$2 million in stimulus to Tampa beauty schools

I'm a little overdue for a haircut, which means I'm not doing my part to support the backbone of the American economy, hairdressers. The St. Petersburg Times reports that $2.3 million from the stimulus package has gone to beauty schools in the Tampa area alone.

The stimulus money being spent to train hairstylists to craft a French braid is administered through Pell Grants to area vocational training facilities. Several beauty schools have received between $250,000 and $1 million in public money to help cover tuition that can run up to $12,000 a year — more than tuition to attend the University of Florida for a year.

Never mind that even professionals in the hairstyling business say there are few job opportunities. In determining how to allocate stimulus dollars, the federal government inexplicably does not conduct an assessment on which job skills are in demand and focus on funding training in those in more needy areas. How shortsighted. How wasteful. How mystifying.

Such ridiculous results are inevitable when you throw $787 billion at the economy with little thought or deliberation. Hairdressers perform a needed service, and I don't mean to take a slap at them. But I also have no wish to give them some of my money so that members of Congress can buy their re-election.