What do you all think of Barack Obama's stimulus package?
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/13/bara...ces_plan_to.php
Of course it's his official website so it probably says all the good things about it.
Are there any bad things about this?
What are all your opinions on his plan?
Full Version: Barack Obama's Stimulus Package
Wouldn't suddenly injecting money into the economy bloat all the prices (more money, less worth)?
In a word - no.
The current problem is that - across the globe - banks have stopped lending money. The sub=prime mortgages were loans given to people without any income who had no way of paying them back. That money was then spent on housing and commodities, thereby putting more money into general circulation and theoretically giving banks a nice interest. However, all the banks are now scared to lend money even to people who could probably pay them - home owners, people looking to buy as well as many small businesses and multinationals - and are calling in debts and seizing assets in order to cover their own balance sheets. This infact sucks money out of the economy as all the people who're not earning money from property don't have money to spend, the multinationals rein in spending and lay people off and small businesses go out of business. And the government loses all the nice taxation they get on every stage of money's life.
What the stimulus package does isn't so much spending, but bringing forward spending. One of the first industries to be hit in a recession is construction. You always need roads so the stimulus has a provision for something like $20bn in constructing and maintaining highways. It's got to be done at some point, but this is when it's most useful - when it then employs a load of people who'd be out of work, not paying taxes and receiving unemployment benefit rather than the same road costing twice as much during a period of economic boom where getting contractors is a lot harder. It's also investing money in infrastructure - you always need buildings too, even if people can't afford them right now.
The only place the stimulus actually costs money is in that favourite of Republican fixits - tax cuts, Whilst it's more money being put in the pocket of Joe American, even when they spend it, Uncle Sam gets less back. But it makes people happy thinking they get an extra hundred dollars a year or whatever.
The trouble with any stimulus package at the moment is quite simply that they're all pointless unless the banks start lending again. Most banks and businesses have a healthy balance sheet but they're worried about what happens if the worst happens again and suddenly they're caught short. The biggest mistake the US government has made so far was letting Lehman Brothers go under. As soon as that happened, the rest of the banks suddenly realised that they weren't too big to fail and started the usual sheep mentality of panic and run away from the problem in the hope that the old and the sick fall behind. Of course, guaranteeing their assets or whatever would just be extreme protectionism and there needs to be a middle ground somewhere.
The current problem is that - across the globe - banks have stopped lending money. The sub=prime mortgages were loans given to people without any income who had no way of paying them back. That money was then spent on housing and commodities, thereby putting more money into general circulation and theoretically giving banks a nice interest. However, all the banks are now scared to lend money even to people who could probably pay them - home owners, people looking to buy as well as many small businesses and multinationals - and are calling in debts and seizing assets in order to cover their own balance sheets. This infact sucks money out of the economy as all the people who're not earning money from property don't have money to spend, the multinationals rein in spending and lay people off and small businesses go out of business. And the government loses all the nice taxation they get on every stage of money's life.
What the stimulus package does isn't so much spending, but bringing forward spending. One of the first industries to be hit in a recession is construction. You always need roads so the stimulus has a provision for something like $20bn in constructing and maintaining highways. It's got to be done at some point, but this is when it's most useful - when it then employs a load of people who'd be out of work, not paying taxes and receiving unemployment benefit rather than the same road costing twice as much during a period of economic boom where getting contractors is a lot harder. It's also investing money in infrastructure - you always need buildings too, even if people can't afford them right now.
The only place the stimulus actually costs money is in that favourite of Republican fixits - tax cuts, Whilst it's more money being put in the pocket of Joe American, even when they spend it, Uncle Sam gets less back. But it makes people happy thinking they get an extra hundred dollars a year or whatever.
The trouble with any stimulus package at the moment is quite simply that they're all pointless unless the banks start lending again. Most banks and businesses have a healthy balance sheet but they're worried about what happens if the worst happens again and suddenly they're caught short. The biggest mistake the US government has made so far was letting Lehman Brothers go under. As soon as that happened, the rest of the banks suddenly realised that they weren't too big to fail and started the usual sheep mentality of panic and run away from the problem in the hope that the old and the sick fall behind. Of course, guaranteeing their assets or whatever would just be extreme protectionism and there needs to be a middle ground somewhere.
Rob has done it again. 
I have definitely not read the entire stimulus package bill, that thing is like 500+ pages long, though I know of one thing in there that I agree with 100%.
Obama wants to save or create ~4 million jobs through either the alternative energy market and everything that is involved with it, or by making government buildings more energy efficient by renovating them. I couldn't agree more to this idea... heck the US still wanted to go for offshore drilling a year ago and didn't hint towards wanting to sign the Kyoto Protocol or even recognize global warming as an actual problem for that matter!
Now at least Obama has set himself a goal of making the US the leading country and role model when it comes to energy efficiency and green energy. Thumbs up for that!
Oh, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous that Citibank couldn't tell anyone where they had spent $45 million of bailout money... I do hope that the Obama administration has something better in mind than just giving the money to banks and if they can't show the receipts, that's ok. Oh I know, here's another $40 million for a private jet!
Obama wants to save or create ~4 million jobs through either the alternative energy market and everything that is involved with it, or by making government buildings more energy efficient by renovating them. I couldn't agree more to this idea... heck the US still wanted to go for offshore drilling a year ago and didn't hint towards wanting to sign the Kyoto Protocol or even recognize global warming as an actual problem for that matter!
Now at least Obama has set himself a goal of making the US the leading country and role model when it comes to energy efficiency and green energy. Thumbs up for that!
Oh, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous that Citibank couldn't tell anyone where they had spent $45 million of bailout money... I do hope that the Obama administration has something better in mind than just giving the money to banks and if they can't show the receipts, that's ok. Oh I know, here's another $40 million for a private jet!
Rob has swayed me yet again.
Swayed...or turned? - Rob
Swayed...or turned? - Rob
I don't have the specifics on the Stimulus Package, but from what I've heard it seems that none of it is actually going toward something that'll promote long-term benefits. It seems like it's giving someone the fish, but not showing them HOW to fish.
get over it. ya kids and ya grandkids are going to be the ones to pay it back in the long run. Thank you Obama. im actually glad he is in office besides the fact that im african american. if like hilary clinton went in there, they would think it was because she was a woman that she loves to spend money. no excuses now.
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