On Friday night, Congress passed its third major piece of legislation under the Obama Administration: The Stimulus Package. Intended to help the country take baby steps towards economic recovery, the bill has been hotly debated in recent weeks as to whether or not it is the right way to get us back on our feet. Below is a list of links to give you the quick and dirty facts about this confusing process and its effects.
- THE REASON: Listen to THIS EPISODE and THIS EPISODE of “This American Life” to get a reasonable primer on why we needed a stimulus in the first place.
- THE CONTENT: Here’s an interactive chart that breaks down how much money went into the stimulus and where it went.
- THE EVENT: At 10:47 Friday, Congress passed the $787 billion economic stimulus package.
- THE SIGNING: Obama plans to sign the Stimulus Package in Denver on Tuesday.
- THE EFFECTS: The Stimulus will increase the federal debt but make some people rich.
- THE FIGHT: Even the NY Times can’t decide if the size of the stimulus should have been smaller or larger.
- NEXT: Now that Obama has addressed w omen’s salaries and the economy, will war be next or will it be Social Security?
- TRANSPARENCY: The Brits question whether the bill was as transparent as Obama promised.
- IDEOLOGY: The bill reflects a new idea of how central the federal government is to our economy.
- BRAND LOYALTY: Public support for the stimulus demonstrates that Obama’s “brand” isn’t as weak as Republicans hope it is.
- BIPARTISANSHIP: Dead or alive or does it even matter?
- LEFT OUT: Regardless of whether or not the Stimulus package was the right response to the economic crisis (includes Van Jones’ response), major education , health and job issues remain unaddressed.
Have other links or ideas about the stimulus? Please comment below!
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But, if we were to make a tower of money, or a ribbon…
“Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., spoke of a stack of hundred-dollar bills 689 miles high, and of bills wrapped side-by-side that would encircle the Earth nearly 39 times.”
Facetiousness aside, I’m most intrigued by the foreign relations implications of the stimulus package. Mainly with respect to increased borrowing from foreign nations (Which gets amusing/frightening in a future where those debts are called in and we’re not able or willing to pay).
Then there’s also the idea that certain things that led to this mess require restructuring… perhaps even something along the lines of a paradigm shift. Remember Enron and the problems it hearkened to with a system that was trading promises instead of actual money? And how this all breaks down if the promises aren’t honored? For some reason, this mess reminded me of that situation. Then again, I may not know enough about Econ yet to be making these kind of statements. I hear that my assertions taste better with a couple grains o’ salt.