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The US Federal Stimulus: did it benefit you at all?
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| Zharen |
Just wanted to see from the other American TA's around here if the federal stimulus that was passed by Obummer in 2009 had any kind of positive or negative effect for you at all?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/02...?iref=allsearch
| quote: | Two years ago, President Barack Obama signed the stimulus package into law, and ever since that day, politicians and political organizations have used the measure as a political football.
Nothing was changed on the actual anniversary Thursday, with Democrats led by Vice President Joe Biden touting the $814 billion bill as an innovative and necessary step to avert a depression and grow the damaged economy, while Republicans derided it as a glaring example of failed liberal spending policy.
At a carefully staged public meeting with Cabinet members overseeing stimulus spending, Biden quoted a TIME magazine article that said the bill "helped avoid a depression; reduced the unemployment rate by 2%; cut taxes for 95% of Americans; bailed out the states to prevent mass layoffs; funded more than 75,000 projects to upgrade roads, parks, sewers and just about everything else; and made unprecedented investments in renewable energy, health-information technology, broadband, the smart grid and much, much more -- with no earmarks and virtually no fraud."
"As you might expect, I think that's an accurate assessment," Biden concluded to laughter.
He then handed over his leadership role in implementing the stimulus package to new White House budget director Jacob Lew, with Cabinet members including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan praising Biden for his stewardship of a program they described as innovative and transformative.
"This ought to be a celebration, that's what this ought to be," LaHood said of the anniversary.
2010: Obama praises stimulus efforts
2010: GOP leader to probe stimulus funds
Instead, polls show the American public deeply divided over the issue, in part because of a steady drumbeat of Republican attacks on the bill dating back to congressional debate two years ago. The measure passed with little GOP support back then, and Republican leaders continued with their criticism Thursday.
"The bottom line here is that two years after the president told us he was investing in our future, here is what we have to show for it: higher unemployment than was predicted and trillions, trillions more in debt," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said on the chamber floor.
Republican National Committee Chairman Rance Priebus took aim at the unemployment rate of 9% or higher, despite Democratic pledges that the stimulus bill would hold down unemployment at 8% or lower.
"What has been the result of nearly $1 trillion spent on the so-called 'stimulus'? Twenty-one months of unemployment at or above 9 percent, 2.6 million jobs lost, unsustainable budget deficits and an ever-growing national debt," Priebus said in a statement.
So who is right? At the Cabinet meeting, Biden and others noted the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has reported the stimulus bill saved as many as 3 million jobs and reduced the unemployment rate by as much as 2 percentage points.
They cited what they called unprecedented transparency in the program, with websites that allow people to track stimulus projects around the country, and noted that out of 75,000 projects with 250,000 contracts handing out stimulus funding, less than 1,500 have required investigation for possible wrongdoing and so far, 45 have resulted in convictions, pleas or settlements.
Noting that the problems amount to less than one-half of 1% of the total, Chu joked the program was "more pure than Ivory Soap," which boasts 99.4% purity.
At the White House, new Press Secretary Jay Carney used his experience as Biden's former spokesman to defend the Recovery Act when questioned by reporters.
"The Recovery Act was a major reason why we are now in a situation where we've been growing consistently for many consecutive quarters and why we have created more than a million jobs in the last year," Carney said, later adding that "a substantial portion of that private sector job growth has been as a result of the president's policies -- the Recovery Act and other policies that he pursued to save this economy from turning a horrible situation into a catastrophic situation in our country, with the kind of unemployment that we haven't seen since the Great Depression. ... He did not want that to happen and he took the actions he saw necessary to prevent it from happening."
On the other side, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released a web video Thursday targeting vulnerable senators who are up for re-election in 2012 and voted for the measure. The spot shows Democratic senators, including Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, touting the bill. The video juxtaposes their comments with the unemployment rates in their respective states.
"Two years of liberal economics have failed America," the ad reads. "Happy anniversary."
In an e-mail, NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh said the anniversary "seemed like an important point to look back on what they said then, versus the current economic situation their respective states are in today." |
COR version: Dems think stimulus did a lot of good, Repubs think it was a massive failure. What do you think?
Personally, it has done nothing to benefit or enrich my life in any way. |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zharen
Personally, it has done nothing to benefit or enrich my life in any way. |
The only way you could really know that was if you lived in two different dimensions and compared them to each other. Effects of these actions usually benefit people indirectly and is therefore hard to notice. For example; you didn't lose your job, but there is no way to know you would have if not for these changes. I know I'm stating the obvious, but you were being kinda absolute. |
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| Zharen |
| No, I'm pretty sure it hasn't done jack for me. The unemployment rate actually rose a few percent in my area since the stimulus. Still wondering where all these new jobs are? Do you know? I think I see them being outsourced to China... |
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| tubularbills |
i know i got a check in the mail which helped pay for a fence in my backyard that was falling over. so that was like $600 or whatever i didn't have to pay. which in turn, i probably spent on alcohol (lol)...but at least it went back to the economy? :gsmile:
that's about it. |
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| Zharen |
| quote: | Originally posted by tubularbills
i know i got a check in the mail which helped pay for a fence in my backyard that was falling over. so that was like $600 or whatever i didn't have to pay. which in turn, i probably spent on alcohol (lol)...but at least it went back to the economy? :gsmile:
that's about it. |
Yeah I think I got an additional $500 in unemployment money, but that pretty much went to rent, food and car insurance, and possibly some weed. I don't know what to do now though.
SAVE ME ALBERTO FALK! SAVE ME IN YOUR MID 21ST CENTURY TIME MACHINE! :( |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zharen
Still wondering where all these new jobs are? Do you know? I think I see them being outsourced to China... |
All I'm saying is you can't really know without a lot of knowledge about everything going on around you, city/state and nation-wide. You sound like some of the right wing people at work, talking out of their ass because they can't put things in perspective and see the bigger picture. "My wallet didn't get any heavier, this did nothing". Of course I'm making assumptions as I don't know how much research you've done to come to this conclusion.
Regardless, you're right about China, they're ing you slowly and have only just put the half the head in. |
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| Fledz |
| They owe China so much money it's actually a surprise they aren't all slaves to them by now to repay the debt. |
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| Zharen |
| quote: | Originally posted by Redd
All I'm saying is you can't really know without a lot of knowledge about everything going on around you, city/state and nation-wide. You sound like some of the right wing people at work, talking out of their ass because they can't put things in perspective and see the bigger picture. "My wallet didn't get any heavier, this did nothing". Of course I'm making assumptions as I don't know how much research you've done to come to this conclusion. |
Why do you think I'm taking a consensus right now? I'm trying to see if this stimulus has helped or at least appeared to help anyone else in the US.
| quote: | | Regardless, you're right about China, they're ing you slowly and have only just put the half the head in. |
THANK YOU NORWAY. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| i benefited from watching kev rage about it. |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zharen
Why do you think I'm taking a consensus right now?
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As most people are clueless a consensus wouldn't mean much. Populism usually fails hard when it comes to determine benefits like these because of what I wrote earlier. This is one of the negative sides of a democracy.
And Norway might not be as deep in it as you are, but China is a force to be reckoned with here as well. If we didn't have our precious oil it would be a very different matter. |
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| Moongoose |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
i benefited from watching kev rage about it. |
That.
Actually the whole rest of the world got some great tv moments out of it watching all the rage it inspired. Seriously, if it wasnt so sad it would be bloody hilarious, as there are few things funnier than watching people claim the stimulus was a failure because they cant feel the results. Bet they would feel it if there wasnt one though. |
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| Zharen |
| quote: | Originally posted by Redd
As most people are clueless a consensus wouldn't mean much. Populism usually fails hard when it comes to determine benefits like these because of what I wrote earlier. This is one of the negative sides of a democracy.
And Norway might not be as deep in it as you are, but China is a force to be reckoned with here as well. If we didn't have our precious oil it would be a very different matter. |
Thank you for your diminished appraisal of my people's reasoning and comprehension skills. May I conduct my consensus now? |
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