Dianna Ross
Political Science
March 23, 2014
Assignment II

Listen to the news with ears that are open only for the negative and one would come away from the conversation about the of 2009 wondering who in the heck is running the country.
Over the last five years I have heard many opinions on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the statement declaring the stimulus as one of the biggest mistakes made by President Obama is in my opinion an inaccurate one.
The Stimulus or The Recovery Act, was an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.
To respond to the Great Recession, the primary objective was to save and create jobs almost immediately. Secondly to provide temporary relief programs for those most impacted by the recession and invest in infrastructure, education, health, and renewable energy. The cost of the stimulus package was estimated to be $787 billion at the time of passage, later revised to $831 billion between 2009 and 2019. The Act included direct spending in infrastructure, education, health, and energy, federal tax incentives, and expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions. It also created the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
The goal of the stimulus plan was not only to boost the economy but to increase confidence in and restore faith in the ability to grow the economy. The average citizen didn’t understand much of what was being done. We knew that something had to be done and it had to be done quickly.
I believe that the biggest challenge that the President faced was to create enough of a stimulus to help with the recession, but not be so big enough that it would increase the already huge U.S. Debt. From what I have read, the plan was blamed for doing both -- failing to reduce unemployment below 9%, and adding to the debt.
We live in a time where we are so accustomed to lawmakers and politicians taking care of things for us that when something of this magnitude comes along it boggles our minds and we are barley educated enough to understand how it all affects our daily lives.
How Did the Plan Work?
Tax rebates were supposed to encourage consumer spending. The Stimulus for Small Business helped create jobs, increased lending from the SBA and community banks, and reduced capital gains tax for small business investors. The state aid helped, but many states were so underwater that their losses outweighed the Federal aid. Jobs were to be created with new construction of public roads and buildings.
Was the Stimulus Act a Success?
It’s hard to argue that the stimulus did not work when there are so many positive outcomes.
The White house believes that more than 3 million jobs were saved, we avoided a depression and although it took a while we came out of a recession.
Living in Lake Charles, I didn’t see how our city was effected one way or another. I know that a lot was going on in the country just listening to the news and trying to keep up with the opinions of local, regional and state elected officials.
Much of what I have read says that the stimulus cut taxes for 95% of working Americans, bailed out every state, increased unemployment benefits and other aid to families that were struggling and funded projects to upgrade roads, subways, schools, airports, military bases and much more. There are many more things to get a handle on such as a real effort in green technology, and manufacturing, green transportation a better and more developed health care system.
There will always be opinions, debates and discussions for years to come about this stimulus act. No one opinion is better than another. I believe that the course of action taken was in the best interest of the country. I just do not believe that people stay up late nights trying to figure out a way that they can destroy the very essence of what built this great country in the first place and that is the ability to agree to disagree.
I don’t see anything wrong with the government doing everything in its power to keep states functioning. I agree that the Federal government should have limited influence over states and the decisions made by that state for it citizens. Failing banks, to failing automakers, the Bernie Madoffs, the housing scams, all of these things happening at the same time had to make one wonder who if we were going to be able to recover.
American life and dreams had to be protected. Trust in the people that were supposed to be protecting the order of things was broken and something had to be done.
Although this may be a naïve and maybe even juvenile way of looking at the whole thing it seems to me that States should be able to depend on it federal government when needed. I look at it in this way, I want my mom and dad to be there if I need them but I don’t want them in my personal business. This is how I see the relationship between the federal government and states.
I must agree with a statement made by House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, “While we have made significant progress since February 2009, our recovery will not be complete until everyone can find a job that opens doors of opportunity to a secure place in our middle class,”
References:
www.newyorktimes.com http://www.gpo.gov www.washingtontimes.com