Political Discussions
Economic Stimulus Package - House Version
Posted by satijournal • 1/23/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Economy, obama
• $32 billion to transform the nation’s energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing
for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology.
• $16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits.
• $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.
• $10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation.
• $6 billion to expand broadband internet access so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link
up to the global economy.
• $30 billion for highway construction;
• $31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term
energy cost savings;
• $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;
• $10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.
• $41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School
Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion).
• $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school
districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15
billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states
for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.
• $15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500.
• $6 billion for higher education modernization.
• $20 billion for health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients
and introduce cost-saving efficiencies.
• $4.1 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.
• $43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.
• $39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer
provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.
• $20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.
• $87 billion for a temporary increase in the Medicaid matching rate.
• $4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.
benhoffmancartoons.com/obamalog/economic_stimulus_01-15-09.pdf
Will it work?
User Comments
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It is rather like "The New Deal". Unfortunately we cannot judge how effective The New Deal was as it was eclipsed by the increase in GDP generated by the Second World War.
This package of measures is as much as Washington can do. It is impossible to know if it will work as a recession brought on by a complete failure of the global financial sector has not happened before.-
The New Deal was effective in that it created jobs for a lot of people, although it took the war to get us out of the depression. This package will create jobs, but credit is still tight and companies are going under because they can't get any financing. That first $350 billion could have financed a lot of small businesses through direct government loans.
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I think that there is too much earmark spending which is the exact thing that got Congress in trouble in the first place. This recession began because of excessive spending and debt, both government and individual. There are a lot of things in that list above which has nothing to do with the economy. -
Of course it won't work. When government decides what programs get money and not let the people and free market, work, its socialism not capitalism. and as far as I can tell the last big NEW DEAL by FDR didn't work either. It took 10 years and the 2nd world war to pull us out of that mess. -
I don't like the rescue portions of the bill, e.g. expanding unemployment benefits. I do like spending on infrastructure today for things that we will have to pay for within 5 years anyway. I like investing in things that create jobs today and will have payout for years to come, e.g. broadband. I'm not a big fan of us paying for electronic medical records. It seems like that should be a cost of doing business and absorbed by the medical practice.-
I don't like the rescue portions of the bill, e.g. expanding unemployment benefits.
I think that's necessary right now for people who have gotten laid off and can't find another job. It's either that or they get on welfare.
I do like spending on infrastructure today for things that we will have to pay for within 5 years anyway. I like investing in things that create jobs today and will have payout for years to come, e.g. broadband.
Right, that kind of spending will create jobs almost immediately.
I'm not a big fan of us paying for electronic medical records. It seems like that should be a cost of doing business and absorbed by the medical practice.
We have to pay for it either way: either from our taxes or higher medical bills. We'll see how effective the government is at creating a program like this. It's a big mistake if they just turn it over to a big corporation as they have done in the past (like a system for the IRS that Lockheed Martin totally f*cked up). -
For me the unemployment benefits are about effectiveness. I think investing the funds in creating jobs is more effective in the long run. More jobs means fewer people on unemployment.
Regarding the medical records, I feel it would be more affordable if the doctors were spending their own money. If they spend tax payers money, what motivation do they have to keep the costs down?
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My crystal ball is in the shop, so I don't know if it will work. From what I understand, we need a lot more, but Obama is shooting for a smaller number in order to get more legislators to take ownership of it. That can have positive benefits down the road, if they do need more.
Anyone see this piece in today's Washington Post? "Downturn Accelerates As It Circles The Globe: Economies Worse Off Than Predicted Just Weeks Ago" www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/23/AR2009012304172.ht...-
I was on a webinar this week about economic current state and forecast. In the U.S. the retail sector has not declined since the data was collected (I believe it started in the 1960's). Q4 had a 5.9% reduction. Typically consumer confidence expectations index doesn't decline dramatically during a recession. It dropped a huge percent in recent polling.
The webinar host thought we would start to see growth in Q4 this year. Even considering that it is over a terrible 08Q4, I think their estimate is optimistic. -
I took a trip to a mall the other day to get a new coffee maker. I've never seen so many going out of business sales.
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FYI, here's where you can find the full massive text to the bill: www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/24/house-stimulus-bill-full_n_160569.html. This goes to the Huffington Post, but has links to the PDF and summaries. I do wish it was in HTML format and searchable. I also wish it was easy to find via Google. I guess the House doesn't do SEO.
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647 pages! It sounds like a real page-turner, but I think I'll limit myself to the summary.
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It's hard to say if it will "work" in the sense of rescuing us from a depression. I think we are bound to hit hard times - and the measure of success right now will be about how quickly we bounce back.
Although I agree with much of where the money is going. -
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Said “Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” The House bill perfectly demonstrates how the left is using the economic stimulus bill as cover to accomplish its long-held desire to permanently increase the size of the federal government, with little or no benefit to the American taxpayer.
top six disastrous highlights are:
blog.heritage.org/2009/01/23/morning-bell-nothing-temporary-about-this-stim...-
mike- I agree with you. Pelosi, along with Obama's new found arrogance, is finally ramming her spending fetish down the throats of the American taxpayers. The government needs to control its spending, not run it out of control. I wrote on a blog on this too about Obama bankrupting America. Whenever the governmnet gets involved, efficency and productivity are usually not associated with that.
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Since when did the Heritage Foundation become a mill for conspiracy theories?
"Leftist agendas"? Good God almighty.
While most people aren't thrilled about our economy (inherited form the Bush administration), and most people aren't thrilled about the money used to bailout the private sector (also from the Bush administration), many people are in fact breathing a slight sigh of relief to hear that job creation is on the way, and medical and unemployment benefits will be extended until the new jobs are here.
In other words, it's keeping a large amount of people from slipping under the poverty threshold until they can actually get a job. -
A right-winger criticizing Obama's economic plan is like me criticizing someone's color scheme. (I'm color blind.)
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Yes NewBlogger2008, The most scary part of this is that many of BC bloggers (and humanity in general)seem to think Congress is actually looking out for us. Congress has a 10% approval rating for a reason.
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