Economic Stimulus

Why A Second Economic Stimulus Is Essential!

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If you listen to conservatives, they will constantly state that the economic stimulus legislation of 2009 has failed, and that the nation does not need any more attempts at economic stimulus, a totally wrong viewpoint!

Sure, the economic stimulus has not been a panacea, but ask most economists and they will say that WITHOUT the stimulus, our unemployment rate would have been closer to 20 percent, instead of the 9.6 percent that it presently is!

We are facing an extreme economic crisis with local and state governments, undermining public safety and public education, with the anticipated dismissal of hundreds of thousands of police, firefighters, teachers and other public service fields that we all take for granted!

The first stimulus helped to prevent many of these people losing their jobs, and it is estimated that at least three million people either kept their employment because of the stimulus, or were employed when they had been unemployed due to the economic collapse that began at the end of 2007!

This is, of course, a “drop in the bucket” solution of the problem, but if we continue to act as if we have no need to deal with this crisis in public safety and education, we will pay the price in higher crime rates and worse educational opportunities for millions of school children, which will affect lives not just for a year or two, but for the long term future!

Also, extension of unemployment compensation creates consumer spending and gives the long term unemployed a lifeline until things get better, and if it is not done, we will have widespread starvation and homelessness!

It is easy to say it is someone else’s problem and not care about it, but this could literally happen to anyone at anytime, and the fact that it does not is due to a lot of luck, as there is nothing inherently wrong with people who lose their jobs!

We should not be judging others, and looking down on them, as “there but for the grace of God go I!”, and one does not have to be religious to realize the truth of that statement!

We must also work on creating critical infrastructure jobs, as that is a long term need and will provide many new employment opportunities, and we cannot allow the fear of deficits long term to make us paralyzed in our actions short term!

The problem is that if the Republicans gain control of either or both houses of Congress in November, the room for action on these matters may very well be lost, and the country will then suffer through a much worse economic downturn over the next few years!

We might look back in 2012 and after and bemoan what the voters did in 2010, in their moment of frustration and anger! Let us hope they do not take self destructive actions! 🙁

Barack Obama Needs To Act Like Ronald Reagan In 1982! Huh?

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In 1982, the United States was in the depths of the greatest recession since the Great Depression, but President Ronald Reagan, facing a midterm election, refused to give in on his economic program!

In 2010, the United States is in The Great Recession, the worst since the Great Depression, although the unemployment rate has never reached the 10.8 percent it reached in 1982, and President Barack Obama faces a midterm election, which if one goes by history, the party in the White House will lose seats, as it did in 1982!

What President Obama needs to do, however, is to act like Ronald Reagan! That leads one to say “Huh?”, but what is meant here is that Obama needs to “stick to his guns”, and continue to fight for economic stimulus and keep his economic plans alive, just as Reagan did 28 years ago!

The Republicans suffered in 1982, but the economy turned around and Reagan won an easy reelection in 1984! The Democrats will lose seats in 2010, but the odds for an Obama reelection victory at this point are good, and Obama needs to avoid caving in to conservative and GOP opposition and fight for his principles!

More Economic Stimulus Needed! Private Enterprise Cannot Expand Rapidly Enough To Revive Economy Alone!

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The debate is thick and fast in Washington, DC, and around the world, as the G-20 Summit in Toronto supported cutbacks in government spending to deal with the growing deficit problems!

But President Obama disagreed, emphasizing that private enterprise cannot alone revive the economy fast enough, and that more government stimulus is urgent!

It is true that the economy has not recovered in any large degree, but Obama is right that government stimulus is urgent now, while at some point later, it is necessary to cut the deficit!

To count on private enterprise, which has been reluctant to expand jobs, as the only method to economic recovery, is a vast mistake! Many nations are going that way, but most economists predict it will be a disaster with many victims, if governments go the way of the 1930s reaction to the Great Depression! 🙁

Urgency Of Spending To Prevent “Double Dip” Recession!

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President Obama has asked Congress to agree to emergency spending this summer and fall to promote economic recovery, and prevent a “double dip” recession!

The spending would provide $50 billion to help state and local governments to avoid cutting educators, fire fighters, and law enforcement personnel, all areas that face the greatest cuts since the Great Depression! It is not just job losses that are the issue, but also service reductions that people take for granted, but would be lost if there is no federal stimulus money!

Also, more extension of jobless benefits, and tax credits and accessible credit for small businesses to allow them to expand and hire workers, would be covered by $80 billion of additional spending!

It will not be easy to convince a deficit conscious Congress to enact such measures, which were proposed earlier, but have reached an emergency level, with planning moving ahead for the new school year, and the realization that the earlier economic stimulus is running out, but was an important part of the slowly reviving economy!

But to do nothing would be acting like an ostrich with its head in the sand–refusing to have vision as to the short term emergency, but also to the long run effects of standing on the sidelines while conditions become worse!

State Budgets And The Link To Federal Stimulus Funds

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It is truly ironic that in a time of tremendous stress for all state budgets, it is the federal stimulus money passed a year ago by Congress, with the urging of President Barack Obama, that is “saving” many states on cutting teachers, firefighters, police officers, prison guards, and state government agency workers!

For instance, the state of Florida, seemingly hellbent on becoming as reactionary in government policies as South Carolina and Texas and Mississippi, seems unwilling to attribute their final state budget to the help of the federal government, but if it was not for $3 billion in federal money, there would have been no way to deal with state problems in a fairly reasonable way!

Not that what Florida and other states are receiving this year is adequate enough, as already there are hints in various counties in Florida, and other counties in other states, that there will be an education crisis, law enforcement emergency, and public safety shortcomings!

Despite all the attacks on the federal government, it seems clear that another economic stimulus is essential to keep the states afloat in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression!

What it comes down to, again, is that the states “hate” federal intervention, but in the modern world since the Great Depression and World War II, it has been unavoidable that the national government must play a major role in the lives of all Americans!

Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Economic Stimulus, And The Tea Party Movement

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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was on This Week this morning, and he took a very different stand than congressional Republicans on the economic stimulus and the Tea Party Movement.

Saying that the gain or saving of 150,000 jobs in his state, many of them teachers, police officer and firefighters was a major plus, he repudiated the idea that the economic stimulus had failed to have any effect.

He also said that the Tea Party Movement was not going to go anywhere politically, as he perfectly understood the frustration of millions of people regarding the terrible economic downturn, but that it was simply a world wide reality of discontent in difficult times for families and individuals. He endorsed the Obama approach to the economy, which will, of course, only further separate him from his Republican party colleagues who continue to oppose everything the President does or says.

Of course, Schwarzenegger is a moderate Republican, a dying breed, sadly, in the GOP! 🙁

The Republican Hypocrisy: Is It Not An Embarrassment?

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The Republican party in Congress is showing itself to be totally hypocritical to the extreme!

The GOP refused to support the economic stimulus bill, but is now taking credit for any projects that are taking place in their districts.

The Republicans in the Senate, at least some of them including John McCain, supported originally the idea of a deficit commission to deal with the national debt, and then voted against their own proposal!

The Republicans in both houses complained that they were not being consulted by President Obama on the health care bill, and they insisted that such negotiations must be televised on C Span. Now they seem to be trying to avoid the upcoming White House conference on health care, and feel that televising it will be promoting political theater!

These are among the many examples of total Republican hypocrisy, even by such senators, besides John McCain, as Kay Bailey Hutchison, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins. A lot of it is due to pure politics, to win races such as Hutchison for Governor in Texas and McCain for Senator in Arizona.

What is more important than anything apparently is politics and winning races or keeping their seats, than principle and doing what is best for the country.

It is ironic that the Tea Party people seem more angry at Democrats than Republicans, even though Democrats are attempting to bring change and reform to the nation, while Republicans, who messed up the economy when they controlled Congress, are still demonstrating no interest in doing anything to cooperate in the midst of an economic crisis.

The Stimulus Bill: The Truth Be Told!

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A year after the economic stimulus bill, we are hearing lies from the opposition that nothing has been accomplished by the Obama Administration.

Nothing could be further from the truth. A lot of the stimulus is scheduled to occur this year and next, as no recovery plan can be expected to work immediately. There is always a time delay between what government legislates and the actual delivery of the services.

Having said that, what has the stimulus accomplished so far?
1. It has saved thousands of public jobs, affecting communities all over the country. This includes teachers, fire fighters and police officers. Many states, counties and city governments have benefited.

2. It has met the needs of many poor and disabled people on Medicaid. It has improved their quality of life.

3. It has set up over 11,500 transportation projects across the country, shovel ready and employing people.

4. 95 percent of the population received a tax cut, which is giving many people a lower tax bill in April if they had proper withholding.

Of course, there is a need to do much more, to say the least. But to claim that nothing has been accomplished and that the whole concept of economic stimulus was a waste of public dollars is a total lie, promoted by conservatives and Republicans who have no interest in helping right the economy, but rather just to obstruct and prevent success for political reasons!

Economists’ Consensus: Obama Was Correct on Stimulus Saving Economy

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Despite the criticism from liberal and conservative economists, a consensus has developed in the community of economists at large that the stimulus plan enacted earlier this year saved the economy from falling off the cliff to a total depression.

It is hard to be thrilled when the unemployment rate is over ten percent, and only approximately two thirds of a million jobs have been saved or created. But a broad based group of economists make it clear that the alternative of many conservatives to do nothing would have been far worse.

Many new jobs are slated to be created by the end of 2010, and many jobs will be saved as well, as has been the case with the aid to the states this year which kept many teachers, police officers, firefighters and other important public service workers at work.

Additionally, the third quarter GDP growth of 3.5% is a sign that the economic program of the administration is on its way to success, but of course there is great impatience among the American people. So the answer is to recognize the need for patience in difficult times, and to also enact a massive jobs program to create new jobs with some of the money from the original rescue of the financial and auto industries, which has not yet been spent!

Two Thirds Of A Million Jobs Created Or Saved By Economic Stimulus in First Nine Months

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It is good news that about 640,000 jobs, half of them in education, were created or saved by the first installment of the economic stimulus during the Obama Administration’s first nine months.

It is clear that without the economic stimulus, there would be even greater unemployment numbers and the economy would be in deeper recession.

As always is the case, patience is short in a time of recession, but the indications are that the Obama programs are creating hope for the future rise of employment in America. Certainly, it is a better strategy than the conservative view that nothing should have been done to stimulate the economy!