Recovery logos disappoint

I cut out an article from Monday's USA Today about the new logos to support programs financed by the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I agree with Alan Siegel's (CEO of Siegel + Gale) judgement of the logos. They are pretty useless pieces of work (see Exhibit A below).

The recovery.gov logo and what it's supposed to represent is far too indepth. There's a reason only state seals look so complicated. They were created long ago when people spoke slower and didn't have multiple things vying for their attention. We're a little faster these days and don't have time to delve into all the details. So please tell me we aren't expected to get the entire message from that.

As for TIGER, is it really creative to just use orange and black stripes for "TIGER" while completely losing the website in the teeny font below? It's ineffective. As Siegel said, "This is Amateurville." Amen sir.