in during the last half century.
If all the dear little cadres would stick to handing out useless items of costumery, and stay out of anything more significant, we’d all be much better off—and we could all dress like Mr Neutron.
Win-win!
And they never seem to suffer from cat-related allergies.
I’d really rather have a power ring. Could you set DARPA on it, please?
As for Edna, the costume designer/maker on the Incredibles – look up Edith Head, famous Hollywood designer long ago and you will see exactly who Edna was modeled after !!!
Further, the idiot that came up with this ‘idea’ ( I’ll be kind here ) would probably tell you that it’s really no issue because the money was ‘Federal Dollars’ !!!
Arrrgggg
veryretired is correct – this is much less damaging than what the state (and academic-political-media class) normally do with money.
This is just pure waste – no harm other than that. It was basically “well we could get this money and burn it or ……”
Even Brother Glenn admitted that (when he came upon the story some time ago). If only all government spending was so innocent. Normally it would be spent teaching the unemployed to hate “the rich” (or whatever).
Also, to be fair, it was the unemployed who “ratted out” this scheme.
A lot of unemployed people thought it was a waste of taxpayers’ money (yes they actually used those words) and told people about it.