Federal officials have denied the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency, $70 million in funding for a planned extension to the Oakland International Airport. What does this have to do with Office Furniture?
Well, lets follow the money... This $70 million in Stimulus funding required engineering firms who were going to design and build the extension. These engineering firms were prepared to hire engineers, construction personnel , and support staff to work on the 4 year project. These newly hired support staff required facilities to work in, which in turn required office space to lease, and furniture to furnish the offices. The office furniture company which supplied the furniture required salespeople to sell the furniture, accounting staff to bill the furniture, and warehouse and delivery staff to install the furniture (getting the picture).
In the Fed's decision to deny the project funds, my little company has lost the revenue we would have derived from the office furniture sale, which in turn impacts all the downstream staff in my organization.
It is way too easy to throw up your hands at the $787 Billion Stimulus figure, and say how does rebuilding a bridge, or extending BART to an airport, really help the economy. As one of the cogs at the very downstream end of the machine, I am telling you that the Stimulus funding is absolutely helping, and is absolutely necessary for the recovery to take hold.
Well, lets follow the money... This $70 million in Stimulus funding required engineering firms who were going to design and build the extension. These engineering firms were prepared to hire engineers, construction personnel , and support staff to work on the 4 year project. These newly hired support staff required facilities to work in, which in turn required office space to lease, and furniture to furnish the offices. The office furniture company which supplied the furniture required salespeople to sell the furniture, accounting staff to bill the furniture, and warehouse and delivery staff to install the furniture (getting the picture).
In the Fed's decision to deny the project funds, my little company has lost the revenue we would have derived from the office furniture sale, which in turn impacts all the downstream staff in my organization.
It is way too easy to throw up your hands at the $787 Billion Stimulus figure, and say how does rebuilding a bridge, or extending BART to an airport, really help the economy. As one of the cogs at the very downstream end of the machine, I am telling you that the Stimulus funding is absolutely helping, and is absolutely necessary for the recovery to take hold.
