This video discusses the recent stimulus package that President Obama has presented to the American people and to Congress. It recently passed the House of Representatives with a 244-188 vote, with no Republicans supporting the plan. There is a great deal of debate over the effectiveness of this plan, since it includes spending more than $800 billion. This video reveals both sides of the debate, with the Republicans saying that the money is not being spent properly, and Democrats insisting it is the best way to stimulate the economy. I will attempt to discuss both sides of this debate.
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There was actually an opinion article in the DI today about this. I found it interesting to see what this stimulus plan actually planned spending money on. Giving Amtrak money when they haven't turned a profit in however many years it is does not really make a sense. It seems that the stimulus is throwing a lot of money around, but is more money really the answer? Maybe less money spent in the right places is the answer.
ReplyDeletehttp://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2009/02/03/OpinionColumns/A.New.Era.Of.Bipartisanship.Or.Not-3609301.shtml
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=217029&title=lawrence-lindsey
ReplyDeleteThis guy Lawrence Lindsay, who was on the National Economic Council under the last President, went on the Daily Show recently and him and John discussed reasonable solutions to stimulate the economy. Now I'm not really big or that knowledgeable, at all, abut how economics work but these idea mentioned in the clip seemed really reasonable and easy to implement. I know one of, if not, the big reason we're in a recession is because of the housing market so I think if we can work on that getting fixed then our economy will improve. Plus, we need to gain back jobs. One suggestion in the clip was lowering the payroll taxes. This way more money goes into people's pockets. Maybe there's some flaw in these ideas that I just don't know/understand/realize but it boggles my mind that these ideas never seem to be brought up in Congress.
In the speech, I remember this package being similar to FDRs New Deal. All I know is that New Deal failed miserably and the reason American got put out of the Depression was because of WWII. America stayed out in the begging so our country was able to provide supplies for other war torn nations thus creating jobs. But people liked FDR and thought he was taking steps to help America so he gets credit for getting America out of the Depression. Neither trickle down nor trickle up economics work and I fear, considering I'm graduating soon, that this economy won't inflate soon enough (or at all) if this stimulus package plan passes, and I'll get screwed
The true scope of this issue is much larger than an economic stimulus pack. It seems as though Washington would like to smoke screen the truly devistating impact of the current economic climate. I am not sure that most Americans are ready to make the necessary sacrifices it is going to take to get back on track financially. The stimulus pack is simply taking money we do not have now, and increasing the debt for tomorrow. It would be better to rebuild slowly and stronger than before. Not just put and band aid on a bullet wound. It is precisley this kind of "we'll worry about it tomorrow" attitude that got us to this point in the first place.
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